Background
Reasons the Project
is Necessary
Five main campus telephone
switches in the University’s campus voice network have reached end-of-life
support from the manufacturer and must be retired (actually effective
January 1, 2003). These switches are now 20 years old. Additionally, three
other campus telephone switches will need significant upgrades in order to
interoperate with the new switches. Combined, these five switches provide
approximately 80% of the total campus voice connections serving 171 of 215
University buildings. Customers groups served by the switches include
faculty, staff, and students.
Steps to Project Implementation
The
University has selected a switch replacement solution through a Request for
Proposal process begun in the fall of 2002. Approval of the solution and
funding for it were finalized in the fall of 2003. Contract negotiations
with the selected vendor began in December 2003 as the exact configurations
and features of the solution were being worked out by a TSRP Design Team.
Project implementation of major hardware is expected to take 12-18 months beginning January
2004. Implementation of service enhancements will follow for 6-8
months after major hardware implementation
Goals of the Replacement Solution
The new recommended solution replacing the existing telephone switches has immediate and
long-term impacts on voice services campus-wide; including impacts on
functionality, operations, voice and data service delivery and support,
technology interoperability, costs and others. Briefly, the solution:
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Provides equal or better system reliability, quality, and functionality compared to current systems
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Provides measurable real benefit to our customers
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Accommodates the current 16,000 stations and scales to accommodate 20,000 stations long-term
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Leverages the University’s investment in the current voice and data network equipment, and communications infrastructure.
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Positions the University for adopting new applications as they evolve.
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Positions the University to migrate and adapt to rapidly emerging technologies and standards at a pace best fitting the University’s environment, budget, customer expectations, and customer service demands. Flexibility in adjusting the pace is key.
Exploration of Customer Needs
Information concerning services was gathered from customer focus groups
representing a broad cross-section of colleges, departments, leadership
committees, and open forums with representation from faculty, staff, and
students. Customers also had the opportunity to participate in a
multi-vendor technology demonstration lab displaying the technologies and
applications that were considered.
In the analysis, the following services and functionality were the most
highly requested:
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Telephone ease-of-use: simplify, more intuitive, menu- driven, likened to cell phone functionality
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Unified messaging service: access and manage voicemail, email and fax messages from a single inbox
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Softphone: software telephone, typically on laptop computers for over-network calling
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Voice conferencing service: ad-hoc, user established multi-party conferencing
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Directory access at the telephone: campus and personal directories available through the telephone display
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Caller ID: display of calling party’s name and number
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Call logs: review calls made, calls received and missed calls, again similar to cell phones
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Mobility associated with desk telephone, cell phone, and wireless phone: integration of wireless devices to function with the telephone system across multiple networks
Technology and industry drivers and considerations
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The voice switch industry is in a slow transition from traditional circuit-switched technology to IP switch solutions. These solutions utilize an IP infrastructure to carry the voice traffic (VoIP). They use IP telephony applications to provide the value-added services and functionality. IP based voice technology, as the undisputed direction of the industry, albeit slow, is getting significant industry research and development resources. IP telephony is a capability included as a portion of the recommended solution.
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The need to introduce value-added services to customers who need them, but not force change on all users. The recommended solution allows maximum flexibility in the introduction of new services and technologies only where and when they are needed and cost justified.
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The need to balance the necessary introduction of value-added services against the complexity of multi-vendor solutions. The majority of the value-added services are in IP telephony applications created by 3rd party developers. Additionally IP networks have traditionally integrated equipment and applications from various vendors much more so than traditional voice networks. A multi-vendor environment has advantages in utilizing the best features available and enabling flexibility but adds some level of complexity. Therefore it is desirable to implement multi-vendor solutions only where they offer tangible benefits in terms of user experience or technology efficiency. The recommended solution accomplishes this.
Hybrid solution decision
The recommended solution satisfying the requirements for traditional and
value-added services is a hybrid solution combining the best-of-breed of the
incumbent campus voice equipment manufacturer (NEC) for traditional
services, and the incumbent data network equipment manufacturer (Cisco
Systems) for advanced services.
Board of Regents approval
The University requested approval to purchase telephone switching equipment
to replace existing equipment in October 2003. The Board approved award of
the project to NEC Business Network Solutions.
Benefits of the Project
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Provides flexibility to deploy services based on needs, and not force change upon all users
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Provides for good institutional stewardship by utilizing lower cost services where appropriate, while still making newer technologies and value-added services available to customers who need them
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Allows for new services to be deployed when and where they are needed and can be cost justified
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Allows for minimal disruption and re-training of users and operational staff
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Provides flexibility and scaling to support campus growth
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Utilizes proven products from proven companies