INTELLIGENT

COMMUNICATIONS
in EDUCATION
REINVENTING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO
Forward-looking leaders today have a revolutionary opportunity to increase
their organizations’ performance through Intelligent Communications –
whether it be for competitive advantage, enhanced public service,
or improved patient care.

Intelligent Communications is not just about a set of new technologies or

improved products. It’s about changing the way you think about the power of
communications, and its ability to make a difference in how your organization
achieves its strategic objectives.

This publication is meant to begin to uncover some of the revolutionary

possibilities with Intelligent Communications, specific to the education sector.
Across the globe, many leading educational institutions have already begun to
realize these possibilities.

As a CEO in a competitive industry myself, I understand the pressure to

find every possible advantage for your organization. After reading these
pages, you’ll see that Intelligent Communications is one that absolutely
cannot be ignored.

Sincerely yours,

Louis J. D’Ambrosio
President and Chief Executive Officer
Avaya Inc.
 CONTENTS

1 Introduction

2 EDUCATION INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

3 EDUCATION CHALLENGES
AND OPPORTUNITIES

5 INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY

TO DRIVE STRATEGIC CHANGE

7 COMMUNICATIONS IS BECOMING
INCREASINGLY STRATEGIC

9 INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATIONS ENABLES

INCREASED EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS

22 CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

 INTRODUCTION
In a world where technology is
bringing people closer together and
knowledge is becoming ubiquitous,
the education sector faces a number
of significant challenges. Though
education is not a typical profit-
driven industry, the marketplace is still
highly competitive with organizations
devoted to maximizing value to
students – their customers. Due to
recent developments in technology
– such as IP telephony, Web services,
and service-oriented architecture
(SOA) – communications can play
a pivotal role in the strategies
educational institutions pursue. We
are moving from a period in which
communications was merely a utility,
with cost as the most important
criteria, into an era of Intelligent
Communications.
Intelligent Communications is the
result of embedding communications
applications inside critical processes
in the learning environment. This
includes everything from delivering
videoconferencing to support
collaboration, to integrating wireless
voice and information devices with
a converged network so incoming
calls can be routed to the appropriate
administrator, wherever he or she may
be. By embedding communications
applications within key processes,
Intelligent Communications can
deliver its increasingly beneficial
– and ultimately transformative
– value in three fundamental (and
interrelated) dimensions: the student
and faculty experience, productivity,
and process efficiency/continuity. In
turn, educators are able to create a
rich academic experience that can set
their institution apart.
In the pages to come, we will discuss
the importance of technology to
successful educational institution
strategies and the integral role
communications can play in enabling
 Intelligent Communications in Education
these strategies. We will address the
specific business challenges facing
today’s educational institutions,
highlight how leading innovative
institutions are leveraging Intelligent
Communications today, and share a
vision of what is possible in
the years to come.
When institutions think strategically
about leveraging communications,
there are almost limitless possibilities.
Consider the example of the cell phone.
Nearly universal cell phone adoption by
students has had a clear, dramatic impact
on campus communications. Revenue
from dormitory phones has virtually
disappeared, and students may be difficult
to reach because cell phone numbers
aren’t integrated with student directories.
With Intelligent Communications, however,
cell phones – and increasingly IP-enabled
wireless phones – can dramatically
enhance the academic experience
and increase the value of the campus
network. Avaya solutions seamlessly
route calls from the institutional voice
network to any cell phone, making sure
students do not miss important calls
and allowing faculty and administrators
to notify students about class events
or emergencies. Moreover, wireless
devices can become virtual ‘blue light’
phones with one-button access to public
safety. Combined with global positioning
system (GPS) capabilities, students and
faculty alike can be located quickly and
automatically if and when an emergency
situation develops. Faculty can create
virtual teams where students collaborate
via voice, messaging and blogs. Many
of these applications are purchased by
students (or their parents) to enhance
their educational experience, creating new
sources of revenue.
As you read through this document,
imagine how your institution can leverage
the power of Intelligent Communications.
EDUCATION INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

At a high level, education can be Middle East – have begun to

divided into three segments: higher create open course curricula where
education, primary/secondary lectures and all relevant course
education and corporate education. materials are made available online,
These three segments are in free to anyone with a high-speed
turn each comprised of multiple connection. These universities are
subsegments – respectively, these sending a clear message that the
include universities and colleges; value in their educational programs
public and private school systems; is less about static content and
and training and distributed learning more about creating an immersive
organizations. educational experience, where
teachers and students focus on
Globally education is a multi-trillion
the process of learning itself as a
dollar industry. In North America,
key component of the education
Europe and parts of the Asia-
experience.
Pacific region, it is second only to
healthcare in terms of contribution
to gross domestic product (GDP).
Though large and diverse, education
can be broadly categorized into
nonprofit (universities, four-year
colleges, public education, etc.)
and for-profit (corporate education,
private education, some two year
colleges, vocational colleges, etc.).
While educators are generally
budget-constrained and cost-
conscious, they are highly motivated
to create collaborative learning
environments that lower the
barriers to communication between
faculty and students. To this end,
educators tend to be highly creative
in their use of technology. The rise
of distributed learning in the late
1990s is one obvious example, as
educators recognized the possibility
of interacting with students and
teachers in new ways. They were able
to enrich academic programs and
efficiently reach new students. More
recently, universities across the globe
– from the United States and United
Kingdom to Eastern Europe and the

Intelligent Communications in Education 

 EDUCATION CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Clearly there are significant differences

across the diverse spectrum of
educational institutions. On the surface,
the concerns of a rural primary school in a
developing country stand in stark contrast
to those of a globally-renowned private
university. Though the opportunities and
limitations each faces may have little
in common, their educational mission
remains the same. That means common
issues can be identified at a high level. The
following are the key challenges facing the
industry today:

Addressing the Growing Demand for

Continuous Education
In a global economy with growing
technical complexity and requirements
for new knowledge workers, the need
for specialization and certification is
increasingly important, with education
viewed as the best path to prosperity and
success. Consequently, education is no
longer seen as a discrete event, but as a
lifelong process, resulting in an increasing
average age for higher education
students. In Europe, the largest age group
participating in higher education is now
21-24, versus 18-21 in the United States.
China recently lifted the restriction on
higher education examinees above age
25. Further, this expansion has caused
some universities to begin to rival the size
and complexity of cities. For example, the
Anatolian University in Turkey currently
serves more than one million students.
Institutions now must address the needs
of student communities that not only span
new age groups, but also are growing
in sheer numbers.

Management of
Rising Delivery Costs
Many primary/secondary school systems
are under severe budget pressure, forcing
educators to reduce services, increase
the burden on local communities through
taxes or donations, or increase tuition fees.
At the same time, delivery costs continue
to rise – including pensions, teacher

 Intelligent Communications in Education

healthcare, employee unions, special
education and basic educational
infrastructure. Similarly, maintaining
antiquated voice and data networks
– typically not converged and without
IP telephony – adds to delivery costs.
This combination means educators
are being forced to do more with less.
Continuous Program Improvement
Competition is intensifying among
educational institutions to not only
attract the best students, but also
to maintain or grow enrollment
bases. Simultaneously, public policy
initiatives to raise standards are
putting pressure on both public and
private education around the globe.
For example, in India standardized
testing largely determines a student’s
academic track and the career
that follows. This puts tremendous
pressure on institutions to deliver
effective student preparation.
Similarly, in the United States the
‘No Child Left Behind’ Act mandates
standardized testing and ties school
funding to outcomes. As a result
of these trends, institutions have
an increasing need to develop new
programs and improve those that
already exist. Their funding, whether
private or public, depends on it.
radical political agenda. Institutions
must create a safe learning
environment by taking the measures
necessary to ensure emergency plans
and capabilities are in place.
Risk Management and Security
In a connected world, a student-
created virus in Russia can take
down an entire university network
in Brazil. As converged networks
meet the divergent needs of
different user groups – from students
downloading videos to researchers
storing data – information security is
increasingly critical in the academic
world. Student records must be
secure, including sensitive personal
information like healthcare records
and credit card numbers. Similarly,
the threat from natural disasters and
other emergencies means continuity
of educational operations is clearly an
important issue for administrators.
Educators are looking for ways to
address these challenges, creating
rich, immersive academic programs
to better serve student customers
and differentiating their institutions
among an increasing number of
educational options.

Educator and Student Safety

In a world where school violence
and natural disasters have become
regrettably common, educators
must consider issues that extend
far beyond classroom curricula
and into basic personal safety and
security. In many cases, educators are
entrusted with the safety of entire
families, sometimes across multiple
generations; this responsibility cannot
be taken lightly. Moreover, in today’s
global environment, a school can
seem less a safe haven – and more
a potential target for anyone with a

Intelligent Communications in Education 

 INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY
TO DRIVE STRATEGIC CHANGE
Increasing costs of delivery and growing
requirements for educational services
mean educators need every advantage
they can find to enrich programs and
differentiate their institutions. Moreover,
an ever more complicated range of
necessary technologies underpins
the services educational institutions
provide – from cellular technology to
converged IP networks. As a result of
these trends, educators can no longer
afford to consider their educational
strategies in isolation from the technology
infrastructure and applications required to
deliver those strategies.

But are today’s technology solutions

cost-effective and practical for
educational institutions? Many educators
recognize the potential value of new
technology, but cannot afford the time
and expense needed to implement
complicated solutions. Here is where
new developments such as Web services
and service-oriented architecture (SOA)
make a difference. Developments in these
areas minimize the need for custom code,
making it much easier to tie together
disparate systems and applications
and reducing the specialized skills
and time required for implementation.
Furthermore, administrative costs involved
in selecting and managing technology
implementations are streamlined. These
changes dramatically lower the costs
associated with many technology projects,
making cost-effective and repeatable
solutions affordable for both large and
small institutions, public and private.

Given their increasing cost-effectiveness,

how can technology solutions address
the leading challenges facing educational
institutions? The following table
summarizes but a few of the many
technology initiatives that educational
institutions are deploying.

 Intelligent Communications in Education

 educational Challenge
Addressing the Growing Demand
for Continuous Education
Technology Response
• Converged voice, data and video networks to expand the reach of
educational programs.
• Consistent experience for students and faculty as they interact with
disparate applications to make systems intuitive and easy to use,
increasing user satisfaction

Management of Rising Delivery Costs
Continuous Program Improvement
Educator and Student Safety
• IP telephony to link facilities together across a shared network.
• Web services and SOA to simplify integration.
• Cost-effective distributed learning applications to scale education
programs.
• Integrated customer relationship management (CRM) applications to
facilitate recruiting and fundraising efforts.
• Intelligent call routing to reduce wait time for students and response time
for administrators.
• Student self-service capabilities via Web and interactive voice response
(IVR) systems to improve process efficiency.
• Improved integration with public emergency services (e.g. 911) and
intelligent routing of emergency calls to decrease response time and
improve outcomes.
• Integration of wireless devices with converged networks to allow rapid
notification and response in an emergency.
• Remote monitoring to increase the reach of institutional security.

Risk Management and Security
• Virtual private networks and encryption to secure networks and keep
student records and information private.
• Role-based access and privileges to control access and make sure
confidential information is available only to appropriate administrators.
• Remote systems monitoring and configuration to assure educational
continuity of operations.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and technology is certainly not the only way
to address these challenges. But it can and does play a critical role in overcoming
such daunting challenges. Taking a more detailed look at the list of technology
responses, one can see that many of them involve communications. As we will see in
the next section, it’s not just technology in general, but specifically communications
technology that is critical to enabling institutions’ educational strategies.

Intelligent Communications in Education 

 COMMUNICATIONS IS BECOMING
INCREASINGLY STRATEGIC

Historically, communications has been Intelligent Communications is not a

viewed by educators as a utility and as
little more than a part of an institution’s
cost of operation. In recent years,
administrators have welcomed the
plummeting prices of long distance
and other telecommunications services,
as well as incremental improvements
in functionality. Rarely, though, has
communications been viewed as a
strategic business lever.
However, recent fundamental changes
are enabling revolutionary new
opportunities to use communications
to enrich academic life and
differentiate educational programs.
Communications is becoming truly
strategic and shattering its old utility
image. By making communications
more intelligent, its value extends
beyond merely providing more (and
more sophisticated) devices for voice
and data communications. This shift in
perception and reality is well underway
in leading educational institutions.
In short, we have entered the era of
Intelligent Communications. What is
Intelligent Communications? Quite
simply, it is the result of embedding
communications applications inside
educational processes to deliver a
better student experience. Leveraging
intelligence in communications means
educational institutions can differentiate
communications based upon user,
environment or other requirements.
They can deliver appropriate
communications to student, faculty
and administrator groups with greatly
differing needs. And institutions can
leverage end-user devices that run the
gamut from smart to simple – from the
latest IP-enabled mobile phones and
PDAs to “dumb” landline phones and
56K dialup Internet connections – to
create richer academic environments
and increase the value of their network.
futuristic vision of what can be achieved
when an institution spends lavishly
on IP telephony infrastructure. Rather,
Intelligent Communications uses
open, standard software technologies
that enable affordable, cost-effective
competitive advances in the real world.
The reality is that today’s technology
infrastructure is mixed. Institutional
networks are large and distributed,
but need to fill the diverse needs
of different user groups. So they
feature a patchwork of disparate,
legacy systems that can make the
integration of new applications both
painful and expensive. Moreover,
educational IT budgets are typically
constrained, with a need to continually
train IT staff and retain talent, while
justifying expenditures through
demonstrable returns on investment.
With Intelligent Communications, the
explosion of devices and diversity
of communications media can be
managed within a uniform, coherent,
central communications infrastructure.
This enables Intelligent Communications
to deliver its increasingly beneficial
– and ultimately transformative – value
in three fundamental (and interrelated)
dimensions:
Student and Faculty Experience
For students and faculty, converged
networks with wireless access
enable seamless voice and data
communications and access to
information resources from any device,
anywhere. Collaboration tools create a
diverse educational environment where
teachers, guest lecturers, special tutors
and students can be brought together,
even if all are at remote locations.
Intelligent contact solutions enable
staff to deliver efficient, personalized
experiences to students in every
interaction.

