“There were some unique challenges with this project,” states Steve Manning, Manager of Computer Services for GST BOCES. “ We wanted to build a common platform from two disparate, and aging phone/voicemail systems over three separate campuses throughout New York; the Bush Campus in Elmira, the Coopers Campus in Painted Post, and the Wildwood Campus in Hornell.” 

According to Jason Boyers, the Design Lead of Annese & Associates, Inc., “Implementing the dial plan was a challenge because we were starting with three different dial plans, which meant we needed to identify and configure gure all three into one common plan. This configuration  included the work groups and workflow for three different organizations. 

Technology and Applications: Cisco Unified Communications Manager Cisco Unity Unified Messaging/Voicemail Cisco Emergency Responder Berbee Informacast, IP Paging System

“Secondly, we were asked to build a dial plan that would scale to support the schools as well.” To support the VoIP
implementation, the campus switching technology was upgraded to enable power over ethernet (PoE), quality of service (QoS), and backup power. 

Next, Annese was asked to integrate a common paging system across all campuses, which previously used three
different systems, all requiring their own integration strategies. Annese recommended, configured, and installed Berbee InformCast™ during this step for multicast capabilities to provide IP phone and overhead paging into one network. 

Steve Manning proclaims, “Annese’s effective, lifecycle service approach, was key to our success; I would strongly recommend Annese for all your Unified Communications
projects.” 

For help in choosing which solution is right for you, call Annese at 800-723-2213.