Aastralink 160 Pro Initial Setup

My initial thoughts about the Aastralink 160 Pro phone system is that it has a good number of features at a reasonable cost (around $850 from many online voip stores.) This is an embedded Asterisk system. Aastra does not hide this fact - although you would not know it if just looking at the box or gui interface.

The physical box is very small - no fan so it is very quiet. It is wall and rack mountable (brackets included for standard 19" rack)

6 fxo ports
2 fxs/fax/analog phone ports
1 lan
1 pc audio out (paging)
1 pc audio in (moh source)
additional interface for what could be used for door open switches or overhead paging

Setup

Normally network guys are accustomed to setting up devices by finding the default ip address of the device. We login and assign a static IP address. With this device its a little different:

1. You must have atleast one Aastra phone
2. Connect the Aastralink to your network and let it boot up completely (steady constant flashing green LED means it has booted OK)
3. Connect a supported Aastra IP phone - the phone also must be reset to factory default settings
4. Let the phone boot - it will upgrade/downgrade to the same firmware level that the Aastralink supports
5. Keep an eye on the phone - you will need to select an extension #, password, name, and email address. Note: You cannot skip this part - you cannot login to the Aastralink unless you setup that first phone which is automatically the "admin" phone
6. Once the admin phone is ready - get the IP of the phone (yes the phone)
7. Open a browser and enter the ip address of the phone - it will redirect you to the IP address of the Astralink
8. Use your extension # and password to login to the system as administrator - that's right! There is no "admin" username - the first extension is the "admin" account - enter the password you created for the extension

Once you are logged in you can configure additional phones and settings.

I will detail more info in follow up posting. This is not a review of the Aastralink 160 Pro, I will provide a review once I am done testing.