Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Focus
4 Steps to Unified Communications
Villanova University's Stephen Fugale talks VoIP migration
11/1/2007
But just in case problems arose, Empire and Avaya set up a call center in the UNIT building for quick response. Fugale doesn't recall anything more serious than the need to pull wire in a few locations where people had used up all available network jacks.
Step 4: Look to the Future
The final layout of communications at the school is hybrid. Some buildings are pure VoIP; others are digital phones, depending on the state of the network in a given building. Eventually, as additional pieces of the infrastructure are upgraded, VoIP will be rolled out more extensively. But in either realm, the basic capabilities Villanova sought exist--call waiting, access to enhanced 911.
In the event of a power outage, the school has backup power and "UPSes spread all over campus" so the phone system can still operate. Likewise, quality of service is exactly where Fugale expected it to be. "My user community has the expectation--as with the old phone system--that when they pick up a handset, they've got a clear and high quality dial tone. We had to upgrade portions of our network to make sure quality of service was there."
Aside from adding phones here and there to address growth in faculty and staff, Fugale said he sees the major growth happening in the different applications that will run on the system. Recently, the school migrated from Sun's iPlanet messaging server suite for messaging and the Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook and Outlook Web Access. Now it's positioned to more fully exploit its new communication network.
Said Fugale, "The standard user would be able to get voice mail or e-mail on their PC or in concept on their phone. We also have the capability to do SIP phones. We have the capability for remote workers to dial in from the PC, log into the Avaya system, and have it be invisible as to whether I'm working in the office or at home."
The campus will implement a call center, probably first in the IT department, to use interactive response. "When Steve Fugale calls the help desk for an issue," he said, "a screen comes up saying, 'It's Steve Fugale at extension 4402; he has a Dell D610; he's an administrator.' OK, Steve, what's your problem?" And at some point, he expects the school to do speech recognition, as opposed to requiring the use of operators to do smart call routing.
Through it all, Fugale said, the IT organization will continue putting its energy into those projects, small and large--laundry room texting and unified communications--that will have "the best impact on the teaching and learning and living environment" at Villanova.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