 Intelligent Communications in Education

Staff Productivity
Administrators, faculty and other staff
are able to collaborate virtually and
connect to business and educational
applications through a variety of
fixed and mobile devices. Faculty stay
connected to institutional resources
while traveling. Administrators don’t
get interrupted by trivial calls when
dealing with critical issues, nor do they
miss an urgent message because they
were momentarily unavailable.
Process Efficiency,
Continuity and Security
Students and faculty have full access
to advanced safety and security
systems that can overcome the
Intelligent Communications Provides Powerful Impact at Every Level
STAKEHOLDERS
Students
Teachers, Faculty, Staff
InformationTechnology
Department
Manager
Institution
Leadership
Intelligent Communications in Education
traditional difficulty of pinpointing
caller locations on a campus.
Intelligent systems automatically
notify the right person, right away,
when a process or function breaks
down – and if that person doesn’t
respond, the next person in line is
contacted, and then the next, until the
problem is addressed. Communication
capabilities can be reconfigured
remotely in the case of severe
disruption. Faculty, administrators
and students enjoy secure access
to communication capabilities,
regardless of location or device, and
information is protected from threats
that originate within or outside the
educational environment.
BENEFITS
• Quicker and more effective student access to information and
services – wait times are minimized, fewer calls are required, and
the right person can be engaged on the first call
• Better-tailored experiences with the institution, as staff have
greater “student context” from the start
• Ability to engage with the institution through the use of any
device or modality (voice, web, etc.)
• Access to full campus or school communication capabilities from
any location, even while mobil
• More effective prioritization/management of communications
– colleagues can be reached immediately when needed, while
unnecessary interruptions are minimized
• Greater flexibility in development of customized communication-
related applications/systems, leveraging web services and SOA
• Reduced maintenance and support requirements
• Improved overall continuity of operations
• Higher faculty, staff and student satisfaction
• Improved faculty and staff productivity and more
efficient institution
• Greater agility in decision-making and responsiveness
• Improved institution performance: greater opportunities for better
student experience, at lower cost
• True, hard-to-replicate competitive advantage – better student
experience, productivity, and efficiency

 INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATIONS
ENABLES INCREASED EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS
To this point, we have discussed
Intelligent Communications primarily
from a general perspective. But
what does it mean specifically within
educational organizations? We will now
explain how Intelligent Communications
can transform education and describe
examples of leading institutions
that have already undergone such
transformations.
Educational institutions have faced
a lengthy list of challenges in recent
years, including retaining the best
students, efficiently expanding the
depth and reach of programs, and
ensuring the security and safety of
every individual on campus. Intelligent
Communications can address these
challenges in the following ways:
1. Attracting Exceptional Students.
Intense competition means a myriad
of choices for students in today’s
educational marketplace, and educators
are striving to differentiate their
programs to attract and retain the
best and brightest. Given the inherent
benefits of diversity and strong athletic
programs, educators are looking for
ways to attract minorities and top
athletes. Additionally, student prospects
are evaluating the diversity of a campus,
its athletic programs, test scores
and student satisfaction – all critical
evaluation criteria. Less than favorable
results can damage an institution’s
“applicant pipeline” for years to come.
Intelligent Communications can
improve overall student satisfaction
by integrating prospective students
directly into the academic experience.
How is this accomplished? From the
first time prospective students make
contact, they are connected with the
appropriate admissions officer or
counselor who best meets their needs.
Incoming calls are selectively routed
based on caller-ID. After identifying
the prospective student and associated
 Intelligent Communications in Education
history, the system steers that student
to the individual best able to handle the
call. This could be an administrator who
previously interacted with the student
or an individual with a specific area
of expertise. Follow-up conversations
intelligently build on these initial
contacts to establish relationships
with prospective students. Tours and
interviews are efficiently scheduled
and expose prospective students to
the depth and breadth of the academic
experience. In short, via Intelligent
Communications, the recruiting process
becomes a seamless demonstration of
the connected academic experience a
prospect can expect when enrolled at
the institution.
2. Expanding Depth, Reach, and
Enrollment through Distributed
Learning.
Early in its evolution, distance learning
was characterized by broadcast
(one-to-many) models. This approach
allowed educators to overcome great
distances to provide educational
programs to working adults and those
with families – opening up new revenue
opportunities. However, as applications
have improved and bandwidth costs
have decreased, distance learning has
increasingly moved to a true distributed
learning environment. With distributed
learning, the broadcast model is
replaced with a collaborative (many-
to-many) model. Faculty and students
can actively work together to reach
academic goals, and learning becomes
both immersive and interactive.
Intelligent Communications enhances
distributed learning. Visiting professors
or guest lecturers can be contacted and
scheduled automatically – including
intelligent notification of schedule and
lesson plan changes – to add depth to a
curriculum. Students can communicate
across distances, helping homebound
students feel less isolated. Student
Case Example

How a Middle Eastern Sports Academy

Deployed Capabilities to Match
Its Leading-Edge Educational Approach
This extraordinary sports academy has a vision to mold the best young sporting
talent from the region into world-class athletes and role models.

The academy offers the highest standards in sport and educational facilities to
its handpicked students, and is committed to supporting these facilities with the
best technology available. The student database has been connected to a broad
range of other systems – such as training and medical equipment – to make the
information accessible from anywhere on campus. And the key to the academy’s
high-tech environment is a robust, flexible communication infrastructure.

