Avaya IP office 500V2 vs Mitel IP PBX 3300 CX II: Which would you choose?

Hi Nadim,

I think both systems are good. Overall it will depend on how you use your communication platform. For instance, if you are going to run any call center application or do any real-time evaluating of employees, then Avaya will most likely end up being cheaper. Mitel uses Prariefyre as their call center application. In my opinion it's pretty expensive. However, it is a good software application and provides robust reporting. The strength of Avaya will lie in their Developer Connection community. Avaya won't pigeon hole you by telling you that you have to use their call center software or their CRM, etc. You have more freedom to choose the software that fits best for your business.

When it comes to remote workers taking calls over a VPN, I would recommend Avaya's IP Office. I have personally used an Avaya remote IP phone and it works flawlessly. In a recent demo for one of my clients, Mitel had trouble getting one of their VPN phones to work in my clients Manhattan office. In fact, they never got one of them to work. The one they did get to work sounded like you were talking in a tin can. It also had a poor speaker phone. My client was very picky about the quality of the speaker phone. However, they ended up choosing Cisco.

From a manageability standpoint, I think they both have a user friendly GUI application that is pretty well laid out and easy to make moves, adds and changes.

You may want to look at some of the phone comparison resources that FOCUS has. There is one on Enterprise Telephony that will cover some of your concerns.

I hope this helps.