The merging of the NEI Center in June 2003 led to the Dunwoody College of Technology adding more students, staff, and course offerings. Not only did they need to update and reconfigure their facility to allow for the growth, they also needed to enhance their communications system to improve efficiencies. Dunwoody was utilizing a ten year old NEC system—an older analog technology that was no longer manufactured and lacked much needed features like mobility, unified messaging, conferencing, and caller ID.

According to Mike Hansen, Purchasing Manager for Dunwoody, “Our NEC system stayed viable until about three to four years ago. It's an old analog system with no caller ID coming in or going out, which was very deterring to our recruiters when making calls. We had to plug and unplug wire whenever we had a communications move or change. Because we are a technology-based company, we needed to upgrade to a system that would better meet our growing needs and project the correct image.”

Dunwoody needed a communications system that would give them mobility for their teachers and faculty, wireless for voice communication across campus, enhanced conferencing abilities, caller ID, and integration of voice mail, email, and faxes.

In November 2002, Dunwoody started to research communications systems and vendors. At the end of January 2003, Dunwoody received preliminary budgetary proposals from three vendors. By the end of August 2003, 43 vendors had contacted Dunwoody regarding a new communications system for their facility. Dunwoody narrowed their choices down to three vendors and conducted site visits. “Initially we looked at the capabilities of the technologies,” commented Mike. “Then we looked at the capabilities of the company.”

Mike said, “With the reconfiguration of our facility over the last few months to accommodate new projects such as the NEI Center, we needed a system that could bend and move with us, which led us to our decision to go with a Voice Over IP (VoIP) system. We didn't have the staff to deal with multiple moves and changes so we needed a system that could be updated easily.”

Randy Lindstedt, Marco Account Manager, contacted Mike Hansen, to propose a system to meet their needs. In proposing the new system, Marco's data and cabling specialists analyzed Dunwoody's current infrastructure to make sure it was able to handle VoIP. One of Marco's engineers conducted an IP assessment and a wireless survey for other future applications. Mike said, “Marco was the only vendor that walked through the building to try a wireless device. Although we didn't choose to go with wireless at this time, we now know what is involved for future considerations.”

Marco invited Mike and other Dunwoody staff members to the corporate office in St. Cloud to get a feel for the company and meet not only their managers, but their service and support staff as well. According to Mike, “We looked at how long the company has been around, their resources, and background. While walking through Marco and meeting some of their employees, I got a good feeling about Marco's culture.”

Mike added, “Culture is a big thing for us. I like the ability to have a good one-on-one relationship with vendors. That is one of the things I really liked about Marco. In touring Marco, they were showing us not only top level management, but also the people that did the actual installation and support.”

In December 2003, Marco implemented a communications system for Dunwoody comprised of a Mitel Networks 3300 VoIP Integrated Communications Platform for approximately 200 users, along with a host of applications including both traditional and VoIP telephones.

Mike said, “What we like about the Mitel VoIP system is that it is an IP based solution that took a step back to PBX. Mitel wasn't taking an older technology and adding IP. Instead, they used new IP technology and allowed the use of traditional phones as needed. The system gives us lots of flexibility and is open to the possibilities of many options. Even though we're not using all of the system's features at this time, it allows us to take the next steps into the future for the next 10 - 15 years.” Dunwoody now uses both traditional PBX and IP telephones throughout their campus.

One of the major problems the new system addressed for Dunwoody was their students' communication with instructors. Not all instructors had telephones, with the majority of instructors in offices that had four to five people to one phone, not allowing enough time to check voice mail between classes. Because of the flexibility of the new Mitel system and the ability to easily add telephones as needed, Dunwoody has now expanded to almost 200 telephones. Instructors can now take their laptops with them where ever they go throughout the building, plug them into the network, and use a portable soft phone to make and receive phone calls. Their caller ID feature hits their Outlook client so they know exactly who is calling. “Our instructors and students love it!” said Mike. “The system enhances the communication between our instructors and students.”

Mike added, “I like the mobility and changeability of the system. The new system made the transition very smooth when the NEI Center moved into our building. The flexibility of the system is wonderful and helps us to reduce costs for adds and changes. It just takes me a few keystrokes and I'm done instead of having to pull wire.”

Marco also implemented a Mitel 6510 Unified Messaging solution which allows Dunwoody to retrieve and respond to voice mail, email, or fax messages from a PC, touch-tone telephone, or over the Internet—all in one place, all at one time.

Marco installed Dunwoody's VoIP system on a Saturday so as not to disrupt their day-to-day activities. Mike commented, “Marco's technicians were more than willing to jump in and get the job done. Working together with Marco was more of a friendship, which is the kind of company I enjoy working with. They assisted in sorting out the lines for the switchboxes and were able to coordinate all the different parties for a smooth transition.”

Steve Ringsmuth, Marco Technical Representative, took the lead on the technical side along with Bill Fasen, Marco Communications Technician. Mike commented, “It's been a good relationship with Marco. They've been responsive and very easy to deal with. The system hasn't had any major problems to date, and we haven't encountered any issues that we couldn't take care of ourselves. The system is very easy to work with.”

Julia Ringsmuth, Marco Project Coordinator, provided a training session for 90 faculty and staff members along with manuals and documentation for system administration so the users could continue self learning as needed. She also spent 3 - 4 hours with Dunwoody's switchboard operators showing them how to operate the new system and answer any questions they had. “Julia did a wonderful job training our staff,” commented Mike.

Training took place on a Thursday and final cutover of the new system occurred the following Friday. “We disconnected our old system at 3:00 p.m. and the new system was up and ready to go at 4:00 p.m.,” said Mike.

Founded in 1914, the Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis is a private, non-profit, two year industrial education facility with almost 100,000 graduates. Their mission is to provide leading-edge technological education and service to a diverse population of learners preparing for and practicing in business and industry. In 2003, NEI College of Technology merged with Dunwoody to create the all new NEI Center @ Dunwoody College of Technology. NEI has been a leader in teaching electronics, computer, and information technologies for the past 70 years. Combined with the expertise and stellar reputation of Dunwoody, the NEI Center was created to offer students the ultimate learning experience in a state-of-the-art facility.