Updates
02/11
The task force has defined three classes of service - basic, business, and institutional. They are working on the pricing for different scenarios using these service classes and their defined feature sets.
Charter
Executive Summary
A task force of representatives from McCombs School of Business, The College of Natural Sciences, the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Communication, the Cockrell School of Engineering and Information Technology Services has been assembled to review the current needs for telephony on campus and determine the best approach to provide this service moving forward.
Business Need and Background
Voice over IP (VoIP) was identified through the SITAC process and prioritized by the IT Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) to be investigated as a future direction for campus telephone services. It is believed that VoIP, and changes to the way services are provided, can decrease the cost of providing telephone service while also providing increased flexibility and new features. While the current infrastructure has served campus well for over 25 years, it is time to re-examine the previous strategies. Driving the urgency for this investigation are the needs of four new buildings being constructed, whose investments could be used as a foundation for a newly vetted telephone service for campus. Some of those construction plans may even accelerate the need to transition the entire campus to VoIP delivery ahead of expected obsolescence.
Additional considerations for this investigation include the current aging infrastructure and lifecycle upgrade investments being expended as a due course of business and the parallel ITS rate reviews for telephone rates and cross-subsidies.
Project Description
The approach for this project will be customer focused and data driven. Departments will present desired telephone service profiles in the new buildings. Based on those presentations, the working group will choose a set of features, options, services, and also funding and reliability needs. Technologies will then be architected and priced for presentation back to the relevant governance groups for input and review.
Project documents and updates can be found at https://sharepoint.austin.utexas.edu/voip/ (requires UT EID login).
Task Force Members
| William Green | Committee Chair |
| Name | Position & Organization |
|---|---|
| Patrick Boyd | IT Manger, College of Liberal Arts |
| David Burns | Director, McCombs School of Business |
| Sandra Germenis | ITS Telecom Services Manager |
| Bob Gloyd | Director, Cockrell School of Engineering |
| William Green | Director, ITS Networking and Telecommunications |
| Bryan Harold | Director for Information Technology, College of Natural Sciences |
| James Lewis | IT Manager, College of Liberal Arts |
| Jay Riekenberg | ITS Telecom Engineer |
| Toren Smith | Software Engineer, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences |
| Charles Soto | Director, College of Communication |
| Patti Spencer | Director, Department of Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences |