ITS (Phone) Switch Upgrade Project

From: Dave Pecora, Associate Director, ITS
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 2:45 PM
To: RIT Managers, RIT Phone Coordinators
Subject: Phone Switch Upgrade: Impact on Phone Line Changes

Greetings,

This is to inform you that ITS will be doing a major upgrade to the RIT phone switch over the next month. The new technology will eventually allow us to integrate formerly separate tools such as telephony and video into RIT's IT infrastructure, while maintaining the telecommunication services provided today.

The upgrade is complex and time consuming, and will require that we limit changes to the phone system over the next four weeks, specifically changes that require programming work.

As a result, we need to impose a freeze on telephone feature changes between April 14 and May 12. Feature changes include things such as:

• Changes to the provisioning of long distance service for existing lines, and adding or removing voice mailboxes. Lines that already have long distance service, and existing voice mailboxes will be unaffected.
• Changes to the programming of ACD (Automated Call Distribution) systems. Existing ACD systems will be unaffected.

We are also asking that all departments hold off on the scheduling of other changes (such as phone line moves) until after May 12 if possible.

We understand that requests for new employees and moves associated with office moves must proceed, however please know that these will require duplicate effort for ITS staff during this period, so service delays are expected. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this upgrade.

If there are any questions about the upgrade or associated impact, please feel free to ask.

Thank You,

Dave Pecora
(585-475-7646)
Dave.Pecora@rit.edu