Project Summary. June 15, Local Government School District Collaboration. VoIP Telephone System (Voice over Internet Protocol)

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2 June 15, 2005 Project Summary Local Government School District Collaboration VoIP Telephone System (Voice over Internet Protocol) Through the support and vision of City Council and the Trustees of School District No. 67, Penticton has successfully implemented a state-of-the-art VoIP Telephone system. By working together, both organizations have achieved cost savings while at the same time building a better overall system. This process has been in development since 2003, when both organizations identified a need to replace their existing telephone systems with more current technology. Core data communications equipment is shared between our agencies, with peripheral initiatives left up to each partner. A video system has been fully integrated which allows phone users to see each other via computer monitors during a call. To our knowledge, The City of Penticton and School District 67 were the first in Canada to also integrate voic with . Voice messages are saved on our exchange servers - allowing them to be archived or forwarded to anyone with an Internet connection. We believe our project was quite unique and the first of its kind in North America.

3 Local Government and School District Collaboration Penticton s City/School VoIP Telephone System (Voice Over Internet Protocol) Through the support and vision of City Council and the Trustees of School District No. 67, The City of Penticton has successfully implemented a new VoIP-based Telephone system that is truly state of the art. Making the Choice The process originated in early 2003 when both organizations recognized the growing demands of instant messaging and a strong need to replace their legacy telephone systems with current technology. The City of Penticton and School District No. 67 had also recently completed a Fiber Optic Project resulting in a City-owned municipal fiber optic network with the School District securing a long term lease. This first joint venture laid the important technological foundation for all future high speed communication opportunities. The City and School District agreed that by working together they could achieve significant cost savings while at the same time building a better overall infrastructure. The joint Cisco VoIP based telephone project was realized in 2004, with the bulk of the new system installed and the two organizations sharing key data communications equipment. The uniqueness of this project has also generated a number of world-wide news articles on the web: lutions_customer_profile09186a00801ea529.html Expanding with Video In 2005 the system was finalized and expanded to include a video system! Video cameras (similar to Web-cams) are mounted on telephone units and fully integrated with video software into the phone system allowing callers to see each other via their computer monitor. 1

4 Linking to To our knowledge, Penticton is also the first municipality in Canada to have our phone system integrated with our system. Incoming voice messages are automatically saved as an with an attached.wav file in the recipient s account. This allows our staff to save, copy and archive messages anywhere on our network. The with voic attachment can also easily be forwarded to anyone on the Internet. Being a Pioneer As of January 2004, our research was unable to locate any project in North America similar to ours whereby a Municipality and School District have partnered to share their telephone and data communications infrastructure. A Strong Partnership The new IP based phone system is our first step in maximizing the advantages provided by our new high speed fiber network. Embarking on this initiative together has created a strong relationship between our organizations. Major joint activities include: Vendor Selection Contract Negotiations System Design Implementation Schedules Coordination of the cutover Training Courses were coordinated and offered to our technicians from both organizations at the same time Troubleshooting various issues resulted in time savings as this information was shared Planning Together It was critical to carefully plan and coordinate all of our efforts on system design and implementation as we shared the main data communications equipment. At the present time, all in-coming and outgoing phone calls from the City and the School District are now directed through a main communications switch located at the School Board office. However, the system is design balanced to take into consideration alternative routing should any particular piece of equipment fail. Not only did we install a new IP based phone system, but both organizations completely replaced all data communications infrastructure in all buildings. This project was a city-wide installation that included 12 city facilities and 17 schools within the boundaries of the city. 2

5 Tangible Benefits Some of the important benefits realized on this project have been: Savings in equipment purchases due to quantity discounts. Savings in telephone line costs, as well as savings on calls placed between the City and Schools - an outside line is no longer required due to transporting the call on our own fiber network. Reduced inventory by way of an agreement between organizations to use each other s stock in the event of a failure. The mutual use of several costly communication components has eliminated the need for both organizations to maintain redundant systems. Integrated PA systems have been included in the new telephone system. This allows a person to page someone directly from the phone. There is also the capability for a caller from another building to do pages if required. In terms of cost, the City alone is realizing a savings of $50,000 annually! Providing Better Community Service Community benefits from this new initiative include receiving improved customer service as the new technology keeps track of items such as missed calls, placed calls and the ability to forward voice messages internally or externally via the Internet to the appropriate individual. Going Wireless Both the City and School District continue to add new features to our IP based system. A recent City expansion to the VoIP based network is the addition of wireless VoIP phone service at City Hall, City Yards and the Penticton Convention Centre. Testimonials Please review the attached Penticton Herald newspaper articles published in our community. The articles show that the public is aware the City of Penticton and School District No. 67 partnered in this initiative and continue to work together and share both information and resources. 3

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