Fonality PBXtra beats Microsoft Response Point in side-by-side lab test. PBXtra takes the crown with a low-cost combination of usability, unlimited extensions, good Outlook integration, and slick reporting. Lab test: VoIP phone systems walk the talk Appliances from Allworx, Critical Links, Fonality, Microsoft, and Sutus have slick telephony features and affordable price tags, but differ significantly in breadth, depth, and complexity By Mike Heck April 29, 2008 In deciding which of these solutions might satisfy your needs, start by asking a few questions. Are you a single, small office or a fast-growing SMB with multiple sites? Do you have someone skilled to manage the system? Do you need only a PBX or would Web and file servers be valuable? Small offices with five to 25 employees should look closely at Microsoft Response Point and Sutus Business Central and also consider Fonality s PBXtra. If simplicity is more important than features, Response Point is my choice. But if telephony features are the main attraction, then I give the nod to PBXtra. If an all-in-one system is appealing, then you can t go wrong with Sutus. Larger organizations should seriously consider Allworx, Critical Links EdgeBox, and PBXtra. Because these solutions all have extensive features, the selection isn t as clear cut. My recommendation, unless you need surplus features such as a router or firewall or Web server, is to go with PBXtra. Moreover, when you consider the cost of software editions and especially phones, PBXtra scales more economically than Allworx and EdgeBox.
Below are the test scores (on a 10-point scale) and brief summaries of the five solutions. For more detail, follow the links to the complete evaluations. Allworx 24x v.6.8 Score: Very Good 8.6 Bottom Line: A true all-in-one system, each Allworx appliance combines full PBX and VoIP duties with networking functions including automated backup, e-mail and Web server, security, and LAN management. Rich communications features include unified messaging and presence awareness, along with options such as call queuing, a conference center, and group calendaring. Another important differentiator is site-to-site access, with 100 sites supported. Critical Links EdgeBox Office v.4.5.2 Score: Good 7.9 Bottom Line: This all-one-one appliance integrates Asterisk telephony, networking, e-mail, file sharing, and Web server into a single enterprise-grade solution. However, the many moving parts and interfaces add complexity to configuration and use. Phone services include interactive voice response and conferences as well as queues and other features for call centers. QoS management lets administrators set VoIP and Web caching policies. Fonality PBXtra 4.0 Score: Excellent 8.8 Bottom Line: PBXtra is a scalable phone system with a user-friendly interface, making it easy to install, use, and maintain. A hybrid hosted architecture lets Fonality remotely manage the system. The basic configuration is value-laden, with strong Outlook integration, conference bridges, and CRM hooks; plus it supports analog and VoIP phones. The Professional edition adds multiple auto-attendants and conferencing, while Call Center tacks on unlimited call queues and agent capabilities. Microsoft Response Point 1.0 Score: Very Good 8.3 Bottom Line: Response Point combines software from Microsoft and hardware from IP telephony vendors. Reliable voice recognition -- without any training -- is unique among the products tested, and helps make the system remarkably easy to use. Setup and admin are a snap, and it s easy to add new users and phones -- up to 50 without additional licensing fees. Telephony features are basic. If basic meets your needs, this system is a perfect fit for the small, Windows-centric office. Sutus Business Central SB-200 Score: Very Good 8.4 Bottom Line: Sutus unified communication solution combines telephony, e-mail and file servers, and even wired and wireless networking in a single box. This reduces hardware costs for offices of up to 25 users, while easing administration. The system integrates VoIP and PSTN lines, via an included gateway, while phone services convert voice mail to e-mail. Sutus lacks the advanced telephony features and expandability of some competitors, but its wizard-driven setup, reliability features, and collaboration spaces should be a hit with smaller offices.
