University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: March 29, 2007

By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer

Consolidation of UB's more than 80 separate telephone systems into a single state-of-the-art service marks a major step forward for the UB 2020 IT Strategic Transformation process.

The three-year campus-wide transition to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a uniform and feature-rich telephone system that combines voice communication on the same data network that supports computing on campus, will start next month in Jacobs Management Center, North Campus. About 600 telephones in UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and in the Alfiero Center adjoining Jacobs already operate using the new technology.

"This is a modern telephone system with modern telephone functions," says Mark Deuell, director of operational support services. "It will unify UB's approach to the telephone so everyone's on the same network."

The project includes all telephone sets located in UB- and UB Foundation-owned facilities. Changes to telephone service for students in the residence halls and apartments are part of a separate project.

The initial investment required to centralize UB's disjointed telephone services is about $3 million, but Deuell estimates the university will recoup that sum after approximately five years due to reduced operating costs. Long-term savings are projected at $750,000 annually.

"It pays for itself," he adds. "The new system will cost us less to operate than the current system."

The most visible aspect of the switch is that all faculty and staff members will receive a new telephone set. Features of the new system include voice mail, message forwarding, caller ID and a directory service that enables users to search out other users by name. Each telephone also will have a unique, directly dialed, seven-digit telephone number that remains the same no matter the location of the phone—a telephone set could relocate across the hall or across campus. Existing 645 and 829 telephone numbers will transfer, or "port," to the new system.

The switch also will eliminate the current telephone billing system. Regular telephone payments are scheduled to end July 1 as the funds each department sets aside for telephone service are transferred to a centralized account, says Deuell. Officials plan to pass the savings from the switch on to the academic and administrative units after the cost of the initial investment is recovered.

Private data networks such as UB's provide a much more robust and reliable infrastructure to transport voice data than the commercial Internet, Deuell explains, noting that an upgrade to the data network in each building will precede the telephones' installation in order to support the new system, as well as boost computer network performance and security.

The installation timetable for the project has been determined based on a building-by-building system that clusters together schools and departments, as well as takes into account geographic location and technical considerations related to the current telephone systems that are in place. For a complete proposed transition schedule and further information on the switch to VoIP, go to http:/ /www.buffalo.edu/ub2020/itst/voip_intro.html.

Businesses and universities that have switched their telephone service to VoIP include IBM, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company, Case Western University, Cortland State College and Erie Community College. The decision to transition to the service came out of a three-year process that included consultation with institutions that use the technology, Deuell says.

"We couldn't find anyone who had it and wanted to complain," he adds. "They all love it."