October 29, 2004

By Nick Wreden, News@Cisco

The New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC) now enjoys a converged voice and data network, unified messaging and advanced business continuity from an enterprise implementation of IP telephony. The new network, which replaced a 20-year-old telecommunications infrastructure, delivers reliability, business agility and a lower total cost of ownership.

Success resulted from advanced Cisco technologies and skilled planning, design, implementation and support. But NYCEDC CIO Ian Smith believes that another element was even more critical - a 2-inch binder that mapped out the entire project plan, from cabling location to the number of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). "For a project of this scope, detail and support are as important as the architecture and design," says Smith. "Without a comprehensive plan that accounts for each detail and plans for every contingency, it is hard to ensure that implementation will meet all requirements."

The plan, developed by Dimension Data, a global IT services and solution provider, in conjunction with Cisco and NYCEDC, reflects Cisco and Dimension Data's lifecycle services and support approach for maximizing benefits from a converged infrastructure. Covering everything from procurement and cabling through design and deployment to training to ongoing support and optimization, lifecycle services and support transforms corporate networks from a multiplicity of disparate technologies into a unified business tool. The plan for NYCEDC provided a roadmap to move from reliance on a PBX on its last legs to an advanced IP infrastructure that helps meet the NYCEDC's mission of helping businesses do business in New York City.

After a successful pilot that integrated new technology into a legacy PBX, Cisco and Dimension Data successfully implemented IP telephony for NYCEDC. The new network, currently rolled out to 700 users, delivers numerous business benefits, according to Smith. The first is strong security that results from firewall, intrusion detection systems (IDS), anti-virus software and other safeguards.

Other benefits include reliability, business continuity and disaster recovery, key concerns for New York enterprises after 9/11. A remote facility in Brooklyn serves as a failover site, which means that NYCEDC can provide employees with phone services from either the main Manhattan or the Brooklyn office. Additionally, redundancy exists throughout the network, including duplication of servers, switches, routers and even storage. "That capability has already proven its worth," says Smith. Reliability also results from Dimension Data's Managed Services, which provide access to optimization, support, parts replacement and service restoration capabilities.

The NYCEDC is also enjoying increased business functionality, especially after the all-too-common failures associated with the aging PBX and voice mail systems. Employees are taking advantage of unified messaging, which allows voice mail and email to be received in a single Microsoft Outlook mailbox. Soon, the mailboxes will also show incoming faxes. Employees can receive and respond to these messages through corporate or home PCs as well as through BlackBerry devices. Another productivity enhancement will come when the telephone system is integrated with a small-business CRM system.

"Our mission is to reach out to the business community. The more such technology can make us productive, the more we can do for business and the City of New York," says Smith.

The new system is also lowering costs. Only one network must be managed instead of separate voice and data networks. Maintenance costs are lower. Telecommunications moves, adds and changes (MACs) are easier. In fact, an entire division of 125 employees changed offices in a single weekend with minimal cost and disruption, reducing the burden on the telecommunications staff. In addition, NYCEDC deployed Dimension Data's Call Authorization Application (CAA) for long distance call authorization and accounting, which allows NYCEDC to conduct call analysis, reduce telecommunications bills, minimize manual administration of telephone access policies and facilitate integration with back-end legacy systems.

Smith is excited about new functionality coming on-line soon. One capability will be four-digit dialing to other city agencies. Another is the Cisco IP SoftPhone, which will allow employees to send and receive phone calls from their computers. Videoconferencing is expected to substantially lower travel costs while improving collaboration. "We are just starting to tap all the features available to us," says Smith.

Several factors helped overcome the inevitable challenges of any large-scale project and ensure success. The first was a comprehensive plan reinforced with a time-tested methodology. Dimension Data used its project management and best practices methodology, Primer, to ensure that the solution met NYCEDC requirements, budget and timetables. "To deal with the complexity characteristic of infrastructures today, you have to move beyond simply installing equipment to addressing lifecycle optimization," says Denis Hocking, CEO of Services at Dimension Data, a gold-certified Cisco partner. "A comprehensive approach was taken from initial planning and design, through roll-out and training to ongoing support and maintenance. We were able to understand, identify and mitigate risk factors, and we offered NYCEDC a single point of contact from project inception to transition and ongoing business operation."

"Training was another component that was important to us," notes Smith. "Training often gets short-changed at the end of a project but no system will ever be successful without sufficient training. We made sure the support staff as well as the users were extensively trained before roll-out."

Finally, infrastructure maintenance and support provide enhanced diagnosis that minimizes downtime and meets continuing business requirements.

"It is too easy to underestimate the technological and other difficulties associated with moving to advanced architecture. The only way to ensure success is a plan backed by a tested methodology that includes a pilot," says Smith. "We got exactly what was needed from Cisco and Dimension Data."

Nick Wreden is a freelance journalist located in Atlanta, GA