Traditional Telephone is History: ISC Launches Project Clean Sweep
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December 17, 2013, Volume 60, No. 17
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Campaign aims to prevent disruptions in voice services for faculty and staff
ISC has launched Project Clean Sweep as part of its Traditional Telephone is History campaign. Project Clean Sweep is designed to “clean up” traditional voice mailboxes and telephone lines that are left over following recent conversions to PennNet Phone.
Project Clean Sweep is being carried out in two concurrent phases. This two-phased approach, which started this past August, places emphasis on voice mail conversion since this service will be completely shut off on July 1, 2014.
What will happen when traditional voice mail is turned off?
When traditional voice mail service is turned off on July 1, 2014, incoming callers will not have the option to leave a voice mail message. To avoid a potential loss of messages and a disruption in service, Project Clean Sweep is identifying departments and offices that have yet to convert to PennNet Phone voice mail and providing them with spreadsheets that identify each voice mailbox owner, service start date, location and status. They are then asked to identify which voice mailboxes to convert to PennNet Phone and which ones to disconnect. On-site office visits will also be conducted by ISC to help staff expedite the scheduling and conversion process.
Old technology–analog telephone is ending too
The second phase of the project involves converting traditional telephone—analog service—to PennNet Phone. Analog telephone service will also be discontinued on July 1, 2014, with the exception of services such as security and FAX lines. For the complete list of services that will remain on the analog telephone infrastructure, please visit www.upenn.edu/computing/voice/phone/analog-service.html
The PennNet Phone advantage
PennNet Phone, the University’s telephone and voice mail service, offers substantial cost savings, Internet-rich features, and intelligent handsets over traditional telephone and voice mail services. ISC brought VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to Penn as its solution for upgrading the University’s aging telephone infrastructure. As a result of PennNet Phone, the University telecom administrative bills have gone down from $8.3 million annually to $6.3 million annually, with additional reductions expected to continue through FY15.
Upgrade now–we’re here to help
ISC is strongly advising all members of the Penn community to upgrade to PennNet Phone as soon as possible to retain access to telephone and voice mail services. We want to work with you to make sure that your upgrade experience is as easy, fast and as cost-effective as possible and to help prevent interruptions in service. We will “sweep back around” to departments and offices to coordinate upgrades before July 1, 2014.
Departments and offices remaining on the traditional telephone service will pay higher costs in FY15.
To find out how to upgrade to PennNet Phone, call the ISC Telecommunications office at (215) 5746-6000, email telephone@isc.upenn.edu, or visit “Switch to PennNet Phone Now” at www.upenn.edu/computing/voice/phone/order-switchnow.html
—Mike Palladino, Associate Vice President, ISC Networking & Telecommunications
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