The Australian Catholic University (ACU) has achieved an Asia Pacific first -- almost.
In what Cisco described as a landmark development, ACU has implemented the first such end-to-end voice over IP (VoIP) telephony solution. But like A. G. Bell was reported to have said, "I wish there was someone I could call."
During a staff briefing (and demonstration of the two handsets connected to the LAN) at ACU's MacKillop campus in Sydney last week, Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Sheehan took the first official call, which was made by a Cisco representative at the other end of the room.
Using Cisco's AVVID (architecture for voice, video and integrated data) technology, ACU will be the first Australian university to have a fully Cisco supplied telephony facility on its LANs and WANs.
According to Gordon Howell, acting director of information and communications services, the VoIP telephony implementation will be the third stage of ACU's AU$2.4 million network infrastructure project. He estimated that, exclusive of its internal implementation costs, the 1,000 VoIP phones and gateway represent a AU$600,000 investment for the University.
And it is being strongly supported by Cisco with virtually unlimited consulting, Howell told PC Week. "As the first university to implement such a facility with Cisco, they will make sure it works," he said.
ACU has six campuses across four states, and Howell said he expects the pilot implementation, which will involve a number of work groups in each state and a total of about 100 users, to be in place by July. He added that the full rollout to the university's 950 users will be completed by the end of the year.
Cisco managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Terry Walsh, who was on hand for the briefing, said that the Internet based network will enable ACU to apply new technologies to assist the learning process and to reduce operating costs significantly.
ACU's Howell estimated that its current annual spend on existing telecommunication products and services is AU$1.8 million which he expects will be reduced by half as a result of the IP telephony system.