A critical requirement for the academy was a solution to support its unique Talent
Identification Program, used to evaluate the 3,000+ students vying for 50 slots
at the academy. For its voice and data requirements, the academy chose an
Avaya IP telephony solution to provide network flexibility, extended applications,
educational continuity of operations, increased productivity and cost savings.
The Avaya solution, including Avaya Extension to Cellular, integrates the voice
and data network with wireless devices – so prospective and current students,
faculty and administrators can seamlessly communicate with each other and
interact with the full resources of the institution.

Intelligent Communications in Education 10

 groups distributed across remote
locations can collaborate effectively.
Intelligent Communications enriches
distributed learning by leveraging
IP telephony to seamlessly integrate
the applications people use to
communicate within a collaborative
environment.
In addition, IP systems offer other
benefits. IP telephony makes it easier
for students to make requests and
communicate with administrators and
faculty. Administrators can access
voice and data communications from
students, add new information and
forward messages to the appropriate
faculty member or administrator.
For example, a homebound student
interested in getting extra help from a
remote tutor could make the request,
and the system would ensure the
student’s teacher and appropriate tutor
were notified. To the extent the initial
request identified other issues, the
system also could automatically issue
messages to interested parties, such as
parents and counselors.
3. Enhancing Administrative Productivity.
In recent years, educational institutions
have invested in upgrading voice and
data network infrastructure and basic
communications applications. Now they
are shifting their focus to how they can
leverage these technology investments
to improve administrative productivity.
Doing so is critical because efficient
administrators have more time to focus
on not only current and prospective
students but also on alumni, who
can be vital to the well-being of the
institution. Responsive, effective
administrators can help institutions
truly differentiate themselves in the
education marketplace.
Access
Faculty members tend to travel
constantly, and whether en route
or at their destination, they need
access to institutional resources to
be productive. Instructors also tend
11 Intelligent Communications in Education
to be email-centric, which creates
special challenges. For example, it
can be difficult to type a group email
responding to a grant question while
running through an airport. With
Intelligent Communications, email can
be accessed by voice, and voicemail can
be accessed by computer. Calendars
can be “viewed,” appointments
scheduled and notices sent via a
voice interface. Conference calls can
be coordinated and attended on the
fly. When traveling, faculty members
can access the same communications
capabilities as in the office, making
them instantly productive regardless
of their location. One of the goals
of Intelligent Communication is to
facilitate the way people work, rather
than forcing them to work in an
unfamiliar – and ultimately
unproductive – way.
Video Applications and
Richer Collaboration
IP networks can cost-effectively
support the video applications that
are critical to collaboration and
power inexpensive cameras through
the network. In comparison to the
expensive and cumbersome video
teleconferencing systems of the 1990s,
features have improved and costs have
decreased dramatically. Combining
videoconferencing with co-browsing
capabilities allows students and
faculty in remote locations to view
the same material, efficiently bringing
an assortment of rich media to the
educational experience.
Mobility
Converged voice and data networks
allow number portability, so users can
log onto any phone on the network or
access the network remotely through
computers. Such mobility applications
help associate office phone numbers
with an individual rather than a location.
This enables greater productivity and
faster response to callers, whether an
administrator is in or out of the office.
Case Example

How Palm Beach County School District

Leverages Distributed Learning to Reach
Special Needs Students
Palm Beach County is the tenth largest school district in the United States,
serving more than 176,000 students in 164 primary, secondary and special interest
schools. The District has received nationwide acclaim for its school safety and
cultural programs, as well as recognition for its “small, efficient administration”
and “maximum dollars spent in classrooms.”

Within the school district are 300 homebound and hospitalized special education
students (SPED) with unique needs, who participate in 30 different classes.
The challenge the District faced was to deliver the school curriculum to these
students effectively and efficiently, providing the rich educational opportunities
they deserve.

The District chose an Avaya IP telephony solution with Meeting Exchange that
supports a number of innovative applications. SPED teachers can create a single
virtual classroom efficiently, allowing students from across the District to work
together in an inclusive environment. Students can meet with special tutors
who ordinarily would be unavailable if individual trips were necessary. Guests
with expert knowledge can be integrated easily into the learning environment
to enhance curricula. Parent-teacher conferences can be scheduled and
conducted efficiently, allowing busy families to focus on their children, rather
than accommodating inconvenient appointment times. Virtual fieldtrips can be
arranged for homebound and hospitalized students, transporting these typically
isolated students to places that come alive through rich multimedia. The result
has been a four-fold increase in the number of homebound and hospitalized
SPED students dialing-in for continued learning.

