NetVersant Upgrades Northern Essex Community College's Network for Cost-Effective Communications Using Avaya's IP Telephony Solutions

Staff and faculty have greater mobility, increased communications capacity and capabilities over multiple campuses

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. , US /Wi-Fi Technology News/- Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of communications networks and services for businesses, today announced that Northern Essex Community College (NECC) has upgraded its communications network using the Avaya Enterprise Branch Connect solution, including the company's latest Internet Protocol (IP) telephony and messaging technology.

The college expanded communications capacity and capabilities across the school's multiple campuses for more than 11,000 students while providing more reliable access to new, advanced communications applications. In addition, the college was able to reuse 99 percent of the existing communications infrastructure, including the existing Extreme Networks data network. The project was implemented by NetVersant, a platinum-certified Avaya BusinessPartner.

With campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence and extension sites in Andover and Methuen, Mass., Northern Essex Community College is the only state college located in the lower Merrimack Valley. It is also a regional center for Gallaudet University ? the world's only university devoted to studies for the deaf and hard of hearing.

The upgrade centralized network operations and extended communications applications consistently across NECC's campuses, helping to reduce costs related to management and administration of independent switches supporting each campus. Using Avaya's IP telephony solution offered the college a cost saving alternative to installing wiring for additional phone lines in several buildings that had reached the limits of capacity, according to Mark Cloutier, telecom manager at the college.

"We've had great experiences with Avaya and continue to trust the stability of the company's products," said Cloutier. "We have also come to rely on NetVersant's expertise in Avaya products and felt confident that the overall solution provided the best value and was in the best interest of the faculty and students."

IP telephony enables voice and data collaboration over a converged Internet Protocol network so that universities and businesses can become more mobile, more productive and have consistent access to an array of new business communications applications such as PCs and mobile phones.

Avaya Communication Manager at the network core drives Avaya Media Servers and Avaya Media Gateways in multiple locations. The Avaya S8700 Media Server's at NECC's main campus works in conjunction with the college's existing Avaya DEFINITY? Communications Server that supports a remote campus.

Cloutier said the ability to remotely perform network management tasks ranging from launching school-wide voice mail announcements to adding phone lines was particularly important because the brutal winter weather in his New England region can cause the college to close.

In addition to the improved network administration, Cloutier highlighted the following improvements and capabilities for communications:
College administration have the capability to use the built-in six-party Meet-Me Conferencing feature of Avaya Communications Manager software, which saves money on conference calls that previously incurred fees from a local service provider.
Faculty and administration will have access to new Avaya IP Telephones and IP Soft Phones, the latter allows the college to save on running additional wires and other expenses because a phone call can be made using a laptop.
College officials now have greater mobility with the Avaya Extension to Cellular ? a feature of Communication Manager software that enables faculty and staff to receive incoming calls to their office desktop phones and cellular phones simultaneously. The telephone call from the cellular phone is bridged to the office phone while the caller is engaged in conversation, never losing the connection. The college's maintenance staff, which is frequently out of the office, finds this mobility feature a time-saver as it allows more immediate communication and eliminates the need to return to their offices to receive messages.
The college is using its network more efficiently with its dedicated Internet connection between its Haverhill and Lawrence campuses, running this connection through the Avaya S8700 Media Server for the most cost effective use of the bandwidth. For example, the college uses video conferencing for distance learning to support high school students from the nearby town of Amesbury who are interested in college prep courses. Video conferencing is also used to hold college faculty meetings between the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses. When the bandwidth is not used for video conferencing, it is used to support other applications over the WAN (wide area network).


NECC also expanded its voice messaging capabilities with an upgrade to the existing Avaya INTUITY? AUDIX ? Messaging System, enabling subscribers to send and receive faxes through the voice mail system using Avaya's desktop messaging application, INTUITY? Message Manager. Message Manager also allows college administrators to manage voice mails and e-mails from a single client interface, providing easy access to a particular message from phone or PC. The application also enables users to permanently store voice messages on any electronic media.

About NetVersant
NetVersant, a platinum-certified Avaya BusinessPartner based in Houston, Texas, utilized its Boston office to handle the design, sale and implementation for the college. NetVersant Solutions (www.netversant.com) is the leading national provider of voice, video and data communications solutions, including local and wide area network infrastructure, electronic security systems, wireless network installations, voice technologies and telephony systems/applications. NetVersant also offers ancillary services for converging systems operated over a common network, including systems for videoconferencing/streaming, voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) and closed-circuit television and assists customers in the planning, design, implementation, integration, maintenance and support of local and wide area networks.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500?. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications ? and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services ? Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com