OIT installs new telecom system

Every building on campus will be integrated into a new telecommunications system by the end of December as part of a new Office of Information Technology (OIT) initiative. The project aims to improve upon the current technology and allow the system to be more easily updated in the future.

“Starting sometime this summer we will start to install equipment in buildings around campus,” said Sam Rundles, the project director for OIT.

In addition to replacing the existing telephone services, the change will allow the system to be upgraded more easily in the future.

“We will have a platform that will allow us to utilize all the nuances that are being developed today,” Rundles said.

According to John Mullin, associate vice provost of Information Technology, the changes implemented would not be immediately visible to students. “The phones that are there will remain there. Everything we do is behind the wall,” Mullin said.

Faculty and staff will be quicker to notice the changes because of the convenience that they will experience when they are relocating.

“Moving today is a complex process and it takes a long time because we have to move the telephones for each person. What we hope to achieve with this new system is to put control in our own hands, shorten the process, shorten the time span and improve the delivered service,” Mullin said.

The current system involves a technology known as Sentrax; in this system, every telephone’s wire leads to a closet in the basement, which then connects to a large BellSouth cable. The wires then lead back to one of two central offices which serve Georgia Tech.

“Currently we get our service from the Georgia Tech Knowledge Authority and they sub-contract that out to BellSouth,” Mullin said.

The new system, through a contract directly with BellSouth, has two switches located on campus; every building in the campus will be connected to those switches via fiber electronics.

The switches will connect the campus to the public telephone network. One switch serves as a back-up.

“We’re going from a central office- based system to a premises-based telephone switch,” Mullin said.

This change, according to Mullin will provide many benefits for the Institute.

“The reason for doing this had to do with improved services,” Mullin said. “We will also save the Institute a substantial sum [of money] by running our own service. That money can be reinvested by the Institute. The third element is to prepare us for using advanced technologies such as integration with wireless networks.”

“Everything we want to do competes for the same pool of funds. When we can be more cost-effective, everybody wins. The other short term benefit is the service,” Mullin said.

Mullin said that a desire for improvement as well as a history of problems with the current service was the impetus for the change.

“Students will probably see the most benefit in the years to come,” Mullin said.

“We will work with the providers to integrate wireless data and wireless voice in a telephone environment.”

“This new system offers an enhanced voicemail service that we don’t have right now,” Rundles said.

Improvements to the voicemail service, according to Rundles, were something that would not impact students soon. Students are not expected to see much difference in their dorm room phones.

“Starting in the summer we will be discussing with individual building occupants as to what activities they have going on in their buildings. ..designate the most appropriate time [for installation],” Rundles said. “It will be a cooperative effort.”

Rundles also said that while the project would be completed as quickly as possible with the least disruption, noise would be a part of the process.