Contact center server calculator

Method

How the calculator works

The number of servers depends on how many agents are on the line at the same time. Up to 10 agents, the whole platform fits on one server with a 240 GB SSD. From 11 to 30 agents, telephony moves to its own machine: if anything competes with it for resources, agents' audio starts cutting out. From 31 to 60, the applications and database get their own server so heavy reports don't slow down the interface. Over 60 agents, each of the platform's four components runs on its own server. And over 100 agents, telephony gets 32 GB of RAM and the database gets an extra disk.

For high availability, each primary server gets a standby server with the same configuration. If the primary fails, the standby takes over.

Call recordings are stored separately from the servers – on a dedicated disk or on network storage. Each conversation is recorded in full in stereo, and the customer's and agent's voices are also saved as separate files so they can go to speech analytics. In MP3, 1,000 hours of calls with all tracks take about 90 GB.

AI agents on your own servers need a GPU. Up to 10 agents, it goes into the same server, which gets extra memory and cores for the model. From 11 agents, AI agents get a dedicated GPU server, or the GPU goes into a virtualization host if your IT team allows it, or you use spare capacity on the reporting server – it's usually the least loaded. The GPU never goes into the telephony server: at peak load, agents' audio would start cutting out. When AI agents run on your hardware, there are no per-minute AI fees; setting up and training the agents is billed in support hours.

Components

Servers the platform needs

The platform has four components. In a small contact center they run on one server; in a large one, each gets its own server. Below is what each server does and how to configure it. This configuration is proven in production: it runs a contact center with up to 50 people on the line at once – agents and managers taking calls – and the CPUs stay lightly loaded. Disks are listed the way you'd set them for virtual machines. For a physical server, pick the nearest real SSD size: 240, 480, or 960 GB.

• The telephony server takes and routes calls and records conversations. 4 cores, 16 GB RAM (32 GB for over 100 agents), disks of 50 GB for the system and 100 GB for data.
• The application and database server runs the web interface for agents and managers and the main database. 4 cores, 16 GB RAM, 50 and 100 GB disks; over 100 agents – an extra 200 GB for the database.
• The microservices server connects telephony with the web interface, your CRM, and other systems. 4 cores, 16 GB RAM, 50 and 100 GB disks.
• The reporting and analytics server collects data for reports and monitoring. 4 cores, 16 GB RAM, 50 and 300 GB disks.
• Call recordings are stored separately – on a dedicated disk or on network storage. 1,000 hours of calls take about 90 GB: roughly what a contact center with 50 agents and managers working at once records in a month.
• All servers can be virtual machines. The operating system is Rocky Linux 9.

Result

How to read the result

• Servers you need – a list of servers with their role and configuration: cores, memory, disks. With high availability on, each server has a standby with the same configuration.
• Total servers – how many machines you need, including standby servers and the AI agent server.
• Primary servers – these run the platform itself.
• Standby servers – they take over if a primary server fails.
• GPUs for AI agents and dedicated GPU servers – needed if AI agents must run entirely on your hardware. Up to 10 agents, the GPU sits in the primary server, so there's no dedicated server.
• Call recording storage – how much space recordings take over the retention period you chose, and which disk will do.

Example

Example

A contact center has 20 agents working at once, logs 2,000 talk hours a month, and keeps recordings for a year. Two machines with 4 cores and 16 GB each are enough: one for telephony, the other for everything else. A year of recordings takes about 2,160 GB – a 4 TB disk will do. With high availability, you need 4 servers.