UMBC is one of the evaluation schools testing a new voice-over-IP (VOIP) service that is being launched by Internet2. This new service allows us
to have our phone system in the “cloud.” The session initiation protocol (SIP) service has many more features than our present telephone switch supports and includes the
ability to make phone calls from a VOIP phone, computer or to have voice mail sent to
your inbox.
Our goal is to evaluate this service over the fall semester. If it works as we expect, we will look at some limited deployments in the spring 2013 -- the first target is the research park and Columbus Center. We will then evaluate this with these few departments in 2013 and look at this as a possibility for additional deployment on campus in 2014.
A major benefit for UMBC is that our present phone system is now over twenty years old and the company that manufactured it, Siemens, no longer provides support for these telephone switches. UMBC would like to move to improve the options we provide departments for phone support but to date the capital costs of upgrading have been too large to make this feasible. We are hoping this “cloud-based” phone service lessons the complexity and one-time cost of upgrading.
Our goal is to evaluate this service over the fall semester. If it works as we expect, we will look at some limited deployments in the spring 2013 -- the first target is the research park and Columbus Center. We will then evaluate this with these few departments in 2013 and look at this as a possibility for additional deployment on campus in 2014.
A major benefit for UMBC is that our present phone system is now over twenty years old and the company that manufactured it, Siemens, no longer provides support for these telephone switches. UMBC would like to move to improve the options we provide departments for phone support but to date the capital costs of upgrading have been too large to make this feasible. We are hoping this “cloud-based” phone service lessons the complexity and one-time cost of upgrading.
