[cisco-voip] Torn apart by choices - old or new solutions? Simply speaking: CM5.0 or CM4.x

[Netfortius]

You may have already gotten used to my last string of questions here, which - 
I am not hiding it - are part of my attempt to gain info from the more 
experienced people, on this subject, regarding a project I am working on for 
deployment of multi-site IPT & VoIP. I have gone into some details, for some 
questions I had, but now - reading tons of material every day, I have become 
very worried about the full blown solution chosen, vs. what is being promised 
just "around the corner". Here is where I would appreciate any comments, of 
any nature, thoughts, experience, "what-if" - anything you can share about 
this subject:

Scenario: multi-site deployment of Cisco CM, with the following objectives in 
mind:

1. Replacement of existing old telephony solution, Nortel-based, consisting of 
PBX in each location, with Cisco-based IP-based communication systems (and 
not only one-to-one replacement of phones, but also steps toward unified 
communications)

2. Installation of Cisco solution consisting of:
	a. CM 4.x (advised by Cisco) at the HQ + Unity integrated with Exchange 2003 
and a handful of IP phones (major testers of the technology) and integration 
with existing Nortel PBX at the HQ (PHASE 1)
	b. IP phones in the remote location (complete replacement of everything old, 
including PBX) + SRST + standalone (storage-wise) Unity (PHASE 1)
	c. Unified messaging at the HQ, in the "pilot" group, to the best of the 
abilities and availability of products around CM 4.x (e.g. PA, among others, 
as an example of what I am getting at) (PHASE 1)
	d. Experience from c> ==> full implementation of unified messaging at the 
first remote ("upgrade" of the standalone Unity into an Exchange-tied one - 
is this even possible?!?) (PHASE 2)
	e. remote site used as template fro all other sites (PHASE 2)
	f. full upgrade at the HQ (PHASE 2), with the exception of Call Center
	g. Cisco IPCC replacement of the existing Nortel Call Center, after the 
entire VoIP and IPT has proven reliable to sustain a Customer Service (PHASE 
3)

3. The unified communications (including messaging) will eventually adddress 
various business needs, primarily focused on mobility and real-time 
communications and sharing

Having said all of the above, here are the issues I am struggling with:

- I have (and nobody in my network geeks group) no real experience with Cisco 
VoIP/IPT;
- the suggested solution, from Cisco, revolves around a CM 4.2 and, gradually, 
as explained above, updates to the point of full unified messaging - still 
4.2-based
- I am getting conflicting messages from our Cisco group - they advise us to 
do the install with CM 4.2 (which would end up as a cluster of multiple 
servers, at the HQ), not CM 5.0, but:
- I am reading and reading, and it appears to me that some features associated 
with CM 4.2 are dying (e.g. PA), while CM 5.0 seems to open the door for much 
more, but not everything backward compatible with 4.x
- tons of features are being advertised as related to CM 5.0, only, but are 
not ready yet, and are to be released this year (majority in second quarter)

Bottom line - I am struggling with one major question (with no easy answer - 
thus appreciating any comments this list may have): should I move ahead as 
started, with the one site + pilot HQ, on CM 4.2 (PHASE 1), then go over all 
phases, then analyze what would need to be upgraded to a 5.0 environment, if 
certain additional features would become available and needed, and not 
backward compatible
OR
should I just put a stop to the CM 4.x analysis and planning, and redo 
everything (with the delay caused by various products availability) around CM 
5.0?

As I said - any $0.02-$64K comments will be really appreciated. I will try to 
consolidate this type of info, in something useful, if enough data warrants 
it.

Thanks,
Stefan