VoIP at ABAC

A Summary Document

November 1, 2004

 

Spring/Summer 2003:  Pomeroy provided ABAC with a preliminary projection on the cost of implementing a VoIP phone system at ABAC.  The projections included campus network infrastructure costs which would be necessary to support the VoIP system.  Pomeroy met with the President’s Cabinet to review the project, its benefits, and associated costs. 

 

July 2003:  Upon agreement by the President’s Cabinet, it was decided to meet with Vice Chancellor of Information Technology Randall Thursby to discuss the possibility of ABAC piloting such a system.  President Mike Vollmer; Chrystle Ross, Director, OITS; and Mike Williams, PC & Network Services Coordinator, met with Vice Chancellor Thursday on July 21, 2003, to discuss ABAC serving as a pilot institution for a VoIP implementation. 

 

December 2003:  Pomeroy provided ABAC with a more detailed network analysis, which allowed a more accurate view of projected costs.   The final figures resulted from detailed discussions to reduce costs where possible without too much loss of benefits. 

 

 

Comparing Costs

 

ABAC has paid approximately $8,000 per month for a total of 367 Centrex lines and 97 listed (published) numbers.  Long distance calls average $1,800 monthly.  Initially, the College’s long distance service will remain with GTA and current rates. 

 

Comparison of Current Costs to VoIP Costs

90% of current Centrex annual costs (includes monthly Centrex line charges and estimated Moves/ Adds/Changes; excludes long distance)

 

90% is used as not all Centrex lines will be disconnected

 

Long distance service will remain with GTA as current LD rates

 

$90,000

BellSouth (2 PRI’s/450DID’s)

$18,200

 

 

Projected Annual Savings

$71,800

 

 

Network Infrastructure Costs

 

The College acquired 2 Cisco 6509 routers and 52 Cisco 3550 powered network switches at a cost of $280,000 (includes 25 UPS’s for all network closets).   $220,000 of these costs were covered with FY 2003 year-end funds.   UPS costs were included with BOR lease. 

 

VoIP Costs

 

The following chart summarizes implementation costs:

 

VoIP Initial Costs

Call Processing Publisher

Call Processing Subscriber

Unity Server

Unity Voice Mail Boxes

Emergency Responder

IP Phones

Hardware for Moultrie Connectivity

3-Year Maintenance on servers

Labor/Installation/Training

$323,975

Network/UPS costs

$280,000

TOTAL:

$603,975

Break Even Point (Does not include network/UPS costs)

4.5 years

Soft costs

Voice mail; caller ID; increased efficiency among administrative support; broadcast services; conference call services

 

To cover the VoIP and UPS costs, one payment of $150,000 was made to Pomeroy in June 2004 from FY 2004 year-end funds.  A total of $233,975 was financed via BOR.  The balance, $233,975, was financed via BOR’s line of credit.  Two annual payments of $123,341 will come due in June 2005 and June 2006.  Interest rate is 3.6%.

 

General Notes

 

GTA would not allow the College to retain its current phone numbers.  Consequently, all phone numbers, including fax numbers, change.

 

The College’s 97 locally published phone numbers will receive an intercept.  Callers to these numbers will be redirected to the new phone number.  Unpublished phone numbers will not have intercepts.  Callers to these numbers will receive a message indicating that the number has been disconnected. 

 

Tentative dates for cutover: 

                                    November 9 – ABAC connects to BellSouth PRI’s

                                    November 16 – Cisco phones should have outside access

                                    December 1 – Intercepts established for published numbers

                                    December 3 – Specific Centrex lines targeted for disconnect