CLAC Conference 2006 Hamilton College June 15, 2006

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CLAC Conference 2006Hamilton CollegeJune 15,
2006
A Change of Voice Considerations in Implementing
IP Telephony at Swarthmore
Presented by Mark Dumic Associate Director
Networking Telecommunications Swarthmore College
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Swarthmore College

• Suburban Philadelphia
• Highly selective liberal arts college
• 1,450 FT undergraduate students
• 600 Faculty-Staff
• Students from 50 states and 46 countries

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About the Project

• End of Life of Intecom E
• Infrastructure issues
• Pure fiber distribution between buildings no
  monolithic copper plant
• Copper in buildings varied between Cat 3, Cat 5
  and Cat 6E (by building)
• High awareness of lack of disaster recovery with
  current system

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Previous Student Telephone Environment

• Digital phone per student, separate DID and VM
  accounts
• Eliminated LD after Spring 2004
• No student technology fee or monthly phone fee
• College philosophy toward students
• 90 cell phone penetration
• Declining use of VM by students

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College Decision Process

• PBX Committee Members
• Director of Information Technology Services
• Assoc Dir Networking, Systems Telecom
• VP Finance
• Controller
• Dean of Students
• Director of Housing
• Provost
• Facilities Technology Coordinator

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College Decision Process (cont.)

• Student venues and what we heard
• Dont want to give out cell phone numbers
• 10-15 of students dont want or cant afford
  cell phones
• International students
• Cell phone reception problems
• DONT TAKE OUR WIRED PHONE AWAY
• No clear consensus about student services or
  technology throughout process
• Cost a concern (for College and students)

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Get Help!

• Retained Compass Consulting International, Inc.
  (now Acentech, Inc.)
• Assist with defining investigating options for
  students
• Evaluate issues associated with technology
  options (IP telephony)
• RFP and Implementation

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Evaluation of Student Technology Options

• Digital phones in rooms
• Analog phones in rooms
• IP PBX hard or soft IP phones in rooms
• Outsourced PBX for residence halls
• Traditional Centrex
• IP Centrex
• College-issued cellular phones
• Student-selected cellular phones
• Commercial VoIP (e.g. Vonage or Skype)
• Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWiFi)

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Design Goals

• PBX Technology IP, TDM, hybrid
• Analog, digital, IP, softphones...
• No killer app
• Decided to not specify PBX technology in RPF -
  possible cost savings in TDM or hybrid?

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Design Goals (cont.)

• Preserve future flexibility
• Choice of options for maintenance, parts,
  augmented staffing
• Financially stable company with strong US market
  presence
• More control over upgrades
• Minimize vendor lock-in
• Maximize useful life
• Adapt to future applications standards (SIP)

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Design Goals (cont.)

• Maintenance Considerations
• Lots of demands on small staff - continue
  outsourced support
• Telco Agency - no finger-pointing
• Swarthmore is high touch
• High vendor contact communication
• Like close working partnerships
• Big fish in a small pond
• Plan tailored to take advantage of what we do
  best
• Flexibility to have vendor do what we cant do
  well
• These considerations favored local support rather
  than National support model

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Design Goals (cont.)

• Separate Voice and Data Networks
• (Initial Scenario)
• Wanted telecom vendor to have complete
  responsibility beyond MACs
• Small internal staff needed for other areas
• Staff had little VoIP expertise
• But envisioned combining networks later
• Recently purchased switches not powered
• (not much incremental cost to keep separate)

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RFP Process

• Design
• Didnt dictate IP or hybrid
• Did decide on analog student lines
• Cisco network for future integration
• Required 3 student scenarios
• Explored boosting of cell phone coverage
• Pre-screen
• RFP
• Bid process

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RFP Process Responses

• Responses
• Evaluation results
• Proposal review
• Financial analysis
• Finalist meetings

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RFP Process Selection

• Selected Cisco Call Manager from TransNet
  Corporation in Somerville, NJ
• Decision based on the capabilities of and
  chemistry with the reseller
• Comfort level with converged network
• 24x7 monitoring problem resolution for data
  network for cost of just PBX maintenance
• Enhanced reliability technical depth for
  network
• Significant Higher Education experience
• Ability willingness to dovetail support with
  current staff, telco management

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RFP Process Selection (cont.)

