• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pitt County Memorial Hospital and Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University Select Sprint to Provide Voice and Contact Center Services

Posted on: Monday, 8 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

GREENVILLE, N.C., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- In the last four years, the telecommunications needs of Pitt County Memorial Hospital and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University have nearly doubled. To keep up with this aggressive growth, the adjoining medical facilities turned to Sprint for new voice communications systems that can support their needs both today and in the future.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGO )

As part of the five-year, $5.1 million agreement, Sprint, using Nortel Networks* equipment, is providing a total communications solution that includes two Nortel Networks PBX systems, Nortel Networks CallPilot voicemail and unified messaging, Nortel Networks Symposium* Contact Center solutions and Sprint on-site maintenance services. Services are being provided at both facilities -- Pitt County Memorial Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

"The capacity on our current telecommunications switch was maxed out at roughly 10,000 lines," said Ed McFall, chief information officer at PCMH. "We had no room for additional growth. Adding to that problem, the technology in place was 10 years old, and we no longer could get parts except from the third-party market. This new switch is the latest technology and allows us to grow to 32,000 lines."

Andy Porter, senior enterprise account manager for Sprint, said the new communications solution provides nearly twice as many ports, or lines, as the old systems.

"Pitt County Memorial Hospital and the Brody School of Medicine have both experienced tremendous growth over the last several years," Porter said. "The new Nortel Networks communications systems will allow both facilities the ability to grow exponentially in order to keep up with their communication needs. Sprint is very privileged to have strong strategic business partners such as Pitt County Memorial Hospital and the Brody School of Medicine. These facilities provide medical support for a large portion of eastern North Carolina, so being able to communicate in the most efficient manner possible is always a common goal."

Sprint also provides local communications services to both facilities.

In March 2002, Sprint and Nortel Networks announced that they joined forces to combine the network and managed services expertise of Sprint with the voice and data equipment expertise of Nortel Networks to deliver next generation telephony solutions. By combining their complementary resources, Sprint and Nortel Networks work together in sales and marketing efforts and in developing product solutions, including all aspects from engineering to maintenance. The end results are turn-key converged solutions for customers that can enhance business performance to sustain a competitive edge.

About Sprint

Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With approximately 70,000 employees worldwide and nearly $27 billion in annual revenues, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all- digital, fiber-optic network and an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local voice and data services in 18 states and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.sprint.com/ .

*Nortel Networks, CallPilot and Symposium are trademarks of Nortel Networks