Intelligent Communications in Education 12

 Cost Efficiencies group collaboration and cross-institution
Geographically distributed locations can curricula become possible. Students,
operate on a single network at less cost. faculty and administrators have better
As educational institutions grow, moving access not only to each other, but to the
administrators and faculty from current full resources of the institution – allowing
facilities to new (and often temporary) educators to increase the reach of
facilities is a laborious exercise in academic programs efficiently.
complex logistics. Traditionally, IT
Small Group Collaboration
technicians were required to reconfigure
Today’s educational institutions are
communications systems manually,
often spread across multiple campuses.
which is time-consuming and expensive.
In the current IP-enabled world of
Furthermore, educational institutions
Intelligent Communications, small groups
tend to grow organically and frequently
of students can efficiently collaborate
have disparate systems and applications
across geographically-dispersed
with duplicative cabling and service
locations. Students and faculty have
contracts. IP networks eliminate these
access to information resources across
issues through a centrally managed
the institution. This allows educators
solution that supports number portability
to increase the reach of educational
and other new applications and uses
programs more effectively, extending
voice over IP (VoIP) switches to reduce
enrollment and making education
maintenance and support costs. These
convenient for students, working people
basic savings can be the justification
and seniors.
for implementing IP telephony, while
also opening up options for the even Cross-Institution Collaboration
greater efficiencies that Intelligent As educational programs and student
Communications can provide. needs become increasingly specialized,
the cost of delivering specialized
4. Efficiently Extending the Reach of
curricula to students can be prohibitive.
Academic Programs.
Indeed, in some cases, students are
In an effort to meet the evolving needs
encouraged to take specific classes at
of students and faculty, educators are
other institutions. Through IP-enabled
under pressure to increase the efficient
collaboration, institutions can work
reach of educational programs. This can
together to provide such specialized
be a frustrating experience. Educators
curricula. Classes can be offered jointly,
find themselves working with an
sharing faculty and other resources
ever-increasing number of specialized
and making special tutors available.
communications solutions – cell phones,
As a result, institutions can efficiently
wireless PDAs, videoconferencing, voice
increase the reach and richness of their
network services, collaboration tools and
educational programs.
more. While these dedicated solutions
meet specific communications needs, 5. Ensuring Personal Safety and Security of
the difficulty of integrating them into Students, Faculty, and Administrators.
a single, cohesive solution hampers Educators must consider a range of
efficient collaboration and limits the personal safety and security issues
reach of academic programs. that extend far beyond classroom
curricula. The stakes are high – one well-
Intelligent Communication solutions
publicized failure to provide a safe and
can take these individual point
secure learning environment can have
solutions and cross traditional network
a devastating impact on the institution.
boundaries to integrate them into a
When key communications infrastructure
single, logical, distributed network. As
is literally under water or inside a
collaboration tools are refined, small

13 Intelligent Communications in Education

Case Example

How a University Expanded its Educational

Programs and Increased Student Satisfaction
One of the oldest historically black educational institutions in the United States,
this university’s primary mission is to maintain excellence in research and in
academic programs that foster intellectual enhancement, technological skills and
character development.

In addition to its main campus, the University operates nine satellite campuses
providing adult and professional education. The University also sends instructors
to other remote locations, including state prisons where they offer inmates a
chance to earn degrees.

The University’s communications system was complicated, with disparate voice

systems, multiple local and long-distance carriers, and myriad data and Internet
service providers. Even worse, calls to the admissions or financial aid offices were
frequently met by busy signals, which crippled productivity and lowered student
satisfaction.

The University chose an Avaya communications solution to connect its various

campuses. Since the solution was implemented, distance learning enrollment for
remote campuses has increased by 20 percent. Not only can students across
the state use videoconferencing to take advantage of the free tutoring offered
by the University, but they can participate in a course from any center, just as if
they were in the same room as an instructor. Students can ask questions through
audio conferencing or by sending email to the instructor’s assistant if the lecture
is still in progress. Furthermore, the University plans to profit from its new IP
networks by becoming a videoconferencing provider for the towns surrounding
the satellite campuses, where such services are hard to come by.

Intelligent Communications in Education 14

 collapsed building, it can be difficult for
people to simply get through, much less
pinpoint the exact location of victims or
coordinate relief efforts.
Intelligent Communications solves
many of the problems that currently
confront educators trying to create safe
and secure learning environments. IP
telephony can locate callers and assure
that calls are efficiently routed to the
appropriate responder. Wireless devices
can be integrated with the campus
network into a single solution allowing
students and faculty to immediately
access emergency services. Families can
quickly locate loved ones in the case of
an emergency. Furthermore, IP networks
can support inexpensive remote video
cameras that allow security personnel
to effectively monitor multiple locations.
Doors can be remotely locked – or
opened – to contain a security threat or
let firemen into a burning building. Fire,
carbon monoxide, tornado and other
emergency systems are integrated into
the communications network allowing
quick notification through multiple voice
and data channels for those affected.
With Intelligent Communications
disparate systems and applications
become a seamless solution with a
single goal: providing a safe and secure
academic experience for students,
faculty, and administrators.
6. Making Educational
Networks Secure.
Many educational institutions have
voice and data networks that need
to satisfy multiple user groups, and
this creates a dilemma. Hackers are
frequently students themselves and
represent a major threat from within
an institution’s firewalls. However,
university researchers, for example, need
to be able to collaborate effectively
and seamlessly across that same
infrastructure. Moreover, researchers
working in particularly sensitive areas
15 Intelligent Communications in Education
– from biotech to national security
– have specialized security requirements.
Educational institutions are also
responsible for sensitive personal
information that needs to be secure,
including social security numbers,
personal contact information, academic
and healthcare records, and
credit card numbers.
In the past, educators simply had to live
with many of the security issues created
by students and researchers working
on the same network, and piecemeal
security solutions meant foregoing many
of the potential benefits of convergence.
However, Intelligent Communications
technology makes it possible today to
ensure against threats both within and
outside the network, while still realizing
productivity and efficiency benefits.
Enterprise risk management, security
and authentication can be deployed in
an integrated and consistent manner.
End-to-end security can be provided in a
layered approach, with secure signaling
and encrypted communications whether
inside the firewall or extending outside
to other educational institutions,
research labs, government agencies or
corporate partners. Because standards
remain unspecific and all institutions
approach security somewhat differently,
solutions can be tailored to fit the
specific needs of individual institutions.
7. Improving Continuity of
Educational Operations.
In In a world where a natural disaster
can shut down a network in seconds,
educators must increasingly build
continuity of operations into their
voice and data infrastructure. This can
be a difficult task. While faculty and
administrative use of a network peaks
during the day, student usage tends to
peak late at night or in the early hours
of the morning. Students return from
evening activities and reach out to
families, significant others or each other.
Case Example

