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Boise State Campus Makes Switch to Internet Phoning: VoIP System Using Existing Computer Network Costs Less Than Conventional Phone Technology

Posted on: Thursday, 11 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By Melissa McGrath, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

May 11--Boise State University is one of several universities nationwide that is saving money by converting to a new telephone technology that uses an Internet connection instead of a land line.

The university isn't on the cutting edge, but is still a front-runner in using Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, an industry analyst said.

BSU started switching the 4,000 analog phones in its system -- the phones with land lines that most people use -- to VoIP after 2000 when it realized its phone system would last only five more years.

The university had a choice: Spend $2 million to install a new analog phone system or spend $1.1 million to switch to VoIP, which uses a computer network and Internet connection to run phones, said Brian McDevitt, manager of telephone and network services at BSU.

"Surprisingly, Boise State is the perfect-size school to lead in this leading technology," he said. "The bigger the school you are, the more expensive it is."

The new system has given McDevitt a little more desk space, too. Unlike most faculty and staff on BSU's campus, he uses Softphone software that eliminates the need for a phone on his desk. Instead, he uses a wireless headset and dials phone numbers from his computer keyboard. Between 10 and 20 phones on campus use the software.

"I am a cutting-edge type of person," McDevitt said. "I don't think that's the way most people will be."

Most BSU faculty and staffers have VoIP phones that simply hook up to their computers, so many don't realize the university converted to a new system. Conversations with a few faculty members showed that.

BSU's old phones are being sold to the highest bidder, he said.

Several other universities in the country, including Brandeis University in Massachusetts and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, have converted to VoIP. These schools are ahead of the curve, said Will Stofega, research manager for VoIP services at IDC, a technology and telecommunications research firm.

"For some of the bigger universities, it's a huge project to undertake," Stofega said. "It's not leading or cutting edge anymore, but it's taking advantage of technology that's out there."

He expects VoIP to become mainstream technology in five years as more analog systems age.

"What gets people hooked from the enterprise perspective is lowering costs," Stofega said. A VoIP system can reduce telephone system costs an average 25 to 30 percent, he said.

The systems cost less because organizations no longer have to pay for both a computer system and a phone system -- they are wrapped into one.

The VoIP systems also save money in the long term because the phones are like mini-computers that can be easily reprogrammed, said Tab Roper, vice president and general manager of Time Warner Telecom Inc. of Idaho, the state branch of a national telecommunications company that helped BSU set up its system.

For example, when a BSU professor needs to move into a new office, a technician will not have to stop by and set up the new phone system with the professor's voice mail, speed dial and other preferences. The professor can get his personalized information from any phone on campus simply by logging in, Roper said.

Time Warner installed a similar system for Saltzer Medical Group, a physician's network with five offices in the Treasure Valley. The group's doctors often split their time among locations during the week so the VoIP system makes sure patients can get through to their physician when needed.

"If a doctor or nurse is logged into the phone, the system will say, 'OK, I need to transfer this call to this doctor, and it's Monday, so I'm going to send this call to Meridian,'" Roper said.

BSU has set up its VoIP system on its campuses in Boise and Canyon County. The system will be completed June 1 when the VoIP is installed for calls going off campus as well.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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