Since the beginning of the year, OIT has begun deploying phones to the campus. With over 3,000 phones to deploy throughout SMU, we have a robust project team combining efforts of both staff and students. As of the 2nd week of February, we have deployed 654 phones since the project kicked off. The completion of this project is scheduled to conclude by June 30, 2020.
If you haven’t yet received your new AudioCodes 445HD phone, we’ve included a sneak peek of some of the features you should expect.
Deployments are scheduled throughout campus by building and you will be notified of your deployment and migration date approximately one month before it is scheduled. You’ll also receive several reminders and invitations to sign up for training and will be provided with comprehensive documentation to get you up and running.
I have department lines or answer calls for someone? How will OIT know to handle that?
Before scheduling your deployment and migration, our Help Desk and University Operator teams are reviewing your current phone configuration. You may receive a call from them verifying the lines you manage or requesting additional information.
Is there anything specific I should expect once I receive my phone?
You will receive an information card on what to expect during the transition. However, here are a few items you should be aware of:
- You may experience a slight delay when calling someone who has not yet transitioned to the new phone system. This issue will, of course, diminish as the older PBX telephones are decommissioned.
- If you save a contact as one of your new AudioCodes favorites (sidecar buttons) and the LED buttons do not illuminate, the contact may be offline or is still using an old PBX phone.
- If you currently have call-forwarding configured on your PBX phone, you will need to reconfigure call-forwarding on your new AudioCodes phone. This will not transfer automatically.
What about classroom phones or Polycom/conference phones? Will they be deployed at the same time?
Classroom phones and local area phones will be deployed at the end of the project as our current goal is to get new handsets distributed to all our users first. Currently, we are working on the implementation plans to deploy Polycom and conference phones so that they integrate smoothly with existing technology in their locations.
I’m part of a Call Center, do you know when we will have access to our new service?
OIT will complete our pilot of the first call center on campus beginning with the Help Desk by the end of March. Upon completion, we will be working with all of the call center managers on campus to schedule their deployments. More information will be available later this spring.
If you have any questions about the Phone Replacement project, visit smu.edu/phone or reach out to our IT Help Desk at 8-HELP.
