3 replies to this topic

[Swerve]

Basically I'm opening a shop in the near future, and want a box running 24/7 which does the following:

1) Runs a VOIP system. There will be a normal POTS landline coming in FX0/5 card required yes?), and I want to:

Record all calls made in/internally/out. On incoming calls play a "This call we be recorded for training and legal purposes" message to the caller.
Save voicemails
Gather any intelligence/data I can on the calls, ie do a 1471 and log the result to CSV/XML/whatever.
Have 2 phones for use in the shop, 1 hard-wired to the counter/box, one cordless.

2) Run a CCTV system:

I have been looking at these IP cameras: Link

I'm planning of having 4 of these. I'd like to:

Record visual/audio 24/7 and upload that footage via SFTP to a remote server
Motion detector activation sends me an email
View/operate all the cameras via Andoid mobile.


Anyone done anything like this? Would prefer this to run on a Debian/Ubuntu box, but Windows wouldn't be an issue at all.

Thanks for any advice, hope that all makes sense, bit of a hectic night last night

EDIT - This will be UK based perhaps I should mention to.

Edited by Swerve, 25 August 2012 - 08:32 AM.

[Niko]

If you're interested in VoIP technology then I recommend you to take a look at Ozeki website. You can find there useful information on development and detailed descriptions as well. Now I'mIcreating an IVR system and I'm using the next page: http://www.voip-sip-...tion-voip.html.

Ozeki VoIP SIP SDK is an excellent and high-quality library so I have only good experience related to that tool kit.

[TheFunk]

I don't have much experience with IP cameras personally, but one thing you may have to think about is how to manage storage space on your remote server. Raw uncompressed video (with audio) can produce gigantic file sizes in a matter of minutes, hence the need for things like Blu Ray these days. Of course at that point your viewing something that's full high-def. Anyway, if you were to rationalise that one hour of audio+video were the equivalent of maybe 30mb (I'm not sure whether that's a good estimate) then after 24 hours of running you would have amassed 720mb of data. After one week of continuous recording that would amount to 5040mb. Now multiply that by the number of cameras you want to use (4), and you'll find that one weeks recording cost you nearly 20gb of disk space.

The camera from the page you linked to looks pretty nice, but a few of the reviews say that you can only upload pictures via FTP. If you can't actually upload video via FTP I know of a few ways you could capture the video stream in real-time that would help to keep file size down.

[TheFunk]

Thought I might add some more...

I did a little browsing for IP phones with wireless handsets, and the only thing I really found was a few outrageously priced Cisco handsets, and a bunch of hybrid systems (which were much cheaper). I was hoping to find a few bases that were PoE like the Alcatel Lucent systems we have at my work (very nice but expen$ive), but no such luck.

One thing I did find was this:
Panasonic Business Phone System

The pack comes with the corded and cordless phone like you described. In addition, Panasonic offers a cloud service, which they claim is cheaper, and easier to set up for a small business. They also claim to have an auto-attendant feature, which I figure you could use to tell people that their call will be monitored.

Another option you could go with is Vonage. In my opinion, Vonage is awesome (and dirt cheap). I get unlimited calls anywhere for $9.99 a month. Plus you can purchase phone sets that come with everything you need to get set up with it.

Like this set for example