Durham, N.C.-based hosted VoIP telephone services solutions provider FeatureTel Telecommunications announced that it recently completed the installation of phones and related services for 1,815 users across the City of Durham’s operations, including police and fire rescue.

 

This is deployment is part of a $1.63 million contract that also includes network equipment upgrades and a three-year service agreement.

 

Last year, Michiyo Wagner, director of technology solutions for the City of Durham, issued an RFP for a hosted voice over Internet protocol solution within the department’s existing budget.

 

“We had realized for some time our system was antiquated, but the cost to upgrade had been prohibitive,” said Wagner in a statement.

 

He said that they wanted a solution that would unify the city’s phone operations, provide redundancy in the case of emergencies, provide support in disaster preparedness and business continuation, upgrade the network infrastructure, provide new phones and improve service, features and functionality -- all within the existing budget. “With FeatureTel (News - Alert), we got it all.”

 

The previous telephone system of the city required 67 different key systems, and users could only transfer calls, including citizen calls, to others on their system.

 

“Since the old system had been installed 20 years ago, we’ve seen the advent of cell phones, e-mail and other tools that needed to be incorporated into an Integrated Voice Data communications system,” Wagner said.

 

In collaboration with the City of Durham’s IT Department, FeatureTel upgraded the City’s network infrastructure to support the new VoIP phone service solution. After the initial phase, the company began a four-phase implementation of the VoIP service, conducted across 31 departments.

 

The company said that it ported 237 different telephone numbers -- each with numerous extensions -- from the previous carrier to the FeatureTel service, and as a result, the City was able to disconnect 752 lines used by the old system. The new VoIP system also provides call level monitoring so additional resources can be allocated in high volume situations.

 

Wagner said that with the new VoIP system from FeatureTel, users can now transfer calls to any user across the network as well as direct-dial call using a five-digit extension and transfer voice mails.