Universities are changing to VoIP: a winning decision!
VoIP telephony with snom's IP phones and Open Source solutions for the University of Palermo
The University of Palermo has 78 departments (until the end of 2010) and almost 4,000 employees. The institutes of the towns of Agrigento, Caltanissetta and Trapani belong to it, too. Therefore, The University of Palermo is today one of the most well-structured universities in Italy – equipped with advanced networks and phone structures that are in constant evolution.
HARMONISING THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPTIMIZING COSTS
- The team responsible for the University’s VoIP infrastructure. From the right: Fabio Sangiorgi, Massimo Tartamella, Piero Brignola, Nicola Trapani
In the past, the Departments of the University of Palermo had always managed their own phone infrastructures independently. Over time, this has led them to use over 50 ISDN, PRI and BRI lines as well as hundreds of analog phone lines, incurring charges per line, switchboards, phones and conversations – especially on an inter-departmental level – which resulted in an annual cost of € 700,000 up to 2007. The increasing costs and difficulties in monitoring and maintaining the phone systems of the various structures – which only led to further integration problems with the modern phone services required to increase people’s availability – all contributed to the decision to replace the entire University's phone infrastructure.
In July 2008, Dr. Tartamella, Head of the Network, Hardware and Software Department of the Information System of the University (SIA), put into place a project to harmonize the entire network and telecommunication infrastructure – which now connects 3,200 extensions to different Asterisk switchboards. This can access the University's database so that contacts and users can be managed and monitored via accounting applications that were strategically developed for this purpose.
THE PROJECT
Dr. Tartamella wished to put an end to the self-sufficiency that had become unsustainable as far as the operating costs of the phone lines were concerned. Thus, he and his team evaluated different options, including VoIP systems owned by well-known manufacturers and Open Source switchboards. Once the purchasing, implementation, training and maintenance costs were determined, the University chose an Open Source solution since it was easier to adapt to the needs of each department and also to those of the administrative offices. The solution was also more flexible in terms of compatible terminals and integration of traditional phones.
Furthermore, Open Source technologies provided a faster return on investments as opposed to "closed" systems. In July 2008, three Asterisk switchboards were installed between the primary Telecom lines and the University's phone network to enable call transfer to the VoIP network or to the traditional one depending on the type of extension connected. The first installation involved the integration of 500 traditional phones to the Asterisk switchboards and the implementation of 300 snom 300 IP desk phones. Today, 31 departments (in January 2011, the 78 Departments were consolidated into 31), 12 faculties and all administrative offices use VoIP. The University now uses 5 primary lines only and 2,700 snom 300 IP phones, thus reducing the annual phone costs to € 250,000: An important achievement.
The snom 300 IP PHONE
- snom 300
Dr. Tartamella also tells us that choosing the snom 300 IP phones was the result of a very quick decision. By consulting with other Universities, who had opted for VoIP, he soon found out that snom phones were highly recommended for their stability and high interoperability when used with VoIP switchboards that are based on the open SIP standard. The plethora of functions that are offered by the snom 300 can even meet the needs of the most demanding users, which was another point in favor of the phones that were selected by the University.
When connected to the Asterisk switchboard, the phones show special characteristics that cannot be used as easily with traditional phones:
- Mailbox
- Call Forward
- DND (Do Not Disturb)
- Lists of missed, received and dialed calls
- Access to the University’s centralized address book
- Speed dialing
- Shared use of the same telephone – with different accounts for each user
- Configuration through the internet or through the network (auto-provisioning)
- Conference Call
Technical Support
"I could not answer questions concerning the quality of the technical support that is offered by snom because we have never needed to use it," explains Dr. Tartamella. The snom 300 IP table phones have proven themselves to be stable, flexible and they can be easily integrated within the infrastructure. Today, the team is able to add new VoIP extensions within a few minutes through the network (auto-provisioning) by using the TR069 protocol, without causing any interruptions as far as the availability of other users is concerned.
VOIP'S FUTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY
- Palazzo Steri, one of the University’s seats
The University's "VoIPing" project is in constant evolution. In consideration of the results that were obtained thanks to the migration of 64% of the users to the solution, the desire to move entirely towards VoIP is very strong. The extensions that were not yet integrated within the new infrastructure as well as those from Agrigento, Caltanissetta and Trapani must be included as soon as possible.
As a matter of fact, the extensions from Agrigento, Caltanissetta and Trapani will be transferred to this system as soon as the bandwidth provided by the operators of those regions will be sufficient enough to allow the university to activate VoIP as effectively as the system that is currently being used in Palermo.
The customer:
University of Palermo, Italy
The task:
Reducing telephony costs by harmonizing the telecommunication infrastructure of the whole university
The challenge:
Using reliable IP phones that are based on the open SIP standard, which support auto provisioning and whose functions meet the different needs of each university department.
The solution:
2,700 x snom 300
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