The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking

RESTON, Va., Aug. 23, 2011 -- Siemens Enterprise Communications, a provider of enterprise communications, has been appointed by Durham University as its strategic technology partner to implement a communications system as part of a university-wide investment program to deliver  facilities for its 15,000 students and 3,000 staff. The Communications Infrastructure Upgrade (CIU) project will enable Durham to meet the challenge of continuing to provide facilities for its UK and international students while achieving significant efficiency savings to allow reinvestment.

As part of the upgrade program, Durham is introducing Siemens Enterprise Communications' IP telephony platform, OpenScape Voice, and migrating 1,500 voicemail accounts to its Xpressions voicemail system, which will offer greater workplace flexibility for Durham's academic and support staff. The new system comprises 6,500 voice licenses, underpinned by a core university-wide dual vendor data network. To provide increased capacity and greater resilience, it will offer time-saving benefits and a reduction in overall call costs through a more streamlined communications program, replacing six legacy ISDX systems and a legacy voicemail system currently used at the university.

Durham has also chosen Siemens Enterprise Communications' OpenScape Contact Center application to significantly enhance its IT helpdesk function, which will help improve staff productivity and ensure user queries are answered quickly and effectively.

"We are committed to offering staff and students the best possible facilities. As such, the university is undergoing extensive renovations – including new buildings and new technology," said Colin Hopkins, head of CIS Network Support, Durham University. "As part of this project, we opted to implement IP telephony across the entire university, to create a more efficient phone network that will ultimately support our ambitious plans to deliver outstanding service to our student base."

To provide technologically advanced yet cost-effective study and research facilities, Durham decided to upgrade many facilities, as well as introduce a new university-wide data network to underpin its new Siemens Enterprise Communications IP telephony system. This new infrastructure, which is currently being upgraded, will give the university's governing body the option to upgrade to full unified communications at a later date.

By 2012, 6,000 IP telephony handsets will be in operation across 30 of the university's locations. The SIP-based communications system will offer the ability to introduce features such as presence to allow staff to check their colleagues' availability.

To date, the upgrade and relocation of the telephony services based at the North Lodge site saw in excess of 2,500 extensions and voicemail redirected, with the Contact Centre live from the 9th of April 2010. These developments incorporated the demolition of the core site North Lodge, which was the central telephone exchange for the whole University, routing and directing telephone calls across the entire estate. This was a major milestone in the overall migration.

The CIU project will continue for a further 12 months, during which IP telephones and data network upgrades will be executed across the remainder of the university, seeing benefits in improved capacity, resilience and quality of the data and telephony services.

"This is a significant project with a renowned UK university to deliver an extensive and forward thinking communications infrastructure," said Andy Clark, head of public sector UK, Siemens Enterprise Communications. "The decision to move to a centralised IP-based communications infrastructure will provide both staff and students with an enhanced communications experience, eliminating third party costs and reducing administration costs. In a complex organisation such as a university, creating one communications system is a smart and efficient way to facilitate a more streamlined working environment."

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com

About Siemens:
Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. is a global supplier of Voice, UC, and Contact Center technologies. The company's Open Communications approach to providing software, solutions and services for enterprises of all sizes enables business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure - with any device, network or information technology infrastructure.