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Saint Francis University Improves Campus Communication With VoIP Solution From Siemens

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 06:00 CST

BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA, had begun planning the addition of new buildings on campus, but realized that its aging telecommunications infrastructure would not be able to support the new space. Although Saint Francis considered laying new cables across the campus, they ultimately decided instead to adopt a new IP-based unified communications solution from Siemens Communications, Inc.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO )

Saint Francis University, one of the oldest Catholic colleges in the country, has over 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students on its 600-acre campus. As it prepared to expand with the addition of some new buildings, Saint Francis University was faced with a complicated project to move some telephone poles and lay new cables to accommodate the new space. Saint Francis had an older Siemens solution in place, and found that they could easily and cost-effectively upgrade the communications system to a cutting-edge VoIP solution.

"As we looked at our building plan, we realized that we had outgrown our current Siemens telephone system," said George Pyo, director of administration/management information systems for Saint Francis. "We worked with our Siemens team and determined that a new VoIP system would be the best choice for us as we continue to expand the campus and look to offer new services to our faculty, staff and students."

After exploring several options from different vendors, Saint Francis selected Siemens' HiPath(R) 4000 system, a reliable, scalable communications platform that delivers a rich user experience with low administrative, integration and installation costs. Although the up-front cost of an IP telephony solution was greater than the cost of re-cabling, Saint Francis and Siemens found that the ROI over five years for the new technology was much better than that for cable.

"From a longer-term budget perspective, VoIP just made more sense for us," added Pyo. "Plus, with the new technology we are able to offer new services to our users and we're well positioned to continue adding new features and functionality."

Saint Francis decided to split the campus between logical and cable infrastructure, enabling them to continue to leverage some of the existing infrastructure on campus while using VoIP to solve the cabling issues with new buildings. The new Siemens system has made it easy for staff to move around the campus and has laid the groundwork to expand the system and move to IP phones in all new buildings. In addition, the HiPath 4000 system offers disaster recovery and redundancy that the campus did not previously have.

Siemens' long history of working with the university also helped as Saint Francis looked for support in managing the project. With two project managers from Siemens on-site, Siemens and Saint Francis were able to easily coordinate all of the project activities and ensure that the deployment of the new system went smoothly. The project had a short timeline, as the work needed to be completed during the summer before students returned to campus in the fall. Siemens was able to complete the project in only four months, in time for the start of classes in August 2007.

"Siemens was very happy to help Saint Francis make the move to IP telephony from traditional cable infrastructure," said Rick Puskar, Director of Sales for Siemens Communications. "With the HiPath 4000 system in place, Saint Francis can enjoy greater flexibility and reliability in its communications system."

About Siemens

Siemens AG is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $107.4 billion in 2006. Founded 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $21.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: http://www.usa.siemens.com/.

About Siemens Communications, Inc.

Siemens Communications, Inc. is an affiliate of Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, one of the world's leading vendors of Open Communications solutions for enterprises of all sizes, enabling business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure -- with any device, network or information technology infrastructure. Siemens Communications Inc., and Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG are wholly owned subsidiaries of Siemens AG with about 15,000 employees globally and headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. For more info, visit http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/home.html.

Note: Siemens and Hipath are registered trademarks of Siemens AG or its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens management. The words "anticipate,""believe,""estimate,""forecast,""expect,""intend,""plan,""should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Siemens Communications, Inc.

CONTACT: Amy Martin of Siemens Communications, Inc., +1-408-492-2785,amy.martin@siemens.com

Web site: http://www.communications.usa.siemens.com/http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/home.htmlhttp://www.usa.siemens.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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