• Major Benefits of Cisco, too
• Long term presence in US telecom market
• Familiar technology to Swarthmore
• Excellent competitive market for maintenance,
  components, staffing, 3rd party apps
• Good disaster recovery architecture
• The most future-proof system proposed
• Best E-911 and malicious call trace capabilities

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New System Details

• Decided on a converged network
• Totally redundant 6513 cores
• 3750s in-line power in buildings with links to
  each core
• Redundant Call Managers Unity (VM) servers
• 1,100 IP phones (faculty/staff)
• 300 analog phones (public, FAX, etc.)
• 1,300 analog lines (one per student)

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Cisco 7941g Phone
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Student Reaction

• I think this is the best of possible outcomes.
  Im glad that this system was within our budget
  and I think the administration has dealt with
  this in a responsible manner.
• Student Council Co-President
• I think this is basically a pretty sweet deal
• Associate Dean of Student Life

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Blended Support Model

• Initial Assumption was separate vertical networks
  for voice data
• Enhanced support at minimal cost by utilizing
  horizontal support split
• Monitoring of entire network
• Quick access to large staff of network engineers
  for problem resolution
• College boots on the ground for closet issues
• Self-spare 3750s VG224 saved

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Flexible Service Agreement (FSA)

• New territory
• Needed outside expertise/support
• Maximize in-house capabilities
• Didnt want to pay money for unused hours
• Took time effort to craft the agreement

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FSA Structure

• Monitoring
• annual flat fee
• 24x7
• Remote VPN and phone support
• pool of hours
• expire annually
• On-site
• pre-paid account
• different rates for different times/service
  levels/expertise
• roll-over to subsequent years

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Convergence Saving at a Small Institution

• Compelling Cost Reductions led to successive
  network integration
• completely separate voice network
• combine core and switch stacks but keep separate
  voice data jacks
• Also use single jack for phone computer (reduce
  switches required)

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Convergence Cost Reductions
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Significant Findings (cont.)

• Network architecture varies
• Routed segments or flat L2
• Redundancy core, servers, links
• Firewalls
• Vendor support for Cat 3 varies
• Not many support Cat 3 (even just for phone)
• If testing or certification is required, when is
  this done?

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Significant Findings (cont.)

• Support maintenance models varies
• All local, all remote w/ dispatch, or a blend
• Backup, virus protection, security, DHCP, DNS, DC
• Telco problem management is possible
• Staff effort
• Expect MAC calls at help desk about the same
• Big Bonus 24 x 7 network monitoring problem
  resolution no additional cost
• Ready access to additional technical depth

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Significant Findings (cont.)

• TDM vs. IP Telephony Replacement Cycle

Component
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Significant Findings (cont.)

• Uplift for student phones
• Varied widely from College base (chart)
• Per room per student also varied widely (chart)
• Added 14 to project cost
• 6 for VM, 8 for analog phone lines
• Almost no increment to maintenance since opted to
  self-maintain gateways

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Uplift for Analog Student Lines
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Lessons Learned

• Dont assume students no longer care about wired
  phones and that costs are prohibitive.
• Real cost savings in convergence even for the
  smaller institution
• Bidders have significantly different approaches
  to architecture, security, redundancy, Cat3
  cabling, and analog costs.
• VARs with strong telephony and network expertise
  are more common there can be flexibility in
  crafting support agreements.

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Contact Information

• Mark J. Dumic
• Associate Director Networking and
  Telecommunications
• Swarthmore College
• (610) 3288511
• dumic_at_swarthmore.edu