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Agenda:Agenda:

• StrategyStrategy

• Pilot ProjectPilot Project

• IBM/3Com IPT BetaIBM/3Com IPT Beta

• Implementation and Post ImplementationImplementation and Post Implementation

Polar IP Telephony

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Business Case - Began planning 2 years before Siemens system end of

term, 05/2007- Read several articles indicating IPT was a leading growth

technology- Increasing number of mobile users and remote locations- Remote locations on different phone systems with

multiple messaging systems- Cost savings – cabling, adds/changes/deletes- No appreciable long distance call savings

Network Infrastructure Upgrade - Migrated WAN from Frame Relay to MPLS- Upgrade WAN bandwidth to 768k and 1.5m- Replace routers at all locations for voice packet

prioritization- Change network switches to POE.

Strategy

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Select Pilot Location - Remote warehouse office renovation- Significant cost for voice cabling- Twenty five phones and high volume of calls made this

location ideal for a pilot.

Pilot Implementation - Sent RFPs to Siemens, Cisco and 3Com- Selected 3Com NBX IPT

- Low startup cost, about the same as voice cabling cost- Easier implementation- We just wanted to ‘kick the tires’

- NBX not SIP compatible, considered VCX

Pilot Project

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3Com VCX on the iSeries - IBM announcement in April/06- Accepted as a beta site

- Infrastructure upgraded- 3Com phones and NBX installed

- Run on 3Com hardened Red Hat Linux

iSeries Setup - Two Linux partitions, primary and backup configured on

production and HA 550s- Allocated 60gig of Virtual I/O off a i5/OS partition- Allocated 1gig of memory and ½ processor for each Linux

partition

IBM/3Com IPT Beta

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VCX Beta - Installed VCX and IP messaging on the iSeries- Added three remote locations to the beta- Beta running four locations and 55 phones- Tested find me/follow me, unified messaging and

convergence client features- VCX interfaced with Siemens system- Beta lasted four months- Did not beta conferencing or presence awareness

IBM/3Com IPT Beta

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IBM/3Com IPT Beta

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Implementation- Conducted voice readiness assessment- Trained end users- Upgrade VCX from beta to GA release 7.2.2- Started all locations

- 260 3Com 3103 manager phones- 400 voicemail phantoms, paging- 250 analog devices

- Configured 16 gateways, FXS, FXO, SPAN- Disconnected Siemens system- Created VCX backup scripts to IFS- Conducted administrator training

Implementation and Post Implementation

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Post Implementation- Not well received by CEO and COO- Voice quality issues

- Echo- Skipping words- Static- Beeping

- Headsets not working- Loss of dial plan- Phones lock up- Fax lines not working- Hunt group pickup- Receptionist unable to handle call volume- VCX outage

Implementation and Post Implementation

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What I would do different- Request 3Com conduct a more thorough VRA- Add CEO, Customer Service and Receptionist to the beta- Pay more attention to TCP/IP addresses and gateway

configs- Spend more time talking to installed sites

Implementation and Post Implementation

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