AS TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES DRIVE MORE educational opportunities and administration efficiencies, VoIP is high on the list of strategies that have sparked more than interest in the past few years. Many IHEs have ventured down the VoIP trail, from a small pilot-level approach to a full-scale rollout that reaches every room on campus and beyond.
Besides bypassing traditional voice services, colleges and universities can use VoIP for desktop video and videoconferencing, emergency notification, and audio conferencing. What follows is a look at why a half-dozen colleges and universities have decided to hang up their old phone service and go with VoIP.
Redirecting Maintenance Costs Franciscan University of Steubenville
When Franciscan University (Ohio) saw that its contract with communications firm Centrex was due to expire last September, at the same time as its long-distance phone contract, the school decided to redirect its Centrex maintenance charges to a VoIP system.
In terms of technology, the university opted for Siemens HiPath 4000 with HiPath Xpressions and HiPath Manager-basically, a package with a technology backbone that enables unified messaging and internal management of the VoIP. The products are part of what Siemens calls "open unified communications," which means that users can collaborate regardless of IT environment, making interoperability less of an issue when blending VoIP with other technology components.
The university was also installing a new student information system at the time, making for a somewhat frazzled technology team, but Siemens reps and help from local Walczak Technology Consultants helped to set deadlines and to provide advice on upgrading parts of the university's data networks.
The new voice network provides features that improve communications and staff productivity, according to Kevin Siebolt, director of IT at the university. These include conference calling, programmable voicemail for students, faculty, and staff , and support of a 911 service that displays a caller's location. An administrative feature enables the university to create voicemail "blasts" that display information visually rather than by voicemail. So, for example, if there was an emergency, professors could see an alert on the screen rather than retrieving a voicemail after class.
"It's lived up to our goals," says Siebolt. "We have a better menuing system, and we can program for different departments, which was more control than we had over our old system."
Quick VoIP Facts
How it works: VoIP technology takes analog audio signals like those transmitted by telephone and turns them into digital data that can be transmitted over a data network, including the internet.
What it includes: A system can have voicemail, videoconferencing, emergency notification services, and audio conferencing.
Security issues: There have been some concerns in the past about security and VoIP, including fears that a PBX or phone could be hacked. But many IT managers have noted that since VoIP is on a data network, it can be protected in the same way as data and applications. Also, IT and IS departments have more control over telecommunications, allowing them to tweak security settings.
Benefits: Potential long-term cost savings, more control over management, advanced features.
Drawbacks: VoIP is still an evolving technology; costs can vary depending on existing infrastructure, but can be high if all new equipment is needed; training is required for users and support personnel.
Bolstering Classroom Support University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Although some VoIP implementations are done with the objective of saving money on long distance and PBX costs, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte had a different goal in mind: to increase significantly classroom support.
The recently developed Office of Classroom Support was created to provide services to 21,000 students and 1,400 faculty members across the thousand-acre campus, with support services running the gamut from changing light-bulbs to fixing projectors. With a large user base and 74 buildings, the previous method of communication- basically, calling to report a problem and frequently leaving a message-meant that issues often took about two days to fix, especially since they had to be addressed by library personnel who had other tasks to do.
The university wanted two-way communication systems that were easy to use so there would be few training costs and minimal hassle. After evaluating PC-based software that required extra microphones and a network-based intercom system that would have required hardware infrastructure upgrades, UNC Charlotte opted for the ii3 Internet Protocol Intercom from Digital Acoustics. About 100 were installed across campus and plugged into the university's existing networks. The vendor also supplied management software, called TalkMaster Enterprise Edition, that could help record and queue help requests.
'Our PR director called to ask if we do VoIP, and I told her she was talking on a VoIP phone. People don't even realize the switch was made.' - Brenda Helminen, Michigan Tech
The response time went from 48 hours to 10 minutes, says Steve Clark, director of Classroom Support. "We have instructors that are so used to quick support that they'll let us drag a ladder into the classroom to change a light-bulb, and a few minutes later, the class goes on as usual," he says.
