KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - September 13, 2005 - The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), the branch campus of one of the United Kingdom's top universities, has selected state-of-the-art Internet Protocol (IP) communications technology to enhance connectivity within its campus and externally. Designed, installed, implemented and commissioned by Computer Systems Advisers (M) Berhad (CSA) with equipment from Cisco Systems®, the network offers the 1,700 users at UNMC's new Semenyih campus integrated voice and data functionality.
UNMC selected Cisco's IP communications solution over a traditional private branch access (PBX) telephony system as UNMC staff needed a user-friendly and highly reliable and flexible system in order to stay connected and mobile.
"Having experienced the difficulties of maintaining a traditional PBX at our other campus in central Kuala Lumpur, as well as its limited out-of-office capabilities, we were looking for a telephony system that offered mobility, as well as features such as voicemail, hunt groups and secretarial numbers. We also wanted an easily administered telephony system that offered the best value and flexibility to change as we grew, and with built-in redundancy as a backup," explained Chris Parry, senior project manager, Information Services, The University of Nottingham (UoN).
The solution is already translating into significant benefits for UNMC in terms of availability, cost savings, staff productivity and the provision of advanced services. Among its benefits, the system effectively self-manages spikes in data traffic, thus ensuring that the quality of voice calls is maintained while peak call volume is handled more efficiently. In addition, it reduces operations costs because it requires a very small team to manage and operate the network. UNMC will be ready for further growth as the network can easily be scaled up on demand without requiring costly hardware upgrades, reconfiguration and additional rack space. Added to that, UNMC's security concerns are allayed by the fact that only authenticated devices can be plugged into the network.
"We are pleased that the implementation has been completed successfully. CSA and Cisco really differentiated themselves from the rest by taking the trouble to learn about our requirements in depth, and provisioning a solution that was tailor-made to our specifications," continued Parry.
"UNMC is in a highly competitive environment, especially given Malaysia's vision to establish itself as a regional education centre. We firmly believe that the use of leading-edge technology can keep us ahead of the competition, whilst providing quality education to our students," said Professor Brian Atkin, CEO, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
"CSA's commitment to service excellence, our proven expertise and vast experience have enabled us to provide UNMC world-class services and solutions to help them meet the educational challenges faced today and offer students at UNMC the best in technology and education. It has always been an important factor to CSA to have the flexibility to respond to our customers' needs and the market demand to offer comprehensive services," said Chuah Tai Eu, managing director, CSA
Kumaran Singaram, managing director of Cisco Systems Malaysia, said, "Academic institutions have many of the same needs as commercial organisations. They need to compete with one another to provide a compelling learning environment through which their students and staff can achieve academic excellence. Technology is a key enabler. UNMC's deployment is significant as it showcases how education institutions can benefit from IP technologies."
The core of the UNMC network comprises Cisco CallManager call-processing system, Cisco Catalyst® 6500, Catalyst 3750, Catalyst 3560 and Catalyst 2950 switches, 400 Cisco IP phones, as well as the Cisco Unity® voicemail and messaging system. UNMC also uses CiscoWorks LAN management, which enables administrators to easily detect failures in the network, as well as enjoy the convenience of a system that self-manages spikes in data traffic to help ensure the quality of voice calls.
The network deployment commenced in mid-July 2005, and was completed within a month. UNMC is now fully prepared to receive its first intake of students this month.
About University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC)
The University of Nottingham is among the top universities in the UK and is one of Europe's most respected academic institutions. It is consistently placed highly in national league tables of academic achievement and all of the major university guides, including The Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian. The Times has described Nottingham as "a prime alternative to Oxford and Cambridge" and The Telegraph ranks it as "one of the UK's most prized academic institutions."
The Malaysia Campus opened in September 2000 to become the first branch campus of a British university in Malaysia and the first anywhere in the world. The Malaysia Campus is a full and integral part of The University of Nottingham, UK and students are awarded The University of Nottingham degree certificates.
Led by senior academic staff seconded from Nottingham, UK, the University offers students the Nottingham experience in a local setting and yet is firmly rooted in all that is distinctive about UK education - innovative teaching and assessment methods, which encourage independent, creative thinking.
About CSA Malaysia
Established in 1971, listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Bhd (Technology Sector), Computer Systems Advisers (M) Berhad (CSA) is one of Malaysia's leading IT Service Providers. The Company provides a broad range of IT solutions and services, specialising in Systems Integration, IT Outsourcing, Customer Services and Support for multinational corporations and small-medium enterprises. CSA is the first IT Company in Malaysia to have earned the prestigious MS ISO 9001 Quality Management and Assurance Standard Award for its entire business operations.
Today, the company is well represented in 23 offices strategically located throughout East and West Malaysia, with more than 1,100 employees. CSA is a member of the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), a Fortune 500 company which today has 78,000 employees in more than 800 offices worldwide with revenue of USD 14.1 billion for the 12 months ended April 1, 2005. CSA & CSC can be reached at www.csam.com.my & www.csc.com respectively, via the Internet.
