Wow this a is great thread and so representative of what a person hears out in the industry. I am accountant by training but phone and computer guy our of curiosity/necessity.
I configured and installed many computers both desktop and servers over the years. I also have my own Gopherpole, can wrench, butt set and know my way around a 66 block. I even have put in some twinax in my day.
If you want to know why VOIP systems are all the rage, I only have to look as far as the owner of our company. He goes to a meeting with other owners from our industry and hears about the great new VOIP system that someone just put in. That turns into one question to me - Are we going to put in a VOIP system when we replace our current system?
How do I even decipher the question much less distill an intelligent answer? I ended up giving him a 25 page bulleted presentation, starting with describing basic analog lines (2 cans and a string) all the way through PRI's and FTTP.
Then it was on to multi-line phones to PBX and VOIP.
I proceeded to explain that we had an existing, relatively new cable plant with separate home runs for both voice and data. Sadly, in a building built only 6 years ago, no one thought to spec running Cat5 or Cat5e for both the voice and data runs to provide some future proofing. Instead someone chose to save a few pennies a foot and run Cat3 for the voice. Doh!
I think by the end of the discussion he at least appreciated the time that it takes to stay current with the technology as well as the fact that I said a VOIP system may or may not be the right answer.
By the way did I mention our 7 locations and existing MPLS network?
Thanks again to everyone for sharing their perspectives.
