The background

South West Communications Group draws on a decade-long relationship to provide the Burgate School & Sixth Form Centre with an efficient, modern, cost-effective telephony solution that is primed for the future but still retains the school’s personal service.

The Burgate School & Sixth Form Centre, in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, is a mixed comprehensive serving nearly 1,000 11 to 18 year-olds. Situated in a rural area on the edge of the New Forest, the main school building dates from 1957 and since then, extensions have included a science block, sports hall, music block and science laboratories. A sixth form was added to the school in September 1995. It is over-subscribed, with almost 2 applications for every place and approximately 70% of leavers continue their education after 16.

The challenge

The Burgate School’s existing Alcatel-Lucent 4200 telephone solution was installed by South West Communications Group in September 1998. While they were still fully able and committed to maintain the system, it was no longer supported by its manufacturer being more than 10 years old, which meant it could not be developed, upgraded or expanded further.

The 4200 system was also full to capacity and extra extensions were needed, particularly in the sixth form block. This led the school to seek the advice of its dedicated account manager on how best to solve its existing issues and how to lay the foundations for any future growth or changes.

The school was also keen to keep costs to a minimum and was concerned about the possibility of having to lay expensive extra cabling to the sixth form building.

The solution

South West Communications Group advised The Burgate School to upgrade its existing system to the latest Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Office solution and made use of the school’s existing data network to install IP telephone extensions in the sixth form block, as part of a cost-efficient solution that included the following:

• IP telephony for a cost-effective way to deliver the additional extensions
• PRINCE2 project management
• Call barring to control costs
• Automated attendant as a back-up for reception staff during peak times
• A Window-based programming tool
• 12 new handsets
• Voicemail boxes for extension users
• PIN activated virtual mailboxes for staff that do not have access to their own extensions
• Direct dial-in numbers (DDIs)
• Hunt groups

For more in this case study, please click here