Product review: Fonality PBXtra 4.0 PBXtra takes the crown with a low-cost combination of usability, unlimited extensions, good Outlook integration, and slick reporting Fonality takes a different approach with PBXtra, which, like cousin Trixbox and Critical Links EdgeBox, incorporates the open source Asterisk. PBXtra is not only the most affordable system in this roundup, but is unique in being a managed product. Customers get a low-end Celeron tower PC that s set up without incurring any installation costs, and a Web interface that lets users customize the system (such as recording voice prompts) without IT help. Fonality remotely monitors the system, provisions the phones, and backs up data off-site. The Bottom Line Fonality PBXtra 4.0 Fonality, fonality.com Excellent 8.8 criteria score weight Telephony 9 25% Management 9 25% Ease-of-use 8 15% Scalability 9 15% Setup 8 10% Value 9 10% The PBXtra Professional configuration that I tested hooked up much like other solutions. One big difference (to ensure a good experience) is that Fonality insists on a phone session with an engineer who walks you through the process. With my virtual sidekick along for moral support, I connected the Dell hardware to my network, attached PSTN lines, assigned the server an IP address, and plugged in the supplied Aastra 9112 VoIP phones to my network hub. The only problem I had was a slight echo on calls over my analog line. This turned out to be a golden opportunity for Fonality to flaunt its remote administration, because my assigned engineer was able to quickly eliminate the problem by adjusting some server settings. A few clicks on the Web Control Panel (which runs from Fonality s main server) let me fine-tune my PBX setup, including configuring the actions of the auto attendant and recording personalized greetings. Fonality works with many other inexpensive VoIP phones from Cisco, Polycom, Aastra, Swissvoice, and Snom. Even if you use analog phones, essential features are available, such as a stutter tone to indicate voice mail waiting. The basic PBXtra features are substantial. These include 600 hours of voice mail (converted to e-mail), call routing rules, auto attendant, and name directory, which should be enough for many small organizations. In addition, every PBXtra configuration
Cost: $995 for Standard, $1,995 for Professional, and $2,995 for Call Center edition; Heads Up Display software is $995 for unlimited use. VoIP phones are about $150 each. Platforms: Asterisk-based PC plus hosted management server; monitoring, management, and backups are handled remotely by Fonality. Bottom Line: PBXtra is a scalable phone system with a userfriendly interface, making it easy to install, use, and maintain. A hybrid hosted architecture lets Fonality remotely manage the system. The basic configuration is valueladen, with strong Outlook integration, conference bridges, and CRM hooks; plus it supports analog and VoIP phones. The Professional edition adds multiple auto-attendants and conferencing, while Call Center tacks on unlimited call queues and agent capabilities. supports branch offices. This means you can purchase this economical system for different locations and get free office-to-office calling over VoIP. Additionally, users may forward calls to any extension in the PBXtra server network. The just-released Version 4.0 software proved superior to other solutions in multiple ways. Foremost, I feel the tabbed Web interface (which is carried forward from the previous release) is the best of the products tested. Features are logically grouped and clearly explained, which makes changes easy for employees. For example, on your personal Web control panel, under the Features tab, you ll find Call Forwarding options. Here you can define how the system processes calls, including following you during certain hours. I found the new scheduler made it very easy to define different messages and then have them play depending on the time of day, and to route calls based on rules. PBXtra accommodates both simple and complex call sequences, allowing you to customize the system for a variety of situations. The system s telecommuting technology is notable; employees can travel outside of the office with an IP phone (or softphone) and keep their extension number so there s no need to create an out of office voice message. Right from the box, PBXtra has very good Outlook integration. When your phone rings, the caller ID is analyzed against your Outlook contacts. Additionally, if you use the Firefox browser, the new FONcall plug-in turns any phone number on a Web page into a click-to-call link. Even so, you may want to invest in the Heads Up Display (HUD) option, which costs $995 for unlimited licenses. HUD brings a lot of efficiencies to SMBs. For instance, this highly visual application lets you dial a person from your Outlook inbox. But HUD really stands out by showing your entire organization, who is on the phone, and to whom they are talking. You can drag anddrop new or existing calls to someone s extension, voice mail, or a general parking area.
Yet another advantage of HUD is presence awareness, but this only works with the Professional and Call Center configurations. If you walk away from your desk, for example, the system knows your status and could automatically ring your cell phone. Other features missing from the Standard system include conference bridges and various groups. No PBXtra 4.0 configuration has collaboration options, such as a file server. On the other hand, PBXtra s reporting across all configurations is very strong. For example, you could see all incoming calls from a particular area code, which could be valuable for marketing efforts. PBXtra 4.0 is an extremely capable phone system, even in the basic configuration. With features ranging from auto attendant and Outlook integration to telecommuter and branch office support, there s little more to desire. If you need group or call center features, you can step up to two still-affordable options. And Fonality takes care of monitoring, management, and backups. Be aware, however, there are extra one-time costs to provision each phone, and be sure to budget for yearly maintenance fees. Mike Heck is a contributing editor of the InfoWorld Test Center. Read Online: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/29/18tc-office-voip-appliances_2.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/29/18tc-office-voip-fonality_1.html Learn more at www.fonality.com or call your sales rep at 1-877-FONALITY.