Update on Telephone/United Communications Project

Below is an email sent to the Rollins community updating everyone on where we are with the telephone, unified communications project.
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Hello,
I am Mark Johnston, Alan and Sandra Gerry Professor of Marketing and Ethics at the Crummer School, and Chair of the Rollins College Unified Communications (UC) Committee. As Chair, and on behalf of the entire UC committee, I want to share with you what we have been working on this spring.
At the start, I want to identify members of the Unified Communications Committees:
Josh Truitt - Crummer Student, Residential Life Hall Director
Brynne Piotrowski - SGA Senator
Kyle Magee - SGA, Honors Student
David Meyers - SGA Technology Chair
Mark Johnston - Crummer Faculty, Technology Committee
Marc Sardy – International Business, Associate Professor
Eileen Gregory – Biology, Professor
Jonathan Miller - Director - Olin Library
Udeth Lugo - Associate Dean - Holt School
Matt Hawks - Director - Human Resources
Steve Booker - Director - Financial Aid
Anne Blankinship - Assistant Director of Advancement Research
Cat McConnell - Project Coordinator - Provost Office

IT Project Team:
Carrie Schulz, Co-Interim CIOJim Spitzer, Sr. Network AdministratorTroy Davis, Sr. Technical Support SpecialistTroy Thomason, Email System Administrator
As you can see the committee included individuals from across the Rollins Community – faculty, staff, and students.
Now, what has the committee been doing and why is it important to you? I will frame the discussion in terms of:
1) Problem
2) The Committee’s task
3) Committee recommendations for Phase 1
4) Committee recommendations for Phase 2
The Problem – Quite simply, the Rollins voice and communication system is old and needs to be replaced. We have all experienced telephone outages in the last few years and the problem is only going to get worse.
The Committee’s task – The committee was charged with learning about the current communications platforms available from leading vendors and recommending features and functions that are important to the Rollins community. As part of that task, the committee learned about “unified communication” which is really bringing together telephone communication and data transfer with new technologies in wireless and digital networking, in other words, building a communications platform utilizing available technologies for Rollins’ future.
There was some urgency to the committee’s work as the goal is to have the first phase of the new phone communications system in place for the start of the fall semester. The actual target date is August 1st.
We met with leading vendors and considered a wide range of options. Then we met to prioritize the options. We were asked to provide a list of important features divided into two phases.
Committee recommendations for Phase 1 (up and running by August 1, 2009)
Improve reliability of current voice transmission
911 and reverse 911
Ability for user to choose Soft phone (i.e. your computer is your phone) or hard phone (i.e. a traditional desktop telephone) or their own mobile device as their primary voice communication device.
Connectivity with Apple or PC computers – full functionality across Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X operating systems.
Conference call capabilities with document sharing such as is currently available with Adobe Connect (also shared whiteboards)
Voice functionality with iPhone, Blackberry models, and a wide range of other mobile devices
Have the ability to create individual preferences for voicemail, email, etc.
Work with a variety of e-mail and calendar solutions (for instance, Microsoft Exchange, GroupWise, and Gmail) so that we are not restricted to a particular e-mail system in the future.

Committee recommendations for Phase 2 (the date for this phase has not been determined)

Ability for phone calls to find you across locations also known as “Find me Follow me”
Evaluate cell phone contracts for employees in lieu of desktop phones in offices
Single phone number for all communication
Text messaging integration with all communication
Ability to send voice mails to email
Ability to connect a variety of devices over short distances via Bluetooth
On campus wireless everywhere
Emergency notification
Ability for the user to configure phone communication from their computer.
Instant Messaging capabilities
Integrating Blackboard with the communications platform
Ability to use plasma screens on campus for digital messaging
Video conferencing

What this means for you is that on August 1st, we plan to have a system in place that is reliable, efficient, and provides opportunities for advanced communications. You can also be assured that extensive training will be provided at the appropriate time to insure you are able to maximize this feature-rich communications package.
I apologize for the length of the email; it was designed to give you a sense of the changes that will be taking place in our communications system. The new Rollins communications system will provide everyone with more features and reliability. During the summer and into the fall the committee will provide additional updates. In addition, IT will be updating all of us on the implementation of the new system. Please feel free to contact me or anyone on the committee with ideas, suggestions, or questions.

Take care, have a great day

Best Regards,Mark