Managing Information Technology

150 Part I • Information Technology

• Implement a new system to support VoIP PBX in-
  house
  
  
  • Cisco (represented by Berbee Information
    Networks)
  
  
  • Mitel (represented by MVD Communications)
  
  
  • Nortel (represented by SBC)
  
  
  
  

Side-by-side comparisons were made of what each
vendor solution offered in regard to each critical issue, and
what additional capital and/or ongoing support costs
would be incurred to satisfy these requirements.
Following the review of this range of options, and the
scorings of the options, the Telephony Evaluation Team,
working in conjunction with the User Advisory Group,
chose option 3: to acquire its own in-house system and to
acquire a Cisco IPT system, with products and implemen-
tation services provided by a Midwest Cisco partner,
Berbee Information Networks. Joe Indiano and Scott
Kincaid presented this to the Butler senior management,
and after careful consideration, obtained the go-ahead to
proceed. Butler informed Berbee and Cisco they had won
the bid on the day before the Christmas holidays began.
Contrary to what was seen in the popular press, the
team’s analysis did not show that an in-house IP-based sys-
tem would be cheaper than the old Centrex solution.
However, most of the needs identified by staff, faculty, and
students would be addressed with only a minimal increase
in costs. For example, each high-volume call area on cam-
pus would now have Automatic Call Distribution capabili-
ties. Butler would be gaining a system to issue campuswide
emergency alerts via the new IP-based phones. Additionally,
each student who previously shared a line in a residence hall
room would now have their own unique phone number and
private voice mailbox, which also moved with them as they
changed rooms from year to year. (Changes to room assign-
ments would be entered into PeopleSoft and an automated
interface would carry the change into the telephony system.)
When students received voice mail, they would also receive
an e-mail notifying them of the message.
The strategic objective was to support IR’s mission
of providing good services and communication between
students and faculty. Cisco’s system fulfilled the identified
needs for voice communication, but Butler was concerned
about more than just equipment specs and cost.

During the sales cycle, vendors usually promise all

types of grand improvements and outcomes. But the

written contracts they provide promise only to deliver

specific pieces of hardware and software, with very

limited warranties, and customers often spend most

of their time negotiating on price. In this project, we

were able to successfully negotiate for the original

RFP and the vendor’s proposal to Butler to become

part of the final contract. This kept everyone focused

on delivering a fully integrated system, instead of just

focusing on the hardware, and held the vendor

accountable to the claims in their proposal.”

—Dorothy Lockard, President,

Dietrich Lockard Group.

Furthermore, what Butler was ultimately implementing

was an integrated set of software applications that operate

on the IP network, not just a “black box” phone system.

The understanding of the IP protocol and how it would fit

into Butler was, in the end, second to how the multiple

components of the system were to work together in a

secure and quality fashion. Additionally, identifying who

within Butler owned each piece, how the data would flow

from point-to-point, and where data was being replicated

were all important questions that needed to be answered

for this application system. Creating seamless integration

with other systems such as PeopleSoft, the housing sys-

tem, and Butler’s LDAP directory was one of the values of

the newer software-based systems. Essentially, there were

multiple interfaces to existing systems, more options, and a

vast array of decisions to make about how all of these fea-

tures were going to work in unison.

Thus, when choosing the primary vendor, the imple-

mentation support provided by a Cisco partner was

extremely important.

Since this was really an application system, we were

more concerned with who was going to help us

deploy the system. Of course, the manufacturer is

important as we are using their equipment, but even

more important is someone with large-scale applica-

tion implementation experience.

—Scott Kincaid, CIO

The new Cisco system configuration included the

following investments:

• Cisco Call Manager with multiple forms of redun-
  dancy


• 1200 IPT stations for faculty and staff


• 1800 Analog ports via VG248 gateways for student
  phones


• Cisco Unity Voice mail with mailboxes for each student


• Cisco IPCC Express for six call centers


• Cisco Emergency Responder for campuswide E911
  capability


• Berbee InformaCast alert system


• ISI Infortel call accounting