Friday, September 17, 2010

Re: ISED: VOIP for Safety Plan

For two years we have been making the switch (also from an old Avaya
system). I do not have sufficient technical language to answer specific
questions but would be happy to forward them on. We have a Cisco IP
system. What I do know is that the process of integrating analog
equipment (specifically speakers) has been nothing less than a
nightmare. In a perfect world the speakers would be IP as would
everything else.


Helen S. Ruisi, CFO
Seacrest Country Day School
7100 Davis Boulevard
Naples, Florida 34104

General: 239.793.1986
Direct: 239.530.2909
Fax: 239.793.1460

Founded 1983
590 students
PreK (3) through Grade 12
Leadership, Character & Ethics, Creativity and Joy

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter Hoopes
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 7:35 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: ISED: VOIP for Safety Plan

A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> on
September 15, 2010 at 5:52 PM -0400 wrote:
>With that said, I don't see many recent discussions on this list about
>VOIP solutions or VOIP providers. For those that have already made the
>switch, are there drawbacks? Unexpected benefits? What about
>recommendations regarding hardware and service providers? How did you
>handle loss-of-power or loss-of-Internet concerns? We're looking into
>redundant broadband (copper and fiber) and we're working with a local
UPS
>reseller to beef up our batteries.

Jack and all,

We are in nearly the same boat. I'm looking at replacing a
relatively
recent Avaya switch but a really old Avaya voicemail with an internal
Asterisk-based system. I've visited a nearby large catholic school which
uses a single Asterisk server with separately purchased SIP phones
(Cisco,
I think). They tie some analog lines in with an adaptor (which name
escapes me), and it works well. They have NO monthly or yearly license
charges - just their regular telco service.

Meanwhile, we're paying $12K/yr to Avaya for what? The right to
say we're
using Avaya, I think. Considering that we have to then pay a local
provider more money to actually help with the system, I'm not a happy
camper. My main goals are to: replace the aging voicemail, reduce our
yearly licensing costs, and get better service and options with a modern
VOIP switch.

Our problem is our campus is big (200+ acres) with lots of
questionable
wiring. Lots of rooms have only analog wiring for phones and connecting
in
the VOIP lines could lead to issues with our network management system
(Campus Manager from Bradford). So.... my investigations continue.

I'd love to hear if you (or anyone) have any strong
recommendations in
this area.

Peter Hoopes
Director of Technology
St. Andrew's School
phoopes@standrews-de.org
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

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