How does Samsung compete with Cisco VoIP solutions?

How does Samsung compete with Cisco VoIP solutions?

Samsung’s OfficeServ IP Enabled Digital Phone Systems Digital Telephones IP Telephones IP Networking Analog Phones CTI Centralized Switching

Let’s talk about the competition. Expensive No Digital Phones 1 year warranty (some pieces only get a 90 day warranty*) No Native Paging Network Switching *Additional Warranty available through SMARTnet .

SMARTnet Cisco will offer a purchase of additional support, called SMARTnet, beginning at the time of installation and renewing each year, to provide varying levels of coverage for operating system software, technical assistance center (TAC) support, parts replacement, and onsite response.

Samsung Tech-Support Most of the services provided by SMARTnet are currently provided to the dealer by Samsung and therefore not charged to the customer.

Warranty Samsung’s 5-year extended warranty program is one of the best in the Industry. The standard two-year warranty is extended to five-years and the coverage is also extended to include lightning and power surge.

Samsung Uses Centralized Switching iDCS 500 R2 Internet

Centralized Switching Lower bandwidth requirements Negligible impact on existing data infrastructure

Cisco Uses Network Switching Voice Mail TI/PRI Gateway Call Mgr. Analog Sta.Gateway Analog Trunk Gateway

Network Switching Much higher bandwidth requirements Change out of other network equipment, i.e. hubs, switches, routers can be predicted All switching and call processing are done over the data network, adding a myriad of unnecessary bandwidth issues.

IP Phone Licenses? Cisco “YES” Samsung “NO” Cisco requires a license at additional cost for the use of each of their IP phone.

No Digital Phones All Phones Are IP Phones. Using the recommended G.711 (64k) CODEC means 90k – 140k per phone call. 20 calls would use between 1.8megs and 2.8megs

Cisco IP phones do not keep a local database Database must be downloaded on every power cycle This strains your Data Network

Have you ever put Virus Protection Software on a Phone System? Well if you are installing a Cisco PBX you had better start. Cisco runs on a collection of Microsoft Servers and Cisco switches. This makes them susceptible to viruses and hacker attempts.

Cisco’s Call Manager, the core application, is based on Windows 2000 and Windows Clustering. Not a very stable platform for a telephony application that needs 99.999% reliability.

CODEC of Voicemail IP Phones must be on the same CODEC as the Voicemail.

Multiple CODEC’s not supported. All the devices have to be on the same CODEC. Cisco recommends running their IP phones without compression (G.711) when on the LAN because the compressed calls are not high enough in quality. Cisco’s Virtual Phone (IP softphone) only supports G.711 (64kb) and cannot talk to other phones programmed for other CODEC.

Centralized power is achieved with proprietary Cisco LAN switches. So they can sell you more of their core products.

Power Strips Power strips - all of these devices require their own power. – T1/PRI gateway – Analog trunk gateway – Analog station gateway – Call Manager server

What Cisco wants you to believe Open Standards Based Solution Nice concept but there isn’t always a single standard for every solution. Here are a few of the standards. – H.323 – SIP – iNow – MGCP Which one will win out?

What Cisco wants you to believe Open Standards Based Solution Cisco supports Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in a number of products, but it requires implementation of their proprietary “skinny” SIP protocol rather than industry standard SIP.

What Cisco wants you to believe Open Standards Based Solution Cisco’s implementation of Survivable remote site telephony (SRST) is a redundancy protocol that only works with Cisco voice applications and not with others.

The system is based on H.323 and is not Internet ready Cisco IP phones do not work with NAT/PAT/Firewalls. You cannot use your Cisco phone at home with a cable modem or DSL without a VPN or similar network setup. Cisco will be happy to sell you a VPN router.

What the Experts are saying! There is no one architecture (yet) that can be called the standard for a network phone system. The important thing is to follow a strategy that makes sense for your business. Trashing your PBX and going all IP immediately probably isn’t it. Bill Michael - Computer Telephony

What the Experts are saying! The underlying assumption regarding ToIP is that the LAN/WAN is always available, with minimal downtime. This is a very risky assumption, because no LAN/WAN infrastructure is currently designed to meet the 99.999% reliability level of a PBX system. Alan Sulkin - Telecom Industry Consultant

Power The iDCS 500 system was designed to provide battery back-up at reasonable cost. The Cisco AVVID requires expensive UPS systems for Battery back up. Digital Key Telephones are powered by the KSU and do not require expensive external power supplies that are needed with IP telephones. Overall, the iDCS digital Keysets and IP Keysets are more functional than the Cisco IP telephones. The more extensive LCD features prompting with soft key operations on the iDCS Keysets makes the iDCS 500 easier to use.

Samsung Way The migratory approach is based upon customer investment protection. This protection also extends to the existing data network infrastructure the customer currently has. It also gives customers an opportunity to experiment with IP technology and learn the operational benefits as well as the cost savings.

Samsung Way Samsung is molding the system of today into the converged system that will be prevalent over the next six to eight years. These converged systems will offer customers the flexibility, cost savings, and most of all reliable performance they have come to expect out of a business telephone system.

Conclusion: Samsung has emerged over the past five years as a predominate player in both consumer electronics and wireless handsets. Over the next five years look for Samsung to be a leader in the business telecommunications systems.

Conclusion: We provide solutions today that meet the needs of customers with quality and at a reasonable cost, but with evolving product strategy you can count on Samsung to keep moving in the right direction for the future.