Cheap Alternative To Cisco Call Manager Based Phone Systems

Want to save money on your next PBX? Ditch that proprietary Public Branch Exchange telephone system and use an open source Asterisk based PBX instead. For just the small investment in hardware and some mental work on your part, you can have a nice phone system for not a lot of money.

Instead of paying thousands for Cisco Call Manager and licensing fees, Asterisk only requires modest hardware and some computer know how. Sites such as Nerd Vittles can show you how to make your very own PBX in short order.

Begin with a server, the computer hardware that runs the phone services. Then add Asterisk, this is like Cisco's Call Manager. Then add an unmanaged switch. Think D-Link or 3Com. Then run all of this in RedHat/CentOS linux or even Ubuntu. Your cheap PBX is on its way.

The heart of this phone system is SIP. This is Session Initiation Protocol, an open source phone protocol. This means that you do not need to pay for the software, but for ease of use, some vendors will help for a fee.

Once set up, a Linux based PBX will save you money, not cost you licensing fees, and you do not need to go down that path of constant Cisco certification. You know, where you must test every two years to keep your certification. Testing that forces you to spend thousands of dollars to only understand one proprietary protocol. If you want a phone system that works, and works well, look to Asterisk and Linux for the answer.

Sure you can still use your Cisco 7960 phones if you want to fake out others, making them think you are running a Cisco Call Manager based system. Go ahead, I won't tell, will you?