Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. Telecommunication Systems Division

Jerry Inglima, president, and Shawn Strumlauf, communications engineer of American International Communications, recommended a Toshiba Strata® CIX™ VoIP business communication system to meet the school’s goals of maximizing internal and external communication. They recommended the school put an IP telephone in every classroom and in remote locations for campus-wide telephone coverage that would be integrated into the new paging system.

University Christian School also wanted to add unified messaging to combine voice messages with email in Microsoft® Outlook® and wanted to be able to handle basic administrative tasks on-site without needing a dealer visit. They also wanted to be able to manage the paging system and set it up for automatic bell ringing over IP phones and hallway speakers. School officials also demanded a high level of reliability, an affordable system pricing, and an extensive warranty.

Inglima said, “The Toshiba Strata CIX VoIP system provided everything that the school required and could easily be integrated with the Ultimate OnTime for Class paging system. Everything was available and was installed by us as their Authorized Toshiba Dealer, providing them with a one-stop shop for all their voice communication needs.”

Solution: Use IP to Maximize Internal and External Communication
American International Communications installed a Toshiba Strata CIX670 system with a Toshiba Stratagy® iES32 voice processing/unified messaging solution, paging system, and Ultimate OnTime for Class software.

The school has a mix of IP and digital telephones, including more than 50 Toshiba IPT2010-SD telephones, more than 50 Toshiba digital telephones, and four Toshiba attendant consoles that are used by school receptionists. The 208-port system serves the school’s more than 150 employees, including administrators, teachers, counselors, and other staff, who provide the scholastic environment for more than 900 students.

Jerry Brigance, chief financial officer and telecommunications manager for University Christian School, was responsible for choosing the voice communication system. He said, “We wanted to maximize the communication both internally and externally by having a telephone in every classroom, but we didn’t want the expense of running cable. By choosing Toshiba IP telephones for all of our classrooms, we have all the benefits of the telephones, plus paging capabilities, without the cost of cabling.”

Result #1: In-Classroom Phones Increase Communication
Using Toshiba IP telephones over the IP network, the school is able to have telephones in every classroom. This gives teachers the ability to communicate with parents right from the classroom. As well, since each teacher has his or her own DID number, parents can call teachers directly without going through the front office, saving time and ensuring that calls get through to the right person.

Brigance said, “We’ve gotten a great response from parents on the new voice mail system. They are able to communicate more efficiently and effectively with their children’s teachers.”

“Teachers also love having their own in-room phones,” he added. “They have about an hour a day to make and return phone calls, and now they can do it from their own classrooms rather than waiting for a telephone in the office or teacher’s lounge. This gives them more privacy and access to everything that is in their own classrooms.” The IP telephones are locked with four-digit access codes, which prevents students from using the phones.

Result #2: Campus-Wide Paging Over the IP Network
Using the Toshiba telephone system, the school now has campus-wide paging. The paging is regularly used twice a day for announcements, plus for any special announcements. In addition to broadcasting over the IP telephones, pages are also broadcast over hallway speakers. Having in-classroom phones and paging also provides an emergency communication means, rather than requiring the teachers to leave a classroom to find a working telephone.

“Knowing that we can communicate campus-wide over our paging system gives us a sense of security and the ability to instantly communicate with our teachers and students,” Brigance explained. “Even if they are floating between classrooms, the system and telephones are always the same.”

Result #3: Remote Locations Connected Using IP Phones
In addition to the classrooms having Toshiba IP telephones, remote locations on campus also have IP phones, allowing them to go wireless while still having telephones on-site. The school’s maintenance office, gymnasium and athletic building and band room all have IP telephones. Brigance said, “Having the ability to communicate from virtually every location on campus is both a benefit in terms of efficiency and management as well as for safety and in case of any emergencies. Plus the fact that all the IP phones could be added without laying cable made it very affordable.”

Result #4: Unified Messaging Sends Voice Mails Over Email
Teachers can now utilize Toshiba’s unified messaging capabilities to send any voice mails over email to parents or other teachers. This allows them to send broadcast voice mails via email for class assignments, updates, or other news that is important for parents. For Brigance, who manages the entire computer and telecommunications system, unified messaging is a huge benefit. He said, “All my telephone calls come into my Outlook via email so I get them on my laptop no matter where I am on campus. Each call lists who it’s from, the phone number, and how long it is. The actual call is in a .wav file so I can click to play when ready.”

Prior to the Toshiba system, the school did not have voice mail, so this has greatly improved both internal and external communication between the teachers, school staff and parents. Since the school gets more than 10,000 calls a week, mostly from parents, voice mail is a tremendous help in making sure that messages reach the appropriate person and get the attention they require. There is no longer a need for handwritten phones messages that can easily be lost, according to Brigance.

Result #5: On-Site System Administration
The Toshiba system also provided Brigance with the ability to manage the telephone system right from his laptop computer. He said, “I can do adds, moves, and changes all from my laptop. I don’t need to rely on my dealer to come out to make simple changes. I can administrate my own system as needed.”

Bottom Line: $8,000 in Savings by Using IP Phones; 70 Percent More Efficient
Authorized Toshiba Dealer American International Communications helped University Christian School save in excess of $8,000 by using IP phones over the school’s computer network rather than laying cable between the classrooms and buildings. It also helped improve productivity and efficiency by about 70 percent by having telephones in all classrooms and in remote buildings, giving the entire campus access to telephones and paging capabilities. The school also chose Toshiba because of its legendary reliability and durability as well as its unmatched product warranty and unbeatable product pricing.

Brigance said, “University Christian School gives American International Communications and Toshiba an A+ for an exceptional communications system. We’re saving money, and our internal and external communications is greatly improved.”