In partnership with UCD Estate Services, the UCD telephony service is moving to a new home with IT Services.
IT Services will be delivering a new phone and communications system in 2021. This will be a complete system upgrade with new handsets replacing the existing phone on your desk.
The new system will pave the way for Unified Communications bringing together voice, messaging, telephone conferencing and integrated voicemail and email, transforming the way we work at UCD.
When is this happening?
The new solution will be rolled out across the University over the next 12 months.
As the project progresses a detailed breakdown of the schedule for each location will be provided here.
- October/November 2019 Data Gathering - IT Services will be contacting Schools and Units directly to gather their high-level telephony requirements.
- November 2019 Data Validation - IT Services will have follow-up 1:1 session with each School and Unit to gather and confirm their detailed telephony requirements.
- April – May 2020 System Pilot - Pilot of the new Telephony System.
- June - September 2020 Installation and configuration of core telephony equipment.
- November 2020 Begin deployment of new handsets to staff offices / desks.
- April – July 2021 Deployment and migration of handsets to each UCD location
- May 2021 onwards Deployment of new softphone for staff
- July – August 2021 Migration of AV phones to new system
- July 2021 Deployment of new contact centres for various departments
Update on handset deployment, April 2021
The Covid-19 restrictions has impacted the deployment of new handsets with the handset installation teams unable to attend site until April 12th. At present approximately 90% of the handsets have been deployed. The deployment of the remaining handsets has now recommenced. In buildings where the telephones have not yet been migrated to the new handsets the existing Nortel handsets will continue to function.
The migration to the new handsets has also begun on a phased basis building-by-building. Staff will be notified via email when the migration team is due to be in their area.
What are the benefits?
- It will replace the existing ‘end of life’ service.
- The new service will be a platform for deploying complementary unified communications features which will help to transform the way we work at UCD.
- It will provide operational efficiencies gained through the elimination of redundant extensions and reduction of network infrastructure.
- The new standard handset will support phone number identification.
- All UCD sites will be brought under the same system, meaning that calls to remote sites will be treated as internal calls, both free of charge and under the common numbering scheme.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the changes to the telephone system please email voice.migration@ucd.ie and a member of the project team will be in contact.
