The University is beginning to dial up its newest plan to switch phone providers.

During the next two to three years, Information Technology Services will completely replace Centrex, provided by AT&T phone service, to a Voice Over Internet Protocol system from Verizon Business.

ITS announced the change in an email to departments at the beginning of the semester.

The switch will save the University money, while also bringing it up to date with the latest technological advancements, said Rich Harden, director of communication technologies, engineering and operations for ITS.

The new system makes phone calls through the campus Internet rather than on land lines.

The current bundled communications fee is $48 per month, per line. When the new utility rate model is implemented, voice and data services will be unbundled, with the new rate for the Verizon service being $14.50 per month per line, said Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Larry Conrad.

There are more than 28,000 phones lines to transition, Harden said.

“(The savings) are significant, but you won’t really see the savings until the campus is done,” Harden said. “I don’t have a figure I can give you right now. There are negligible costs, but those costs will be recovered once we start transition on these phones.”

The change is part of many cost-cutting initiatives implemented by the University.

“It’s not like all of a sudden we’ve got this bank roll,” Harden said. “It’s a University initiative to save a lot of money.”

Conrad said he hopes that by collecting capital, the University will have the funds to keep the equipment current.

“Because of the budget, we haven’t really put a lot of money into the campus network,” Conrad said.

Conrad added that during the last 20 years there has been a push to combine telephone infrastructure with networking infrastructure.

“It’s Vonage, it’s Skype,” Conrad said. “There are all sorts of products that we are very familiar with. A lot of other institutions are ahead on this.”

The University has used AT&T as its phone service provider for more than 25 years.

In efforts to avoid slow phone service when the Internet is slow, the University is installing redundant connections in Phillips Hall and in the ITS building at Manning Hall, Director of Networking Systems Jim Gogan said.

The odds that a construction vehicle or another force would disable both connections in one of those buildings is relatively small, Gogan said.

Even the phone companies are trying to go along with this movement, he said.

“It will long term save UNC a substantial amount of money, which is key,” Harden said. “It’s moving the University communications platforms into the 21st century.”

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