Small California District Installs Cisco Communications Platform

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/11/08

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St. Helena Unified School District (SHUSD), located in Northern California, has finished installing a Cisco IP-based unified communications solution that provides voice, video, mobility and presence services to 1,500 K-12 students, their families, and 250 district employees. The district worked with Stamford, CT-based MTM Technologies on the installation, which replaced a seven-year-old PBX that was frequently unreliable. The project took three months to complete.

"To say we are excited about what our new solution will enable us to do is an understatement," said SHUSD Superintendent Allan Gordon. "We no longer have to worry about when our system will go down next or how long it will take to restore. And that says nothing of the many new communication, collaboration, and cost-savings advantages we now have throughout the district."

MTM implemented a Cisco Power over Ethernet (PoE) solution that provides power and data connectivity over the IP infrastructure. The vendor deployed Cisco Unified Communications Manager, a call-processing component that provides voice, video, mobility, and presence services. In addition, the company installed Cisco Unity, a voice and unified messaging platform that enables users to access e-mail, voice, and fax messages from a single inbox on a multitude of devices. The deployment also included 150 Cisco 7900 Series IP phones.

Future plans include providing wireless connectivity throughout the school district and IP-based video surveillance. "The possibilities are almost limitless with this platform," said Steven McElroy, network specialist at the district.

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About the author: Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business for a number of publications. Contact her at [email protected].

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