How an Innovative University Created

a New Academic Paradigm
This University has an enrollment of approximately 1,400 undergraduate and
graduate students on its main campus, plus an additional 15 branch sites in the
central United States. The University was one of the first schools to equip its
entire faculty with desktop computers, and in 2000, the University built the first
truly “wireless community” in the nation. Today, the University provides students
with their own notebook computers and wireless Internet access, allowing them
to go online at any time, from anywhere on campus.

Though well-equipped with an Avaya wireless network and a convergence-ready

Avaya data infrastructure, the school’s voice network was obsolete and
not keeping pace.

By implementing Intelligent Communications, the University was able to use

voice, data and conferencing applications to link all 15 branch sites seamlessly
and provide collaborative learning opportunities to small groups of students at
multiple campus locations. “Wireless everywhere” access to an integrated voice
and data network gives students, faculty and administrators access to each other
and to the full resources of the institution – anytime, everywhere.

By making communications intelligent, the University has created an even more

powerful new educational paradigm. The classroom has become simply another
facet of an immersive educational continuum, rather than the focal point of
the academic experience. Instead of concentrating on the logistics of getting
information to students – traditionally in the classroom – the University provides
ubiquitous access to voice and data. This means rather than simply assimilating
information, students can focus on converting data into knowledge. Faculty can
significantly enhance the educational experience, linking students together in
virtual teams where they are free to collaborate and reach mutual academic goals.
Perhaps the best testament to the educational paradigm shift the University has
effected is that despite being extremely isolated geographically, the University
has been flooded with applications from both students and faculty who want to
work in this unique educational environment.

Intelligent Communications in Education 16

 This distributed load means networks
need to operate continually at 100%,
and it becomes difficult to schedule
downtime for upgrades or testing.
Moreover, continuity of operations
is frequently required in the worst
circumstances. During natural disasters
or other troubling events, the basic
communications infrastructure is not
only under duress, but flooded with calls
from victims, families and emergency
responders – all trying to assess the
magnitude of the threat, muster the
appropriate response, and locate and
notify those affected.

Intelligent Communication
solutions can help educators assure
continuity of operations in a number
of ways. Advanced contact center
solutions allow intelligent routing
of calls to help students, faculty,
administrators and concerned family
members get answers right away,
rather than calling back numerous
times. Voicemail solutions allow
schools to set up programs where
students can call in after an event
to let administrators know they
are okay – allowing emergency
responders to focus on those who
are missing. As call volumes spike
immediately after a disaster, traffic
can be distributed intelligently
and seamlessly to unaffected
locations. Communications systems
can be remotely monitored and
reconfigured to reduce downtime.
New technology also enables
communication across disparate
devices and networks, including
mobile radios and IP-enabled
devices, to facilitate emergency
response. In these and other
ways, Intelligent Communications
is paving the way toward better
continuity of operations and is
enabling educational institutions to
respond to the threats of the future.

17 Intelligent Communications in Education

Intelligent Communications — Key Benefits

Student Experience Productivity Process Efficiency/ Continuity

• Students call and always reach of Operations
• Faculty and staff are not
whom they need to reach interrupted by trivial calls during • Business processes automatically
• Students can receive customized important tasks, nor do they miss notify the right person, right
account/ transaction information urgent calls while out of the office away, when something
from any location and through breaks down
• Calls and messages can be
any medium directed to/ retrieved from • Communications are secure
• Staff can dynamically connect any device outside and inside the network
experts to an interaction to on every device
• Faculty and staff can virtually
deliver first-call resolution of • Communications are tracked,
collaborate and connect to
student issues
business applications through a archived and available for
• Institutions deliver personalized variety of devices auditing
interactions to students
every time • Networks are resilient with
backup capabilities and
contingency plans in case of
outages or disasters

Intelligent Communications Foundations

Service Oriented Middleware

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Network Communications Infrastructure

Intelligent Communications in Education 18

Case Example

How Big Bend Community College

Create a Safer Learning Environment
Big Bend is a comprehensive, two-year community college in the Pacific Northwest
region of the United States. With an enrollment of 1,600 students, Big Bend is the
smallest community college in the state of Washington, though it serves a rural
community spanning 4,600 miles and 92,000 people.

