NEWS RELEASE

Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Febuary 10, 2004

Contact: Eric Gerber
713/743-8189 (office)
713/617-7130(pager)
egerber@uh.edu

CAMPUS VOICE MAIL SYSTEM AT UH TO BE REPLACED
Cutover to New Modular Messaging Program Tentatively Set for Feb. 21

HOUSTON, Feb. 10, 2004 – The University of Houston IT Division is in the process of replacing the campus voice mail system. The current system, having sustained damage by Tropical Storm Allison, has become increasingly unstable.

The cutover to the new system, UH Modular Messaging, is tentatively scheduled to occur on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Implementation of the new system will have no effect on existing phones or phone numbers. Only the voice mail system will change. While any transition inevitably requires some degree of disruption, the IT Division has taken numerous steps to make the transition to the new system as painless as possible.

“While we have targeted February 21 as the cutover date, we will make sure the system and the campus is ready before moving forward,” said Charles Chambers, the IT Division’s project manager. “If a smooth transition to the new system is not feasible at that time, or if there are any campus conflicts with the timing of the cutover, the migration to the new system will be rescheduled.”

According to Chambers, the need to replace the current voice mail system arose due to damage sustained during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. All of the system’s eight nodes, which process and store data for campus voice mail services, had their life shortened by water damage during the storm.

“It’s important we provide a stable voice mail system for the campus,” said Chambers.

The current voice mail system has been in service since 1990 when the ROLM telephone system was installed on campus. After a thorough evaluation, Avaya, an international leader in voice systems, was selected to provide the campus with the most current voice mail technology.

A week before the system is up and running, user documentation and self-paced training materials will be available on the Web at www.uh.edu/voicemail. The new voice mailboxes will also be available so they can be personalized prior to their initial use. The web-published User Guide will provide step-by-step instructions on how to switch from the old system to the new one.

The instructions in the User Guide will be sufficient for most UH voice mail users; however, if desired, faculty and staff also have the option of enrolling in one of the short instructor-led training classes that will be offered daily.

After the new system is operational, the UH community will be able to access old voice mail boxes for a grace period of 14 days. This will allow everyone the opportunity to clean out or retrieve old messages.

“We think our customers will be impressed with the new system,” Dennis Fouty, Associate Vice President of Computing and Telecommunication Services, said. “While we are forced to replace the system due to damage from Allison, the new system in the future will enable us to deploy additional services, like integrating e-mail, voicemail and fax messaging.”

The functionality of the new system is being implemented in phases to ensure the deployment is as transparent and seamless as possible for basic voice mail users.

“At the same time, it’s a very challenging project,” said Chambers. “We’re integrating backwards with our current telephone system, which has a very proprietary architecture, as well as integrating forwards with newer phone systems and other leading edge technology to ensure we’ve positioned the University for the future.”

For more information on the project, visit the project Web site at www.uh.edu/voicemail. In addition, inquiries for more information may be directed to voicemail@uh.edu or 713-743-0006.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.