Telephone

Leading-Edge Telecommunications for Calit2

January 31, 2005 by Dana Roode

CalIT2

The opening ceremony for the new UCI Calit2 building has taken place, and UCI researchers are starting to make use of the high-end network and telephone infrastructure installed there — the most advanced technology installed on campus.

The Calit2 building is the first building where NACS has installed high-performance category 6 cabling to every communications outlet to support gigabits/second network speeds to the desktop.

NACS installed the highest performance and most robust network equipment of any UCI building to date. Every network connection in the building will support gigabit speeds. This was accomplished by installing Cisco’s flagship Catalyst 6500 chassis-based switches on each floor. Communications between the floor switches and the main building switch, as well as between the building switch and the UCInet backbone are at 10 gigabits/second, unprecedented at UCI.

In addition to the Internet and phone wiring installed in any new building, NACS has also installed a separate, parallel network infrastructure which allows researchers to set up their own special-purpose network connections. And, as the building becomes more fully occupied, NACS will position wireless base stations so that all points in the building have wireless access.

Calit2 also benefits from redundant communications equipment and power supplies, so that the network and telephone can continue in the face of most equipment failures.

NACS installed the first full-production voice over IP (VOIP) telephone system available to UCI researchers. IP phones connect to UCI net rather than directly to the campus Ericsson phone system. This results in some immediate benefits to users as well as opening the door to ongoing software development to create new features.

NACS is confident that all of this leading-edge network and telephone technology in the Calit2 building will meet or exceed the research requirements now and well into the future. Based on experience gained with Calit2, NACS hopes to extend similar advances to other parts of the campus in the future.

Telecommunications Customer Services

January 31, 2005 by Dana Roode

NACS Telecommunications Customer Services (TCS) group provides customer support for an array of communications services.

NACS TCS responds to requests for telephone and data installations, repairs, and “Moves, Adds and Changes”.

In addition, NACS TCS provides advice and consulting on the campus telephone and voice mail systems, assistance with billing, telephone and voice mail training classes, the campus telephone directory, campus operator services, and support for the 800MHz radio system.

Did you know that NACS has a wide variety of telephone sets and related features available to the campus? We are here to serve your individual department’s needs. We are happy to make a site visit to your department to review your service needs and to help you select the features that can make your job easier. If you have the services you need, but are unsure of how to use the telephone and voice mail systems to the fullest extent, we offer training free of charge. Please contact NACS Telephone Customer Service at (949) 824-5123 or nacs-tcs@uci.edu to request a consultation or to sign up for training.

Telephone/Radio Consulting

December 10, 2004 by Dana Roode

Did you know that NACS has a wide variety of telephone sets and related features available to the campus? We are here to serve your individual department’s needs. We are happy to make a site visit to your department to review your service needs and to help you select the features that can make your job easier. If you have the services you need, but are unsure of how to use the telephone and voice mail systems to the fullest extent, we offer training free of charge. Please contact NACS Telephone Customer Service at (949) 82-5123 to request a consultation or to sign up for training.

Departments using 800Mhz radios as part of their daily communications can benefit greatly from a consultation with our 800Mhz radio system specialist. He will meet with you to review the current programming in your radios, and he will ask questions to determine what programming changes would enhance the functionality of your radios specific to your department needs. In addition, we offer training from the basic daily use of the radio system, including handy system features, as well as specialized training for radio use in an emergency. Please contact Brian Chrisman at (949) 82-5123 for more information.

New Telephone Features

August 20, 2004 by Dana Roode

NACS would like to make you aware of new feature enhancements now available on the campus telephone system. “Name Display” displays your name to called party. “Number Log” stores caller information for missed calls. “Personal Number” allows you to have multiple call diversion points.

Name Display

With this feature, your name, department name, or your unit’s function will be displayed along with your extension number when you call a campus extension that is equipped with a multi-line telephone set. The “name” can be up to 26 characters including spaces.

Number log

This feature logs the last 16 unanswered calls. The 17th unanswered call will over-write the oldest call. The log will contain the phone number and the date and time the call was received. A function key LED will flash when numbers are in the log. The logged calls can be scrolled through by pressing a standard pre-programmed button to advance to the next entry. The telephone number of the calling party can be dialed by pressing a standard pre-programmed button.

Personal Number

This feature provides up to five different call-diversion lists or profiles, each consisting of up to 10 destination numbers. When someone calls a telephone that has a Personal Number profile enabled, the profile selected determines which numbers will be called and in what order. For example, one profile might try your office phone, and if no answer, your home phone, then your cell phone, and if still no answer it could go to your voice mail. The profiles must be programmed for your telephone line by our technicians. You can then chose from among your profiles using your telephone key pad.Please contact NACS Telecommunications Customer Service at (949) 824-5123 for further information or visit our Web site at http://www.nacs.uci.edu/telephone/bc11.html

Expanded Phone Capacity for EH&S

March 26, 2004 by Dana Roode

The Environmental Health & Safety building was running out of copper cable pairs that provide the building with telephone service. This limited the ability to add more telephone lines to the building. Todd Strand, NACS Infrastructure Engineer, re-designed the outside plant cable infrastructure in this area to solve the problem. The design and implementation was complicated and required careful timing and coordination.

To implement Todd’s solution, Facilities Management electricians trenched, installed cable, and created a new cable vault in front of the 66 KV Electrical substation. Then a cable installation contractor spliced the cables to reroute telephone services and to provide the additional required capacity to EH&S. All of this work was performed in a way that minimized telephone service outages.