The College has replaced its existing IP telephony infrastructure, which had been in place for eight years and was nearing end-of-life, with a new Cisco Unified Communications Manager system.
In addition to enhanced functionality and features, the solution proposed by Redstone included the ability for Tower Hamlets to re-use its 600 existing handsets – saving the College over £70,000 compared to the cost of an entirely new system.
Redstone was awarded the deal following a competitive tender process involving a number of other solutions providers and vendor technologies. The compelling financial case and the College’s familiarity with Cisco technology were key factors in the decision to select Redstone, as was the College’s strong relationship with the company as an existing customer.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager went live in April and is one of the first examples of a Redstone IP telephony deployment on a virtual server that is maintained by the customer. The IP telephony system is supported and maintained by Redstone under a five-year maintenance agreement which includes a proactive managed service.
Georgina Creighton, head of IT support, Tower Hamlets College said: “Redstone immediately understood that this project had clear financial and technological goals, and they put forward a technical solution that would meet them all.
“They were also prepared to go the extra mile to ensure the smooth implementation of the new system so that there was minimum disruption to our daily operations.”
Fraser Fisher, managing director, Redstone, commented: “The budget for IT projects is coming under increasing financial pressure but organisations can’t afford to let this push them behind the technology curve.
“At Redstone, we’re working with customers to identify smarter ways to finance projects that will offer them the service and productivity benefits they need to stay competitive.”