With IP telephony and VoIP on the minds of most CIOs, finding the perfect solution has been on the minds of network managers and administrators. And with the near flood of different IP PBXs available, it has been no small task to determine which offers the best solution. Despite the availability of so many options, it was no surprise that readers responded enthusiastically to our Product Leadership survey in the IP PBX category.

Equally unsurprising was Cisco's gold medal sweep of the category. Racking up the points, Cisco's CallManager and CallManagerExpress received stellar marks, with 94% of users rating voice quality and network integration and interoperability as good or excellent. CallManager and CallManagerExpress received almost equally high ratings in IP communications and messaging. In fact, across our evaluation criteria, the products rarely dipped below the 85th percentile in good or excellent user ratings.

According to Cisco, CallManager and the lower-cost CallManagerExpress offer users a simple solution that makes it easy to deploy, administer and maintain IP telephony functionality in a small site or a branch office. Survey respondent Tim Vander Kooi agreed with Cisco's description, saying, "We have been able to connect all of our offices to our central VoIP system now, as opposed to using long distance, which resulted in large cost savings for us."

Though users on the whole gave CallManager and CallManagerExpress such impressive numbers, some respondents returned a few critical comments. One user said his company is looking for an alternative system. Another stated that CallManager seemed to be "behind the times." One user in particular said, "Cisco has always been an excellent provider of 'boxes,' but the concept of providing a 'complete solution' is completely out of their reach."

The majority of users responded with more than favorable comments for CallManager and CallManagerExpress, however, calling it "the best product with an excellent training product" and "a rock-solid product," and giving it an "A+." One commented, "Overall, a good small-scale investment for my company." Another added, "I find this tool to be an excellent product for high-end solutions."

Vander Kooi also praised Cisco's partners, saying that -- in addition to previous positive experiences with Cisco -- they were one of the main reasons his company chose CallManager.

Kate Dostart, Associate Editor