The background
South West Communications Group provides Bideford College with a state-of-the-art local area network (LAN) backbone upon which its wireless, ICT-rich environment thrives.
Bideford College is a specialist science college in Devon. It employs 200 members of staff and serves 1,630 pupils, aged 11 to 18, from Bideford and the surrounding rural areas.
The challenge
Bideford College was undergoing a £44 million rebuild to provide a state-of-the-art teaching and learning environment for the Bideford learning community. This rebuild involved the demolition of the College’s existing comms room and the provision of a new one elsewhere on the site. A new voice and data infrastructure was required as well as replacement telephone system and support.
The solution
Following a formal tender process, South West Communications Group was awarded the contract to design and install a local area network (LAN) with wireless connectivity solution as well as a new telephony solution for Bideford College in time for the start of the new term in September 2010. The solution comprised the following:
- The Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise BiCS telephony solution for 180 users
- A resilient LAN with no single point of failure for voice and data use, as well as multi-media video, CCTV and digital signage
- Wireless LAN connectivity providing 120 indoor and outdoor access points
- Mobility using a voice over wireless LAN (VoWLAN) wireless handsets
- Fixed mobile convergence (FMC) with the use of Nokia E71 mobile smartphones
- Unified communications to enable the use of PC-based softphones
- Management and reporting capabilities via the OmniVista 4760 Management Platform
- Call recording to ensure accuracy of call information
- Automated attendant to alleviate the stress on reception staff
- Lines and minutes network services
- PRINCE2 project management
- User training to ensure the smooth integration of the new technology
- Ongoing support and maintenance
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