The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has signed a multimillion-rand deal with Bytes Communications Systems to roll out a unified and converged communications network, spanning its four campuses.
The decision to upgrade the infrastructure came after UJ saw a need to modernise its infrastructure, save costs, improve system reliability and converge its communications network across all its campuses in central Johannesburg. As part of this, UJ will be expanding its WiFi network and has plans in place to upgrade its call centre and voice logging system.
The project will be conducted in a phased manner and is expected to be complete in mid-2009.
Adrian Vorster, CIO of UJ, says in the past the communications system had been fragmented. UJ decided to use one vendor to deploy a single IP-enabled network infrastructure. "This is the first time we are going big on a PABX system. We've been doing business with Bytes for more than a decade using Alcatel-Lucent equipment. We chose this solution because it covers our entire telecommunications spectrum, and the equipment allows us to standardise training for our technical staff."
Future of universities
Vorster notes: "The infrastructure has a modular and scalable approach to improve efficiency and reduce costs. We can grow the infrastructure and scale it to our requirements as new technology becomes available. When the right time comes, we would even like to implement video-enabled VOIP phones."
Vorster says effective communication is the lifeblood of a university. "Our e-learning environment is mission-critical to communication. The solution offers real-time, anywhere and anytime access to the learning environment.
"We've had in excess of a million hits on a day-to-day basis on our e-learning Web site. UJ is a R2 billion entity in turnover and if the e-learning system fails, this would detrimentally affect the university."
UJ is following international trends, Vorster says. "There has been a major explosion in data around the world and we are seeing more converged communications with video, voice and data and we need to keep up with this trend.
"UJ currently supports 10GB of bandwidth on its infrastructure, which will grow to meet future requirements. We are trying to future-proof our technology - it's a significant investment and we think it will improve learning, communications and save costs, especially through the current economic crisis. We are also looking at deploying VOIP-enabled lecture rooms."
Internet generation
Richard Menton, product development manager of Bytes Communications Systems, says the company has had a long relationship with UJ. The company implemented the university's backbone networking infrastructure, using Omni PCX Enterprise, which is Alcatel's PABX flagship."
"The primary concern was to give UJ access to the next-generation technology to improve communication in a learning environment and to position them for IP," says Menton.
"UJ is a world-class university and it is aware of the impact of the Internet generation of students. The solution provides document sharing similar to that of social networks such as Facebook and YouTube, and we can provide a collaboration of information, voice and video in an educational environment. In addition, they can access the information via their mobile phones anytime and anywhere.
"We follow the global security standards to secure and deploy the infrastructure. We are currently in the process of deploying the prototype concept for UJ's contact centre," Menton concludes.
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