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Shaw University
Martel A.
Perry
Contact:
LaChauna Sumpter
Development and Public Relations
For Immediate
Release
Shaw University,
Nation’s Oldest Southern Historically Black University,
Leaps Into A New Age of Communications Using Avaya
Internet Protocol Technology
Cuts Operations Costs by 50 Percent, Creates
New Revenue Sources and Introduces Distance Learning to North
Carolina Corridor
BASKING RIDGE,
N.J. (June 7, 2004)- Shaw University, the nation’s oldest
historically black college in the south, selected Avaya
Inc. (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of
communications networks and services for businesses, to
help take its students, faculty and community to the next
level- not to mention the next century-with Internet
Protocol (IP) Telephony communications.
Using Avaya
solutions, the private liberal arts university in Raleigh,
N.C., has replaced its aging and costly Centrex system that
frequently dropped calls and lacked the capability to provide
unified campus-wide telephony features like voice mail. Today,
Shaw has broadened its capabilities with a converged end-to-end
data and voice systems network, enabling the same dialing plan
across all ten locations and the creation of virtual classrooms
through videoconferencing. The main campus is now seamlessly
linked more tightly to its remote campus sites - some of which
are spread 246 miles across the state.
The 2,600-student
university has slashed expenses in half, improved
communications reliability, and created a flexible
infrastructure that will allow them to reap revenue through
service offerings. With IP Telephony, the university
expects
to save $1.5 million over the
next five years. IP Telephony is software-based
technology that uses
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to transmit voice as data
over a computer network. This emerging technology helps reduce
network costs.
In the old
environment, calls were frequently blocked into student dorms
and administrative departments due to limited bandwidth. Busy
counselors at the university’s financial aid office only had
two phone lines and callers frequently heard
busy signals.
University administration could not do four-digit dialing to
buildings that were across the street and calling features,
like voice mail services, were limited or in some instances,
non-existent at some facilities such as student
dorms.
”Our communications system has gone from the 19th
Century to the 21st Century in nine months, and we now have
full resources available to all students and simultaneously
have a network that’s cost effective and generates a revenue
stream,” said Martel Perry, Shaw’s executive vice
president.
“With Avaya Internet Protocol Telephony infrastructure in
place, our communications network can take us as far as our
imagination wants to go,” he said. Perry said the university is
now light years ahead of other local
universities.
With a vision to provide quality
education by provisioning quality technology, University
President Clarence Newsome, Ph.D., said the new network
infrastructure will have immediate impact in augmenting Shaw’s
computer sciences division, and will have further reaching
benefits.
“We’ve been building a
complex highway for education,” said Newsome. ”This converged
network from Avaya helps us to improve the culture of our
learning environment, creates broader bonds with our
communities and enhances the quality of education while
carefully using our limited resources,” said
Newsome.
Benefits of the new IP Telephony
enterprise network for Shaw:
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Productivity and mobility
up. Staff
productivity improved with the use of Avaya IP Phones,
including the Avaya 4620 IP Phone and the Avaya 4624 IP
Softphone. The softphone allows a computer to serve as
a desktop telephone with the flexibility of connecting
to the university network no matter where a person is.
The university administration and faculty also have
greater mobility with the Avaya Extension to Cellular,
which allows staff to move about the campus or
telecommute and have their desktop calls transparently
delivered to their cell phones.
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Distance learning
enabled. With
the installation of a new video conferencing system,
the Polycom Multipoint Conferencing Unit sold by Avaya,
Shaw’s voice, video and data network has a footprint
that covers the state of North Carolina. The university
can offer a fuller line-up of courses to anyone in the
world, but has a local reach to its remote Centers for
Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE) centers. These
centers are located in areas that include: Ahoskie,
Asheville, Durham, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount/Wilson,
Greenville, High Point, Kannapolis and
Wilmington.
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Innovative communications for
students.
Students can even join a lecture via cell phone because
the IP network allows links to as many as 24 video
conferencing sites and audio conferencing to 48
sites.
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Travel time and staffing
decreased.
Staff and administration no longer have to travel for
meetings to remote campuses because videoconferencing
is at each site. The university has also decreased the
number of adjunct professors needed at its remote
locations.
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Network management
eased. An IP
Telephony platform allows Shaw to more easily and
centrally manage its network via the Avaya Integrated
Management software. The school has also solved its
urgent need for more bandwidth and reduced the myriad
of carriers and service providers. Before switching to
a unified Avaya platform, the university described
managing its network as a “nightmare” as it previously
used eight different local telephone carriers, 15
Internet service providers, four long distance carriers
and four cell phone companies.
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Expenses
cut. The
school once paid expensive toll charges between
locations and had no call accounting. Although
all of the lines for Shaw’s Centrex system were
not being used, the university still had to pay
nearly $40,000 a month for the dorms’ lines. That
expense has now been cut in
half.
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Enrollment and retention
up. Shaw has
already seen a 20 percent increase in enrollments at
its remote campuses that are linked to the main campus
via videoconferencing.
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Revenue
created.
The university plans to generate revenue by
providing video and audio conferencing services
to the community for training classes or
meetings. Also, Shaw plans to receive additional
revenue by charging students a fee for voice
mailboxes offered from the Avaya INTUITY™ AUDIX®
Multimedia Messaging Server. These services are
provided by the Avaya MultiVantage™
Communications Applications portfolio powered by
Avaya Communications Manager, the Avaya flagship
IP software.
The university uses the
Avaya G700 Media Gateway and Avaya P330 Stackable
Switching System at the remote sites that link to the
main campus and with service provider USLEC to provide
a robust frame relay network.
About Shaw
Shaw University was
founded in 1865 with a mission to admit students
without regard to race, creed or gender and to provide
educational opportunities, technical skills and
character development for its diverse student
population. Shaw is considered the mother of
historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in
North Carolina. Five of the 11 historically black
colleges were started on Shaw’s campus or founded by
Shaw graduates. Since 2003, the university has been
under the leadership of Dr. Clarence G. Newsome.
President Newsome’s leadership pursues the theme:
Strides to Excellence: Only the Best!”
About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs,
builds and manages communications networks for more
than 1 million businesses worldwide, including over 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 website:
http://www.avaya.com.
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