Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services vs Lumen Unified Communications & Collaboration (formerly CenturyLink)

Likelihood to Recommend

It is well suited for: Clients with call managers that want to continue using Cisco and want to minimize the new CAPEX. Clients that want to outsource the platform management and support.Clients that have a variation on the number of extensions.Although, Cisco HCS, is a solution that has a higher opex than the ones supported in ISP IP Centrex.

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Rui Ferraz

Technical Consultant

VodafoneTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees

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While I am happy with the service, it does leave something to be desired. The MPLS circuit connection has been very stable and I am very happy with its uptime. I am also quite happy with the calling plans. I have been able to cut back on costs with the design they have. Support is the reason for the lower score.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 51-200 employees

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Pros

VoIP best practices
UC and IM
Centralized management and provisioning
Reduced OPEX/CAPEX in the implementation
Security and integration with other UC platforms using SIP (Except Lync)

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Rui Ferraz

Technical Consultant

VodafoneTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees

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MPLS circuits
Domestic calling plans
International calling plans

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 51-200 employees

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Cons

Integration with contact center plaforms
Integration with other UC platforms
Lower the tennant size and clusters capacity
Cisco's pressure to buy more and more licences, even not having a stale client pipeline (From the ISP point of view)

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Rui Ferraz

Technical Consultant

VodafoneTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees

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Cleaner invoices
Easier access to support

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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Alternatives Considered

Cisco HCS platform is to be seen as a centralized UC platforms, that can be scalable as an IP Centrex solution and as rich in functionalities as a Cisco CUCM. If you're looking for a solution and your main focus is IM & P functionalities rather than voice, Lync is a good solution. If your focus is voice and telephony, Cisco is a better solution

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Rui Ferraz

Technical Consultant

VodafoneTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees

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We do not use any other products.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Reduces the need to have a higher CAPEX in order to buy all the licenses at the start of the project.
The licensing is perpetual, the only associated cost with the licenses are SWSS.
Desktop sharing isn't a functionality.
Cisco SMB series can be used only with the higher cost licensing (Foundation/Standard).

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Rui Ferraz

Technical Consultant

VodafoneTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees

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Outstanding uptime
Good value

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 51-200 employees

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Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services vs Lumen Unified Communications & Collaboration (formerly CenturyLink)