by Mark Charlesworth

Infrastructure Operations Manager

Late last year, the University issued a tender to replace its ageing phone systems.  The winning supplier will be providing what is known as a Unified Communications System. This integrates voice calls, instant messaging, web conferencing and video with our existing email and calendar system.

It offers the potential to make our working lives easier. The system, which is produced by Cisco (who did the networking and communications for the 2012 London Olympics), can give you a lot of control over how, when and where people can communicate with you and will allow you to quickly determine whether somebody you need to talk to is currently available. If not, it will direct you to their recommended way to contact them.

It will work with any university-owned device: desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone or tablet. It should also work with most smart phones, tablets and computers running reasonably modern operating systems and we have licensed it so that staff can use it with their own devices should they want to do so.

The solution will work from any place you can get a network connection, offering you greater flexibility in where and how you work.

We will be able to give you more information about the system in the coming months and will be looking at ways to demonstrate its capabilities throughout the autumn.

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