PETERBOROUGH, ON - March 14, 2002 - To expand its technological capabilities and meet increasing enrollment numbers, Sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario has installed an advanced voice, video and data network to serve its new six-building residence village. The sophisticated network infrastructure, designed and installed by Bell Canada and based on Cisco's Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID), delivers IP-based telephony and data services to students, staff and faculty.
"Technology plays a key role in our ability to ensure our graduates have the knowledge and skills they need to make a mark on the modern world," said Jim Angel, Chief Information Officer at Fleming College. "The solution provided by Cisco and our longstanding partner Bell Canada enables us to deliver state-of-the-art connectivity and telephony services to our students. The move to a converged network also allows us to realize long-term cost savings, leverage in-house IT expertise and generate revenue recovery opportunities."
The new residence village houses 480 students and features 470 Cisco IP phones. Through its partnership with Fleming, Bell Canada will deploy converged Cisco networks in other new buildings as the college continues to grow; with the ultimate vision of one unified voice, video and data network linking all four campuses.
"Being able to multi-task is the big thing," says Mindy Bell, a second semester student who lives in residence. "In college, we do an incredible amount of group or team work so it's a huge advantage to be able to co-ordinate our on-line chats and even do research on the Internet simultaneously." High-speed Internet access in the residence allows students to conduct research more effectively, download files in seconds, check library resources and access lecture notes on-line.
Angel says the new system "is just the beginning. We plan to roll out a number of new services including a soft phone on computing desktops so that students can check voice-mail messages wherever they are."
Delivering Converged Solutions
"Bell has partnered with Sir Sandford Fleming College since 1997 to provide advanced technologies that benefit students and faculty, and we are excited to continue our partnership with this IP telephony project," said John Hertel, vice-president, Ontario Advantage Business Market, Bell Canada. "Cisco is an industry leader in IP-based telephony and data services and having them as a partner will allow the college's students, staff and faculty to enjoy the numerous benefits of numerous IP applications."
"Sir Sandford Fleming is taking advantage of cutting-edge technology to better service its students, while reducing costs and simplifying network administration," said Nitin Kawale, director, enterprise operations, Cisco Systems Canada. "IP telephony also empowers an exciting range of productivity-enhancing applications that combine voice and data. It's this winning proposition that makes IP telephony so appealing."
Cisco AVVID provides an intelligent network infrastructure for Internet business solutions. As the industry's only enterprise-wide, standards-based network architecture, it provides the roadmap for combining business and technology strategies into one cohesive model. Voice and video solutions based on AVVID are comprised of scalable call processing, IP-based business applications, video-conferencing, directory services, network management, service and support, and client devices such as IP phones.
Expansion at Sir Sandford Fleming
The new residence complex is part of a multi-million dollar expansion program by SSFC to accommodate increased enrollment over the next 10 years. The college is anticipating a major increase in 2003, when Ontario high school students in Grade 12 and OAC graduate at the same time.
SSFC is preparing for this growth through a number of construction projects, including:
- Sutherland Campus - a new residence village for 483 students that opened this year
- Peterborough - work has started on a 50,000 square foot technology wing
- Lindsay - plans are underway for a 42,000 square foot addition to the School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences
- Haliburton - preliminary architectural drawings are complete for a new campus.
About Bell Canada
Bell Canada, Canada's national leader for communications in the Internet world, provides connectivity to residential and business customers through wired and wireless voice and data communications, high speed and wireless Internet access, IP-broadband services, e-business solutions, local and long distance phone and directory services. Bell Canada is owned by BCE Inc of Montréal (80 percent) and by SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas (20 percent). For more information please visit www.bell.ca.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information are available at www.cisco.com.
About Cisco Systems Canada
Cisco Systems Canada Co. has field offices across Canada dedicated to customer support, sales, and service. In addition, Cisco Systems has a significant research and development centre in Ottawa, Ontario.
For Additional Information:
| Pauline Janitch Communications Sir Sandford Fleming College Tel: 705-749-5530 ext. 1370 Pjanitch@flemingc.on.ca |
Andrew Cole Bell Canada Media Relations Tel: 416-581-3311 or 888-482-0809 andrew.cole@bell.ca |
| Willa Black Cisco Systems Canada Co. 416-306-7732 Pager: 1-800-68-CISCO E-mail: wblack@cisco.com |
Gareth Pettigrew Strategic/Ampersand Inc. 416-961-5595 ext. 428 E-mail: gareth@stratamp.com |
