Seperate Box For PRI lines?

[konextu]

Ok so here is my current setup
-Dialer (24GB of ram, dual Quad core xeons, 4 300gb SAS 15k Drives in RAID10)
-Web Server (4gb of Ram Dual Xeon's w/ht @ 3.06ghz w/ sata drives YUK!)
-MySQL Server (16gb of RAM, Dual Xeon's w/ht @3.06ghz 8 300gb SAS 15k drives in RAID10)
-Archive Server (5 500gb sata drives for call recordings in a raid 5 setup w/hot spare 1.5tb usable)

We have the following internet lines setup taking calls over them via VOIP to binfone
-Verizon DS3 (t3) @ 44mbps holding around 400 sip channels running standard g711 uncompressed
-At&T T1 holding around 20 inbound lines running GSM compression Codec
-Charter 20/2 business line for backup

I have 4 PRI's that are currently sitting unutilized since our move to VICIDIAL from a hosted dialer solution and i'm really wanting to get these into our system.

My questions:
1. What is the best card for USA T1's that is the most cost concious?
2. If i setup a seperate server that holds the cards and just setup an IAX/SIP trunk back into our dialer for the 92 PRI lines that will be utilized how beefy does this box need to be? It would be UNCOMPRESSED.
3. Is it easy to tell VICI that it can only send UPTO 92 calls at any given time to this new server/iax trunk?
4. Is there a MUCH simpler way i'm completely missing that i could do this with?

background:
-70 Agent seats running closer blended
-Unattended campaigns running at around 100 to 200 lines (just leaving answering machine messages)
-IVR menu's setup that transfer to custom agi script to take payments completely agent free (no need to tie up an agent)


If i missed some info you guys might need i apologize and will provide it asap.

Thanks again for all everyone does for this product and its users!

[mflorell]

I would recommend a Sangoma quad T1 card(we are a Sangoma reseller).

Do not get a GoVarion or openvox card, we have seen these before in production and they almost always go bad very quickly under predictive dialer traffic. Also, Sangoma cards have a lifetime warranty.

A single quad core CPU server should be fine for the quad T1 card machine.

[tweidner6471]

I completely agree with the Sangoma hardware recommendation. I've used knockoffs as well as Digium, and frankly the Sangoma hardware has outperformed in every area, including installation and administration. Also, if you haven't looked into it, their CPA is nothing short of amazing.

1.) Sangoma quad port, worth the price

2.) Quad core, 4GB ram, more than enough (I use two quad ports and it's just fine for a few hundred channels)

3.) There are campaign and system level settings that go over this, check out the manager's manual for details.

4.) I have a more complicated setup than most, but what I do is create a secondary trunk in asterisk that gets utilized when I dial over what the system is configure for. Basically it's a secondary dial command that routes the calls to the system with the quad port cards (via SIP or IAX, IAX being the best choice) and that system simply takes all the traffic from the SIP/IAX trunk and places the call out of the T1 cards as needed. Works like a charm and allows us to use a nice mix of on-site and off-site DS3's as well as our normal VoIP service.

On that note, you need to remember that doing this will create alot of extra traffic on your network. While this isn't a problem for decent equipment, alot of lower grade switches can't handle the load that vicidial can generate, especially if you're using a combination of uncompressed audio and SIP trunks.

[konextu]

Sounds great! Thanks guys