« Wireless Communication System supports multimedia services | Home | Test System targets wireless communication market »
Training gets a makeover: global farming educational group upgrades its voice communication system
By mobile | November 12, 2007
Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, better known as ECHO, brought agricultural development workers who work hand-in-hand with poor farmers in impoverished countries to its demonstration farm in North Fort Myers, Fla. There they learned about farming techniques and how to negotiate problems they might encounter with their crops. With today’s flight restrictions and stringent visa requirements, however, these international development workers find that obtaining the proper visas to study in the United States is difficult, and ECHO needed to find a way not only to carry out its mission, but to continue expanding through regional offices around the globe.
Then, ECHO’s existing communications system was hit by lightning. The time was right for a makeover.
Communication and Data Solutions (CDS) was brought in to recommend and install a new communications system. CDS chose the OfficeServ 500 from Samsung Business Communication Systems (BCS), a division of Samsung Telecommunications America that develops convergence platforms for small and midsized businesses. The voice-over-IP (VoIP) and IP networking platform provides cost savings and offers the flexibility to support remote locations, according to Jim Butler, director of operations for ECHO, which made it the best solution for achieving ECHO’s goals.
The installation of the $40,000 system included 64 digital phones, 16 analog phones, eight VoIP channels and 10 IP phones that are used in the field, in addition to a number of soft phones on laptops for use by traveling employees.
CDS opted for a phased implementation. The first step was to get the fiber loop and various cable runs for the phone system finished. This process took one month and was completed on the same day that the main OfficeServ 500 cabinet was installed and fully operational–a two-day process. CDS then programmed one soft phone and one IP telephone set for testing. The IP telephone set was tested in Haiti, while the soft phone was tested in China.
The new system allows ECHO to communicate with its network of development workers, providing not only cost savings (to the tune of roughly $420 per month) by cutting unnecessary phone lines, but also instant access to remote locations. With the solution, employees and those working with poor farming communities can call ECHO anytime, from anywhere–whether for a farming question or during a crisis–providing assurance and additional safety. This is particularly important, Butler says, since people often need answers in real time and cannot afford to wait on more traditional methods of communication.
“Whatever we come up with in our minds to make reaching our overseas network easier, this phone system seems to have the answers when it comes to data and voice needs,” Butler explains.
ECHO now can communicate with those working with farmers more efficiently. This is an especially important feature for the farmers who survive from crop to crop, Butler says. If a farmer encounters blight or another emergency and cannot find a solution, he might lose his entire crop, resulting in extreme hardship for his entire family.
Due to the initial success of the system, an OfficeServ 7200 converged platform was installed and networked with the OfficeServ 500 in order to accommodate ECHO’s continued growth. A few scheduling conflicts between the wireless and cabinet installations occurred, but the wireless cabinet installation was completed in two months.
The OfficeServ 7200 was installed in the organization’s housing facilities to provide communications services for those who live on the campus. Various mailbox changes were instituted, including “find me” options, and ECHO continues to utilize many of the functions included in the phone system, according to Butler.
One of the biggest advantages ECHO has identified, he says, is the unified messaging application, which allows employees to receive voice mails in an audio format in their e-mail, further ensuring that important calls do not go unanswered.
In addition, ECHO uses a wireless solution to communicate on its 52-acre research and educational farm. Locating researchers and other employees who work and teach on the farm can be difficult. The new system allows employees to carry wireless handsets so they can be reached anywhere on the campus or even at the restaurant across the street. ECHO is testing the use of session initiation protocol functionality on Wi-Fi phones with Internet access to address the issue of wireless access for the on-grounds staff.
Currently, ECHO uses a variety of solutions to communicate with these researchers, in addition to employees around the world. With the number of remote international offices it supports, Butler recognizes that the organization will experience a wide variety of wireless needs, and that there are a number of options available.
For example, the IP telephone set in Haiti makes use of a satellite Internet connection, which gives users data and voice capabilities, but it is limited to a generator for power. The soft phone test in China utilized both a private LAN over a DSL-type connection and a WiFi hot spot.
Topics: Wireless Communication System |
Comments are closed.