I've said for years that there should be a turnkey "box" that you can simply plug into a PBX and turn it into a PBX with VoIP trunks (or IP Centrex if you prefer.) The box would "simulate" analog or T1/E1 trunk lines so the PBX simply sees the box as the Central Office (CO) providing trunk lines. Then an Ethernet connection on the box would hook up to some sort of broadband IP connection. All voice traffic would get packetized and sent across this IP connection and terminating on an ITSP's (Intenet Telephony Service Provider) network, such as Level3 or Global Crossing. Maybe the box would have expansion ports for a 2nd or 3rd T1/E1. Hey, maybe I should be a VoIP product designer! 
In fact, TMC Labs wrote about Net2Phone's MAX T1/E1 product in 2002 which in fact did just exactly that. Net2Phone MAX T1/E1 Review It earned a B+ overall rating in the the review we wrote.
The problem is that it was pretty pricey - nearly $5 grand and as I don't think it did well in the market. It may not even be offered any more. (I checked their website, and I only see a 2-port, 4-port, and 8-port analog versions though.)
A "box" should cost maybe $1500-$2000 (subsidized by 1-4 year contract with an ITSP if need be), support at least one T1/E1 (24 channels), have expansion ports for adding analog or more T1/E1 ports, and hopefully use good sounding codecs and industry standards, such as SIP.
Just think of the market potential for such a box. There are literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of traditional PBXs still on the market. Many companies are in long term leases, or simply cannot afford to throw out their existing PBX in favor of an IP-PBX which can cost anywhere from $15,000 - $150,000 or more. But they want to jump on the VoIP bandwagon somehow. Well, they can on the trunk side at least and get all the cost savings offered by internet telephony service providers, which offer cheaper per minute rates than traditional carrier trunk lines.
So while they won't get the benefits of "station side" VoIP using some cool newfandangled VoIP phone, they still get the cost savings on the "trunk side".
Then, hey, with all those cost savings maybe they can save up for that new IP-PBX they've got their eye on.
UPDATE! A source has told me that later this year a "major ITSP" will introduce an IP adapter that will plug into the back of a legacy PBX.
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ever been to Vegas?????????
Rolling the dice........plug and Play heh???????
Skibare
Hi,
I am the product manager for the MAX Enterprise line products at Net2Phone. Above your article has been forwarded to my attention. I think you have an old pricing information and impression for the performance of our MAX T1E1 product.
We are still selling this product at much lower pricing with more improved peroduct performance by resolving many customer issues/problems over the past three years since we introduced this product in the year 2002. MAX T1E1 product is designed and manufactured by a world well known high quality product manufacturer LG Electronics in Korea. Please note that all MAX line products, MAX IP10, MAX 410, MAX 420, MAX 430, MAX 8, MAX 8 Plus, MAX 816, MAX T1E1 products are now supported by the MAX PVN (Private Voice Network) product which it is a call server for customers to build their own private on-net VoIP network calls and also they will be able to do off-net calls using the same network. I can be your best source of information on any net2phone VoIP Gateway products. Please feel free to email me any questions you might have on net2phone products.
Thanks,
Hi,
I am the product manager for the MAX Enterprise line products at Net2Phone. Above your article has been forwarded to my attention. I think you have an old pricing information and impression for the performance of our MAX T1E1 product.
We are still selling this product at much lower pricing with more improved peroduct performance by resolving many customer issues/problems over the past three years since we introduced this product in the year 2002. MAX T1E1 product is designed and manufactured by a world well known high quality product manufacturer LG Electronics in Korea. Please note that all MAX line products, MAX IP10, MAX 410, MAX 420, MAX 430, MAX 8, MAX 8 Plus, MAX 816, MAX T1E1 products are now supported by the MAX PVN (Private Voice Network) product which it is a call server for customers to build their own private on-net VoIP network calls and also they will be able to do off-net calls using the same network. I can be your best source of information on any net2phone VoIP Gateway products. Please feel free to email me any questions you might have on net2phone products.
Thanks,
Help !
While doing config on Net2Phone 2-port gateway, I appear to have messed up the default gateway information.
2-way port is giving following to the approaching client pc (under get ip)
192.168.100.138 pc ip thru DHCP
255.255.255.0
192.168.100.2 default gateway
192.168.100.1 dhcp server
192.168.100.1 web based interface is now not approachable
192.168.100.2 also does not respond.
Is there anyway to reset ?
May be u can help
Regards
Help !
While doing config on Net2Phone 2-port gateway, I appear to have messed up the default gateway information.
2-way port is giving following to the approaching client pc (under get ip)
192.168.100.138 pc ip thru DHCP
255.255.255.0
192.168.100.2 default gateway
192.168.100.1 dhcp server
192.168.100.1 web based interface is now not approachable
192.168.100.2 also does not respond.
Is there anyway to reset ?
May be u can help
Regards
Sir,
i lost password of my max420 i need to chage to new acc how do i reset new password
Thank you
Faizer
I own a Max 420. All it takes is 17 kbps per port. That is pretty awesome. How can I get it to work with Vonage ? ? ?
i have a yap max 8 prt version & need to reset the password. the person responsible for 2 of these devices has left to company.
how can it be reset?
thanks,
mike connor
mconnor@cosmocom.com