VARs Get Called To Integrate An Old Voice, Video, And Data Network

West Hills Community College is the fastest growing community college in California. Its staff of 300 serves more than 5,000 students at its campuses in Coalinga, Firebaugh, and Lemoore. However, the students and faculty were forced to deal with an unreliable infrastructure, which consisted of separate data, voice, and video systems each running on antiquated hardware. Each system also had its own infrastructure, its own wide area network (WAN) connections, and its own set of challenges.

"Often one or more WAN connections would experience outages," says Dr. Frank Gornick, chancellor of West Hills. "A state grant presented us with the perfect opportunity to upgrade our infrastructure and accommodate future growth. The system we had been using was inoperable. We needed to purchase new hardware but didn't want to end up in the same predicament. The company we selected needed to have an all-in-one solution as well as the vision to meet our future needs."

New Architecture Converges Voice, Video, And Data
The West Hills staff considered several solutions, but opted to go with AVVID (architecture for voice, video, and integrated data) from Cisco Systems (San Jose, CA). Once West Hills made its decision to go with AVVID, Cisco brought in communications technology integrator VOICEPRO (San Ramon, CA) and network integrator AMS.NET (Livermore, CA), two integrators that had worked together in the past. Cisco, AMS.NET, and VOICEPRO specialists worked with West Hills to design the voice, video, and data infrastructure. VOICEPRO also took on the job of reviewing the existing phone system and helping the college improve its communication and messaging. AVVID features converged voice, video, and data systems. "Only Cisco offered integrated voice, video, data, and unified messaging from a single manufacturer that could be easily administered from a single point," says Robert Tocci, president of AMS.NET. "Other solutions did not offer the complete end-to-end integration West Hills needed."

Integrate The User Environment
The old legacy phone system was phased out and replaced with a new integrated phone system platform. On the messaging side, West Hills was using an automated attendant system and voice mail. The new system brought integrated voice mail, e-mail, and fax that could be managed from a single point, providing a tremendous advantage to the staff. "A traditional PBX [private branch exchange] system can address some of the voice needs of an organization like West Hills," says Annette McCormick, senior account manager for VOICEPRO. "With an integrated environment, you can deliver the applications needed today and still have the ability to add applications down the road."

"Our goal was to provide reliability, redundancy, and bandwidth to run new applications," says Tocci. "Our team first installed a new, switched network with a gigabit backbone to provide the infrastructure. The three legacy systems were upgraded with new hardware and then combined with WAN circuits into one common network. The resulting design provided West Hills with the reliability it lacked with its old individual systems. Security features we installed also provided network protection from Internet and outside attacks. Cisco provides this functionality, enabling us to keep everything on one network yet protect and separate each application."

New Infrastructure Yields Immediate Results
Video meetings had an immediate effect on staff resources. Rather than driving an hour to attend a meeting at a college location, everyone now uses the video system. Gornick reports that the staff is becoming very astute at using the new equipment, and the school was cited in an accreditation visit for its skillful use of the technology to increase productivity. "West Hills students are among the most economically disadvantaged in the state," adds Gornick. "It's our job to provide them with the greatest education we can without letting transportation, lack of money, or other issues get in the way."

The decision to go with Cisco also provided the college with a unique partnering opportunity. West Hills wanted to make business decisions that could piggyback on what Cisco had to offer. For example, the college offered to beta test new products for Cisco so it could be exposed to the most advanced technologies on the market. The school has leveraged that partnership to get a very competitive USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) grant for multiple video-conferencing classrooms connecting three sites at West Hills and at nearby Fresno State.

"We reminded ourselves that we agreed to be on the leading edge," says Susan Kincade, dean of learning resources at West Hills. "There were little details we faced along the learning curve, but the results make every issue and challenge worth it. We now have a system in place that meets our needs and our students' needs today and will continue to meet them well into the future."