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Peer Pressure
9/19/2005
Within weeks, Chrystle Ross, director of the Office of Information Technology at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (GA), had jumped aboard the VoIP bandwagon, opting for a comprehensive system from Cisco, as part of an overall network upgrade.
Other schools followed suit. At Georgia Perimeter College, Bruce Briggs, CIO and associate VP for IT, also inked a deal with Cisco. At the University of West Georgia, CTO Mitchell Russell signed up for a hybrid VoIP solution from Nortel Networks (www.nortel.com). Finally, Thursby himself took the plunge for the Georgia system’s Information and Instructional Technology department; last year, he signed up an Avaya solution that was rolled out as the department moved into a brand-new facility.
“We had the infrastructure already; it was just a matter of what kind of technology to use,” says Thursby. “After seeing what VoIP did for [Southern Polytechnic and Abraham Baldwin], and realizing that the cost of another Centrex switch in the new building would have been more than VoIP, it just made sense to follow their lead.”
Dollars and Sense
The system-level switch to VoIP had dramatic bottom-line impact. Because the University System of Georgia has three organizational offices in Atlanta and one in Athens, within Thursby’s department VoIP has reduced longdistance calls between locations. And across the network of 34 schools, a research site, and the system office, Thursby estimates that by 2009 VoIP will cut $12 to $13 million off the annual $40 million telecom bill —a savings of roughly 25 percent. Even more savings could be on the way. In recent months, Georgia Highlands College and other schools within the network have expressed interest in VoIP. Ultimately, the goal is to get all of the USG schools into it. In the meantime, while these schools wade into VoIP, Gruszka, the pioneer from Southern Polytechnic State, takes comfort in knowing that his own curiosity may have forever changed telecommunications strategy for the University System of Georgia. “I’m just happy we’re all making a habit out of saving money,” Gruszka says. “None of us is made of money, so anything I can do to cut telecom costs, I’m going to try.”
Matt Villano is senior contributing editor of this publication.
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