VoIP telephony cuts costs for midlands dance complex

Birmingham UK Feb 2005

Elmhurst School for Dance is an independent, co-educational boarding school and one of the oldest and most successful vocational dance schools in the country. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the school has provided first rate academic and vocational education to students from the age of 11, and prepared 18 to 19 year olds for professional dance careers. Elmhurst acquired charitable status in 1961 and in 2002 became an Associate School of the Birmingham Royal Ballet Company.

In autumn 2004, the entire Elmhurst School for Dance relocated from Camberley in Surrey, to a purpose-built site in Edgbaston near Birmingham. This exciting move constituted a £14 million investment in the future of dance education in the UK. The project had the full backing of Birmingham City Council and the Elmhurst School now fills what was a conspicuous void in vocational dance education in the midlands.

The new 5-acre Elmhurst complex boasts state-of-the-art academic and studio facilities, including a 250-seat studio theatre, eight large dance studios, a dedicated exercise centre, a theatre workshop and first-class boarding accommodation. With 30 full time members of staff and 30 part time staff employed both by the school at Edgbaston and on remote sites, it became clear during the project planning and consultation process that the school would require a highly stable and reliable, feature rich telephone system with networking capability.

After a year long consultation process involving several telecom suppliers, the school appointed Nottingham based, JK Telecom to deploy and support a Telrad Unite IP C128 telephone system at the Edgbaston site. The school depends on a highly functional and stable telephone system and the primary consideration in deciding on the best solution was to identify the product representing the optimum balance between power and cost effectiveness. The Telrad IP system was chosen not only because it had all the telephony functionality the school needs but also for its modest cost and excellent technical performance. “The system fitted the needs of the school and also provided a significant cost benefit to the project,” said Darren Bisbey, Head of IT at Elmhurst.

The system currently provides 30 phone lines and 70 additional line extensions serving the school administration. The system will scale up to accommodate further expansion of the school in the future by enabling additional extensions to be commissioned as required. “The system is proving to outpace our own requirements, and gives the school telephony infrastructure a good measure of future proofing.” said Darren.

The Edgbaston site is networked with other sites serving the school and is making good use of the optional Voicemail and VoIP applications as well as the standard telephony functions provided by the Telrad Unite IP C128 solution. The school derives a significant saving in communication costs from the VoIP capabilities of the system as they can port calls to and from their remote sites over the school’s own network and therefore do not incur charges for these calls.

During the installation of the Telrad Unite IP C128, the VoIP aspect of the deployment was complicated by integration issues with the school’s network infrastructure. “This was down to the advanced security features of our CISCO network,” said Darren Bisbey, “but with the constant support we had from JK Telecom and the liaison they provided Teksys Ltd, who developed the school’s network, the system was integrated without problem.”

JK Telecom engaged with the school in a detailed consultation process right from the start, providing all the facts and impartial advice needed to make an informed choice. “We ensured that the customer was kept informed and felt supported throughout the consultation and deployment,” said Kevin Wright, Director of JK Telecom. The depth and range of Voice and Data engineering experience they brought to bear meant that they were able to provide impartial guidance not only regarding the range of solutions that were right for the task but also integration support and other infrastructure recommendations.

“The system has provided the School with an excellent internal telecommunications system which allows us to monitor in-and-outbound communications. The system generates reports that can be used to track call trends and even restrict access to certain numbers if so required,” said Darren Bisbey. ”The system is far more flexible than I imagined it would be, from a technical point of view, being able to reprogram the system without interrupting user usage is brilliant. We also have the facility for remote programming, which means JK Telecom can maintain and backup our system without disruption.”

About JK Telecom

Jason and Kevin, the Directors of JK Telecom Limited have 45 years of combined experience in providing Voice and Data solutions. Telephony is the UK’s fastest growing sector and JK Telecom are geared to service all types and sizes of companies, some starting with only six extensions and others with a thousand or more. For more information, visit www.jktelecom.co.uk or email enquiries@jktelecom.co.uk

Press Contact: Kevin Wright: kwright@jktelecom.co.uk | Tel: (0845) 3301590

About Telrad Connegy

Telrad Connegy provide powerful, high performance telecommunications solutions including VoIP technology for today's demanding business environment - from small offices to busy call-centres. The company's offerings include both traditional and advanced digital telephony, wireless solutions and new, pure IP products. These offering are available from an established global network of over 250 distributors and dealers in Europe, the USA and the Middle East. Telrad Connegy systems have been installed with customers in over twenty countries. The company maintains offices in Woodbury, New York and in Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel. For more information, visit www.connegy.com

Press Contact: David Shepard, Equinox Agency Ltd, Tel: (01865) 292058, Fax: (01865) 292059 shepard@equinoxagency.co.uk