Questions[telephony](server)

We have 4 people call us from around the country at once and it causes our phones to be busy.

We want to be able to have at least 8 people call us at once without anyone getting the busy signal. There will almost always be people calling each other internally, up to 10 at a time.

We have 4 analog lines coming into a Dell server that has a Digium AEX410PELF PCIe card in it.

Do I have to buy another one of these cards (or an 8 port version) or can I just configure Asterisk to handle more simultaneous calls somehow?

Is it as easy as adding the second card in and getting a few settings changed?

We will have the phone company install an additional 4 analog lines coming in for us if needed.

Basically I would like speed dial on this so I can press 1 and it will dial 101 AND I can press 2 and it will dial 555-555-5555. Is there a way to do this?

So I read a lot of good things about Asterisk. I am not however looking to run a call center or small business setup. I am still interested what potential uses it has for me as a "power user" and what features I could harness for my communication needs.

I'll throw out that I currently use other technologies like Google Voice, Skype, and a cellphone of course. So, what potential uses, if any, could Asterisk PBX have for a user like me?

I'm looking for a good website dressing a comparative analysis of the most popular telephony solutions resellers (Cisco, Avaya, Siemens, Microsoft, etc...). I already found a very nice work comparing Cisco and Avaya, but it's not all. What is interesting for me are the performances, the evolutivity, all the technical data, the size of the hardware for a few different configurations, etc. Thanks for your help.

I'm going to be setting up VoIP for a small business that is expected to grow rapidly. I don't really understand much about VoIP other than it's a telephone system that works over a regular network (intranet/internet) rather than over the POTS.

My primary question is how should this be setup? I know there are a ton of providers out there, there's IP PBXs, and even simpler solutions like Skype; what is the way to go? I want maximum flexibility and control over what features the system has. I want a very powerful and high quality phone system, but money is an object so it can't be too fancy.

If you know of any good articles that really describe how it works and the different options you have, that would be helpful. I just don't really understand it at a low level.

Also, if possible, I would like to support multiple locations. There are two building that are separated by a small driveway that will need to both have phones in it (the network will be joined so that's not really an issue) but there are a few people who will be working remotely, so if they could have a company phone with a four digit "extension" that would be awesome. Would that just be done with a VPN or what?