IT Awards Telephone Contract to NEC
Implementation Team - From IT, front row from left, are Jim McKinney, Amanda Evans, Aron Smetana, Jeff Wolff, and Ray Newcomb. From NEC, back row from left, are Theresa Boomer, Tony Crispino, John Glomski, Mindy Dunkle, Joe Schrader, Doug Manring, Michael Tedrow, Patty Brierley, Gale Bickle, and NEC project manager John Bargabus. (Photo by: Ted Cook, TLT)
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
By: Jan Jones
The University of Nevada, Reno has contracted with telecommunications vendor, NEC, to purchase a new integrated campus telephone system that will be installed over Winter Break.
Although the vendor was selected a few weeks ago, it could not be announced until the contract was signed by Chancellor James Rogers of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). The day of the signing, several NEC personnel were on campus for a kick-off meeting with Information Technology (IT) directors and managers.
“Tagging and toning” is currently underway on campus by the IT Division. This project, which identifies each telephone line on campus “from start to finish,” where it goes into a single room or closet in a building, is being paid for out of the IT operating budget to keep costs lower to departments.
Benefits
Benefits of the new integrated telephone system to UNR colleges and departments include:
* You are no longer responsible for purchasing your own phones or phone systems
* You will no longer incur labor costs for telephone repairs
* You gain improved overall reliability of the phone system
* You gain a central voicemail system, which allows message routing and group messaging to all other voice mailboxes on campus; for example, you could create a group message list to send voicemail to everyone in your department
* Your employees have many new features available to them, including voicemail and caller ID
* Every employee has a unique 7-digit number (no extensions) that allows consistent 5-digit dialing across campus
* You gain increased campus safety with an Enhanced 9-1-1 system that identifies every telephone on campus with a specific building and room location
Implementation Team
Implementation of the telephone project is headed by Aron Smetana, director of Campus Computing, who is spearheading user support and contracts, and Jim McKinney, director of Campus Information Systems, who is in charge of infrastructure. Other key IT personnel include Ray Newcomb, PBX engineer and project manager; Jeff Wolff, network services manager; and Amanda Evans, who is managing the billing. NEC employees will be working on campus for the next 6 months and many IT personnel will be involved with the actual installation of telephones over Winter Break.
Others in IT have played a major part in acquiring the new system, including Carol Parkhurst. Carol spent the last 4 years managing the procurement process and serving as a key member of the contract-negotiation team. Others who were involved in these efforts include Steve Zink, vice-president of IT; Ray Moran, director of Purchasing; Marlene Parks, Telecommunications coordinator; Bruce Shively, assistant vice-president for Planning & Budget Analysis; Ron Zurek, vice-president of Administration & Finance; Mary Dugan, general counsel for NSHE; and Western Telecommunications Consulting Inc. (WTC).
For more information on the new system, see the New Telephone System website linked below.