Big Bend’s northeast Washington campus had voice and data communications
systems that were out-of-date – having devolved into a “hold your breath and
hope it works” situation. One of the biggest issues was the inability to alert
emergency workers quickly via calls to 911.

Big Bend Community College chose to transform its campus with an Avaya IP
telephony solution that combined a number of safety and security features, as
well as tools for remote monitoring and problem resolution. As a result, network
downtime has been significantly reduced and the system is ‘always on,’ assuring
administrators that the institution has the communication tools it needs to respond
to threats. More importantly, safety and security has been greatly enhanced with
increased emergency support – including software that forwards specific caller
information to local police, fire and EMT squads to reduce both response time
and potential confusion in the event of an on-campus emergency.

19 Intelligent Communications in Education

 INTEllIGENT CoMMUNICATIoNS CoNNECTS
THE RIGHT PEoPlE AT THE RIGHT TIME wITH THE RIGHT INFoRMATIoN

Admissions
Information
Alumni Central
Database Scheduling
System

Students/Alumni
Analytics/ Staff
History Intelligent Specialization
Inventory
Communications Administrative
Students &
Alumni Staff
Expert
Skills
Students & Database
Alumni

Faculty Remote Experts

Partners Mobile workers

Presence & Applications/

location information Information Systems

Intelligent communications in Education 20

 Case Example

How a University Medical Center Assures

Network Security and Continuity of Operations
This University Medical Center provides world-class leadership in scientific research,
health and medical education, and patient care. Faculty members from the Center
carry out the school’s core mission of educating and training future generations of
healthcare professionals.

As one of the top research facilities internationally, the Center needs secure,
reliable communications to link leading researchers to colleagues, partners and
critical data. Downtime, especially if significant, can mean millions of dollars’ worth
of research and years of work wasted from ruined experiments.

The Center selected Avaya IP telephony to transform its operations with a high
measure of security and reliable service. The system has built-in redundancy to
ensure adequate disaster recovery capabilities to suit the Center’s zero-tolerance
for downtime. In addition, satellite offices now have the same level of functionality
offered by the main campus communications system, making them feel less isolated.
Secure compatibility with the University’s student voice and data system creates
a single, converged network supporting new feature functionality for productivity
improvements – such as on-demand conferencing and intuitive administration and
management tools. Global researchers can now work remotely with secure access
to institutional resources from any Internet connection. Finally, the system supports
remote monitoring and configuration, assuring continuity of operations in the face
of threat.

21 Intelligent Communications in Education

CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

As an educator, can you afford to ignore

the strategic possibilities Intelligent
Communications can offer your
institution? Technology is a critical factor
in an institution’s effectiveness and
differentiation, and communication can no
longer be regarded as a mere utility. As we
have shown, Intelligent Communications
enables educators to enrich educational
programs efficiently, creating a more
satisfying, immersive experience for
students, faculty and administrators.

Though one may be tempted to think

Intelligent Communications capabilities
have existed for years through technologies
such as computer-telephony integration
(CTI), the reality is that recent technology
developments – such as IP telephony, Web
services and service-oriented architecture
– are making Intelligent Communications
more affordable and practical for
educational institutions. Now, not only are
truly innovative communications solutions
affordable and repeatable, but they can be
more effectively integrated directly into
educational processes.

Who will be the leaders in education

who fully capitalize on the revolutionary
capabilities of Intelligent Communications?
Many educational institutions are laying
the groundwork through adoption of IP
telephony on cost-improvement grounds,
and the possibilities from there to
revolutionize an institution’s effectiveness
and differentiation are nearly endless.

Can your institution afford to fall behind?

Intelligent Communications in Education 22

INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATIONS
IN education
For more information,
visit: http://www.avaya.com/education

About Avaya
Avaya enables businesses to achieve
superior results by designing, building
and managing their communications
infrastructure and solutions. For over one
million businesses worldwide, including
more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE
500®, Avaya’s embedded solutions
help businesses enhance value, improve
productivity and create competitive
advantage by allowing people to be more
productive and create more intelligent
processes that satisfy customers.
For businesses large and small, Avaya is a
world leader in secure, reliable IP telephony
systems, communications applications
and full life-cycle services. Driving the
convergence of embedded voice and data
communications with business applications,
Avaya is distinguished by its combination of
comprehensive, world-class products and
services. Avaya helps customers across the
globe leverage existing and new networks
to achieve superior business results.

© 2006 Avaya Inc.

All Rights Reserved. Avaya and the Avaya Logo are trademarks of Avaya Inc. and may be registered in
certain jurisdictions. All trademarks identified by the ®, SM or TM are registered trademarks, service marks or
trademarks, respectively, of Avaya Inc., with the exception of FORTUNE 500 which is a registered trademark of
Time Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
08/06 • IND3125