Homeworking,video conferencing,instant messagingand some of the
other, more progressive capabilities associated with unified
communications may not immediately seem of benefit to such a
hands-on public service as the fire brigade. But like every public
service, where budget is always under pressure to deliver frontline
services as well as back office efficiencies, something as simple
as voicemail is still a key necessity, and one thatTayside Fire and
Rescuelacked until recently.
Gary Bellfield, information and communications technology
manager at Tayside Fire and Rescue told Computer Weekly the lack of
voicemail was a major problem that needed overcoming, particularly
within the context of its local government responsibilities. "We
needed to ensure the quick and efficient flow of information by
whatever means were required to the right operational staff as
quickly as possible," he said.
As one of eight fire authorities in Scotland, headquartered in
Dundee, serving 400,000 people and covering 7,000 square kilometres
with 750 staff, who work out of six permanently staffed and 18
volunteer staff-run fire stations, Tayside has to spend most of its
budget on its people and frontline equipment. But Bellfield said
that an ongoing project to update its
Microsoft
Exchange environment presented the perfect opportunity for the
organisation to look at its legacy telecommunications
infrastructure.
During this time and Tayside's ongoing technology programme to
refresh existing parts of its
Microsoft environment, Bellfield learned about the
unified communications components of the platform and found it
provided a cost-effective way for the organisation to access the
latest communications functionality, without having to rip and
replace its existing infrastructure.
Tayside's Nortel Meridian Option 11 Private Branch Exchange
(PBX) system and mobile phone plan provided only basic phone
service and Bellfield said it was becoming prohibitive to extend
its functionality because the organisation had to hire a consultant
to make any changes. He said that last time Tayside wanted to
implement a single analogue extension in one of its fire stations,
it spent more than £4,500.
The organisation deployed a
unified
communications platform built on
Microsoft
Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office Communications Server
2007, and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. As a result, the
organisation has
improved communications links by offering features like
voicemail, facilitated greater mobility, raised the competency of
its firefighters and reduced costs through increased operational
control.
In March 2007, Tayside Fire technical engineers installed
Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition on a single HP ProLiant
ML370 G5 server computer running the Windows Server 2003 R2
Enterprise x64 Edition operating system.
In April 2007, the team installed Office Communications Server
2007 on another
HP ProLiant server Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition. The
engineers deployed two additional HP ProLiant ML370 G5 server
computers running the Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition
operating system. One server computer hosts the Mediation Server
role that facilitates communication between Office Communications
Server 2007 and the Dialogic Media Gateway. The gateway, in turn,
communicates with the organisation's PBX system. The team set up
the other server computer in the perimeter network to support the
Access Edge Server, Audio/Video Edge Server, and Web Conferencing
Edge Server roles. These servers support features such as remote
user connectivity, instant messaging and multimedia
conferences.
After engineers installed
Office Communicator 2007 on portable computers and five servers
running Citrix Presentation Server, employees were issued a
voice over IP device (VoIP). Three managers were also issued
Palm Treo smartphones to help facilitate remote access through
Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile. The smartphones connect
directly with Exchange Server 2007 to deliver access to wireless
voice, e-mail, the web and Microsoft Office Mobile
applications.
Today, all Tayside employees use Office Communications Server
2007 to access presence and IM features, but not everyone has
access to the VoIP and video features at this time. Bellfield said
full deployment would be complete by the end of March 2008 as part
of a technology refresh programme to replace all existing thin
clients with ultra-small-form-factor PCs.
For example, he said, using Office Communications Server 2007,
Tayside now broadcasts training sessions to multiple stations so
that trainers don't have to drive two or three hours to get to
their destination. Bellfield said: "As a result, we'll be able to
provide more training, which will raise the competency level of our
firefighters."
He said the system also facilitated greater productivity with
audio or multimedia web conferences, integrated voicemail and
e-mail management with Outlook 2007, the ability to work remotely,
and federation to other Microsoft unified communications platforms
using organisations for further savings through wider use of free
IP-based calls.
Bellfield added: "In a communications context, we are an even
more joined-up organisation with the new unified communications
investment and our level of responsiveness is higher than ever
before. In terms of the ability to contact people and know
someone's availability, the systems we now have are very attuned to
respond as effectively and quickly as possible."
Big increase in unified communications take-up
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