Report to CICTC: University VoIP

Transcription

1 Report to CICTC: University VoIP This report will attempt to describe the proposed University Voice over IP telephone system, and highlight issues that arise from it, from a college perspective. Summary: 1. The biggest problem with the OUTN proposal is the requirement for an entirely separate data network, which in Colleges will be provided by colleges but 'owned' by OUTN. We worry that the costs for the provision of this new network have been vastly underestimated. 2. Many features of a VoIP system are not provided. 3. The exclusion of student rooms from the costings misses a great opportunity to improve services to our biggest customers, and also ignores a potential new revenue stream. 4. OUTN's proposal may not offer best value for money. 1: OUTN The OUTN data network starts from a new fibre connection into the college, and proceeds along entirely separate internal networking to the handset on the desktop. While the switching hardware is provided by OUTN, any extra cabling is to be provided by the College themselves. This may amount to none, where the College is already provided with unused internal backbone and multiple Cat5 data points at each desk and in each bedroom; or it may require the provision of a new, duplicate network. OUTN's reasoning for this we believe is that OUTN is unable to guarantee the suitability or reliability of the College data network, although it is not clear upon what standards they are basing that judgement. Separating the two network services in this way will reduce the functionality available to the Colleges and end users but allows OUTN to potentially guarantee a level of service. At present, OUTN offer two VoIP Handsets. 2: The Solution uses the existing data point and the pass-through socket on the back of the phone to connect a computer to the existing network. This allows the distribution of both general and personalised information to the IP Phone, such as weather reports, local events, daily menus, conference-specific information, and even personal and messaging. It also allows the phone, its user data and its services to be integrated into desktop Soft Phones and other communication software. There are a wide selection of handsets available to fit all needs some handsets include built-in Wifi access points. These are especially useful in situations where providing wide coverage of wireless services is otherwise expensive and difficult eg in buildings where wireless signal will not penetrate thick walls, and providing extra cabling into rooms is not practical. The cases below are based upon a 'Hosted' soultion, whereby all the server hardware, billing and management is handled by. A hosted solution means the only burden on the College is deploying the handsets. Other options are available, where some of the management is handled locally which reduces costs further. This is a common practice, undertaken by many small businesses, and these three levels are described in the appendix.

2 3: Student or Conference guest room OUTN's proposals currently only comprise the 'Business' lines, used by college staff, and makes very limited provision for the transfer of Student rooms to VoIP. Student rooms make up a larger proportion of the college population. Currently the plan is to retain the existing analogue handsets and connect them to analogue-to-voip gateways. Providing student bedrooms with a VoIP phone, on a rental basis will offer improved services to students (with the possibility of an allocation of free minutes to National and International destinations) and also even act as a revenue stream. Since Student rooms are used by conferences during holidays, further revenue may be generated by providing richer services to conference guests. Even if revenue generation is not a desired aim, these richer services will offer a unique selling point for the conference managers providing them. So that we may attempt to evaluate the OUTN offering, we sought comparative offerings from a third-party. Three colleges were surveyed, with small, medium and large user bases, and costings obtained for running a VoIP system over their existing network. Common features The three cases that follow share the following common features Recabling an OUTN only cost. Based on 60 per point, clearly well under the cost on some sites where 200 plus per point has been mentioned Upgrade from analogue an OUTN only cost. It is assumed this is just on the existing handsets as would be far more if needed for all users Initial Costs The University telecoms costs, however these only cover admin users and not the full requirement. Upgrade from analogue UT only cost Assumed this is just on the existing handsets as would be far more if needed for all users Basic Cisco handsets UT only cost - 89 each basic units with basic functionality Polycom - only cost - 54 each fully featured In addition to free calls between all connected handsets, regardless of where they are. We have been able to greatly reduce call costs in general, saving an overall 42% against current costs. had minutes used per month and have calculated costs from standard UT costs, but don t have these for International and Premium. I can confirm though, that we are 36% cheaper on average in both areas. Based on 10 per handset per month, this could be more, as we have customer who charge up to 25. This does not include income from Conferences, where additional licences could be activated for a short period of time and charged out accordingly. Ongoing Costs University Telecoms currently charge users a cost of 3.41 per month per user. The service also has a monthly licence cost per user, the cost of this varies with contract term, 6.80 per month for a 1 year term and 4.70 per month for a 3 year term

3 Small College, 531 Lines Two examples are offered, comprising all lines in the first, and only Business in the second. 1 year 3 year Under Graduates = 383 University / / Graduates = 58 Admin = 40, Academic = 50 Telecoms # of Initial Costs Unit Cost users Recabling - 60 pp x 531 users , Upgrade from Analogue 13, Basic Cisco 89 x , Basic Handset x , Polycom 54 x , , Sub total 123, , , Saving with / 94, Ongoing cost Monthly licence per 3.41 x , Months licence per 6.80 x , Months licence per 4.70 x , months cost 21, , , = = International = = Premium = Call costs over 12 months 3, , , Income from Undergrads and grads 10 per month per Handset x 441-4, , Conference income?? Income over 12 months - 49, , Comparison over 1st 12 months 148, , , Comparison Annually thereafter Initial cost saving - 94, Overall Comparison after 12 months Due to the enormous set up costs associated with a University solution, our hosted solution wins in all cases. It is 123, cheaper on the 12 month option and 137, on the 36 month option. Comparison annually 25, , , Compared with the annual cost of the University telecoms solution of 25,251.46, the system offers the chance to actually make an income of 3, on the 12 month contract and potentially 17, income on the 36 month pricing.

