The switch is past due. DePauw University is replacing the telephone system that they have had for over 20 years with a new adopted service from Cinergy MetroNet.
The new service uses a 'cloud-hosted' system, analogous to that of Google Apps, which DePauw uses for email.
New structures to the system include data stored at a data center in Indianapolis, no equipment on campus except for networking equipment and all new phones.
"Because of the nature of the technology, [the systems] tend to last a very long time," said Carol Smith, who works in Library and Information Services. "However, we have really pushed the limits, so it's time to replace it."
Smith and her committee of 30 other faculty have worked for the past few months on switching from the old system, a PBX (private branch exchange), which is basically a big phone switch in the lower level of the administration building, to a newer system to better fit DePauw's needs.
Although the old system is still working, the voicemail system was struck by lightning two years ago and failed. The faculty and staff have been using Google Voice accounts since.
"[Google Voice] is really not a long term solution so we've had a need to do this for the last few years," Smith said. "Over the last 24 months, new types of telephone services have emerged...you can [use them] in a commercial setting."
Google Voice sends voice mails to recipients emails as text, as well as keeping a recording.
"One of the problems with that is that it comes into a script," said Tracey Schmutte, who works in the Office of Student Life. "You have to listen to [the voicemail] because if you just read the email, it messes up the wording of the message. [The email] can just say crazy things."
As opposed to purchasing a new PBX switch, which cost around $1 million dollars and are the size of a typical dorm room, DePauw opted for a newer subscription-based service, which is significantly less costly, to handle the university's approximately 1,200 phone lines.
The main difference between the two systems is that the old PBX system was maintained, owned and run by DePauw, but the new service is provided and run by Cinergy MetroNet. Cinergy MetroNet owns all of the equipment, and DePauw will pay the company by usage.
To determine which new system DePauw should adopt, Smith and her committee hosted a pilot test, asking other staff members who use the phones often to test Cinergy MetroNet's system.
Features to the Cinergy MetroNet service include caller identification, the capability to view missed calls and access to an online account where users can set their own preferences and capabilities.
Inconveniences with the old PBX system prompted the new system to be installed to every faculty and staff member by the end of the spring semester and the other miscellaneous phone lines in the elevators, common rooms, etc. to be installed by the end of the summer.
"As people move [offices], we have to move their phone lines and that requires a technician to actually go to a switch board and move wiring," said Jane Griswold of Academic Affairs. "I think we will be really well served to have a system that is much more flexible and current."