One of the projects that we have been working on over the past 2 years is the migration of our myriad voice systems to a VOIP implementation. As I have mentioned in a past post we have a very extensive city owned fiber network that of course we are using as a transport for our voice communications. To date we have replaced over 70 of our 130 phone switches ( yes I know that we needed to go to a central system some time ago - just never the money or there were other more pressing priorities) and we have migrated some 3000 users to the VOIP system. I have been amazed at how smooth this has gone to date and I am pleased with the cooperation and enthusiasm shown by our users.
As with every project there have been some issues that have been raised that we did not plan for. We planned work arounds for the fact that some of our facilities do not have cat 5 cabling. We planned for some facilities and locations that would have to remain on leased circuits because we do not have the ability to make connections any other way. The thing that has really bitten us on this project are the upgrades that have been required to some of the communication rooms.
The project has required the upgrade of core layer and distribution layer network equipment. While this was planned for, it is also where our problems started. IT is not responsible for the power, cooling, ups or generators that feed our communication rooms. When we started to plan the deployment of equipment we were informed that a number of facilities would also require one or multiples of the following: More electrical power, more cooling capacity, larger ups's or larger generators. It was eye opening to me that we (as an organization) do not plan appropriatly for these rooms and that in some cases backup battery systems and generators were undersized to power the equipment that was already installed!
As a result we have learned a very valuable lesson and we are now working more closly with the people who are responsible for the care and feeding of rooms like this in all our facilities. I am determined to ensure that this is not an issue in future projects, and that we, at a minimum, review the capacity and loading requirements for these rooms and that we budget appropriatly (either in our O & M budget or in future project budgets) so that we do not neglect this part of our infrastructure again.
As with every project there have been some issues that have been raised that we did not plan for. We planned work arounds for the fact that some of our facilities do not have cat 5 cabling. We planned for some facilities and locations that would have to remain on leased circuits because we do not have the ability to make connections any other way. The thing that has really bitten us on this project are the upgrades that have been required to some of the communication rooms.
The project has required the upgrade of core layer and distribution layer network equipment. While this was planned for, it is also where our problems started. IT is not responsible for the power, cooling, ups or generators that feed our communication rooms. When we started to plan the deployment of equipment we were informed that a number of facilities would also require one or multiples of the following: More electrical power, more cooling capacity, larger ups's or larger generators. It was eye opening to me that we (as an organization) do not plan appropriatly for these rooms and that in some cases backup battery systems and generators were undersized to power the equipment that was already installed!
As a result we have learned a very valuable lesson and we are now working more closly with the people who are responsible for the care and feeding of rooms like this in all our facilities. I am determined to ensure that this is not an issue in future projects, and that we, at a minimum, review the capacity and loading requirements for these rooms and that we budget appropriatly (either in our O & M budget or in future project budgets) so that we do not neglect this part of our infrastructure again.