4 Small College, 236 Lines 1 year / 3 year / University Current Lines = 236 Telecoms Unit # of Initial Costs Recabling - 60 pp x 236 users Cost users , Upgrade from Analogue Basic Cisco 89 x 236 Basic Handset x 236 Polycom 54 x , , , , , Sub total 62, , , Saving with / 49, Ongoing cost Monthly licence per 3.41 x Months licence per 6.80 x Months licence per 4.70 x months cost , , = = International = = Premium = Call costs over 12 months 3, , , Income from Undergrads and grads 10 per month per Handset x 441 Conference income?? Income over 12 months 0 0 Comparison over 1st 12 months Comparison Annually thereafter 75, , , , , , Initial cost saving - 49, Overall Comparison after 12 months. Due to the set up costs associated with a University solution, the hosted solution wins in all cases. It is 41, cheaper on the 12 month option and 47, cheaper on the 36 month option. Comparison annually Compared with the annual cost of the University telecoms solution with an annual cost of 13,180.06, the / managed solution is slightly higher on running cost, but only by on the 3 year option. This does not take into account any phone rental income conferences and students.

5 Medium -sized College (560 phone lines) Undergraduates = 320 University Graduates = 150 Admin = 47, Academic = 30, Other = 13 Telecoms Unit # of Initial Costs Recabling - 60 pp x 560 users Cost users , Upgrade from Analogue Basic Cisco 89 x 560 Basic Handset x 560 Polycom 54 x , , , , , Sub total Saving with / 1 year / 3 year / 125, , , , Ongoing cost Monthly licence per 3.41 x , Months licence per 6.80 x , , Months licence per 4.70 x months cost 22, , , = = International = 9 hrs 30mins % Cheaper = Premium = 15 hrs 30 mins = 35% cheaper Call costs over 12 months 2, , Income from Undergrads and grads 10 per month per Handset x 441-4, , Conference income?? Income over 12 months - 56, , Comparison over 1st 12 months Comparison Annually thereafter 151, , , , , Initial cost saving - 95,127.60

6 Larger College (650 lines) Under Graduates = 367 Graduates = 97 Admin = 30, Academic = 56, Extra lines = 100 University Telecoms 1 year / Unit # of Initial Costs Recabling - 60 pp x 650 users Cost users , Upgrade from Analogue Basic Cisco 89 x 650 Basic Handset x 650 Polycom 54 x , , , , , Sub total Saving with / Ongoing cost Monthly licence per 3.41 x , , , , , Months licence per 6.80 x , year / 3, Months licence per 4.70 x months cost 26, , , Local 41% Cheaper National 45% Cheaper International = 36% Cheaper Mobile 48% Cheaper Premium = 35% cheaper Call costs over 12 months Income from Undergrads and grads 10 per month per Handset x 441-4, , Conference income?? Income over 12 months Comparison over 1st 12 months Comparison Annually thereafter 174, , , , , , , , No cost, but actual profit for the College Initial cost saving - 112, Overall Comparison after 12 months Due to the set up costs associated with a University solution, our hosted solution wins in all cases. It is 142, cheaper on the 12 month option and 159, on the 36 month option. Comparison annually Compared with the annual cost of the University telecoms solution with an annual cost of 26,598, the / managed solution actually makes the college an income of 3,360 per annum on the 12 month option and 19,740 per annum income on the 3 year option. This does not take into account any phone rental income from conferences and the saving to be made on calls.

7 Appendix Service types offered by Standalone This would basically be each site acting totally independently. A totally new connection would be installed into the college and then telephone system central control unit and handsets installed. Lines I would recommend either ISDN or preferably IP trunks fed over your existing data connection. With IP trunks it will be easier to port existing numbers and allocate more numbers in the future. Call and rental costs will be lower. With whichever package is chosen calls will be lower than they are now and calls can still remain free between colleges. Systems Best of breed solutions can be offered from Avaya and Mitel, to offer a range of handsets, IP, Digital, Analogue, softphone, software client on Mobiles etc. This college based hardware can be managed by College IT or by. Call management software can be added to allow charging of phone rental and calls to third parties or students. This would involve a capital purchase of both central hardware and handsets and ongoing rentals for lines and an annual maintenance contract. Central Solution As above, but with the solution shared between a number of colleges. This could be set up with multiple central servers for resilience and would basically mirror the existing University Telecoms solution, but on a smaller scale. Hosted Solutions With this option all of the central hardware is already in place in s data centres and so handsets are the only things required on site, which access our data centres via existing data connections. Handsets can be purchased or rented as required. There is a monthly licence fee per user. This model has little or no capital outlay, no lines to rent, no maintenance

8 Report produced by Simon Thomson, Pembroke College James Dore, New College Martin Jones, Ian Woodhead,