Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unififed Messaging

1. Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
School District Reduces Phone Costs by 66
Percent with Voice over IP Solution
Overview “The real benefit of the Microsoft unified
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Education—Primary and
communications solution is the time that teachers
secondary schools save that they can devote to … professional
Customer Profile
development and providing extra help to students.”
The Jackson-Madison County School Nancy Zambito, Ed.D, Superintendent, Jackson-Madison County School System
System in Western Tennessee includes 28
schools that employ nearly 2,000 faculty The Jackson-Madison County School System had a separate Private
and enroll 13,500 students.
Branch Exchange (PBX) phone system in each of its 28 schools and
Business Situation its central office. Those aging systems did not have voice mail or
The district wanted to reduce telephone
service costs, add voice mail and support for new technologies such as voice over IP (VoIP). When the
conferencing capabilities, and make those school district found that it was too costly to add voice mail to the
features available to teachers and
administrative staff. systems, it decided to deploy a unified communications solution
based on Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007,
Solution
With help from Enabling Technologies, the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, and Microsoft Exchange
district implemented a unified communica- Server 2007 with Unified Messaging. This solution provides VoIP,
tions solution based on Microsoft®
software. conferencing, instant messaging, and presence capabilities, along
with a single inbox for e-mail and voice mail. When the solution is
Benefits
Improved district-wide communications fully deployed, the district anticipates reducing phone service costs
Reduced phone service costs by 66 by 66 percent, saving up to U.S.$5,000 annually in travel costs,
percent
Expanded professional development and expanding professional development opportunities.
opportunities
Saved travel time and expense

2. “By setting up a Situation Comparing Costs
The Jackson-Madison County School System In August 2007, the school district was
centralized VoIP system is located in Western Tennessee, nearly offered a five-year-old Siemens PBX digital
for the entire district, we equidistant from the Mississippi and system for free from the Jackson Energy
Tennessee rivers. The school district Authority, the local utility company. The utility
could significantly encompasses 28 public elementary, had replaced that PBX with a new voice over
reduce the number of intermediate, middle, and high schools IP (VoIP) system. Gratified by the offer, the
serving more than 13,500 students, and is school district researched the cost to install
phone lines and thus the second largest employer in the county, the phone system but found that installation
reduce monthly access with nearly 2,000 employees. would run about U.S.$15,000. “As generous
as the offer was, we asked ourselves whether
fees.” As with most school districts in the United it made sense to spend $15,000 on a system
Chuck Jones, Chief of Technology, Jackson- States, Jackson-Madison has had to deal with that would still be out-of-date because it
Madison County School System fluctuating budgets during the last several doesn’t support current technologies such as
years, and its technology infrastructure has VoIP and unified messaging,” says Chuck
been particularly affected. As of August 2007, Jones, Chief of Technology for the Jackson-
the district had a 15-year-old Private Branch Madison County School System.
Exchange (PBX) phone system at its central
office. Each school in the district also had its The district was considering switching to a
own PBX. None of these systems had voice VoIP system because all of its 28 schools
mail, and the expense of adding this feature have a wide-area fiber connection of 100
made such an upgrade impractical. Each megabits per second, which is linked to the
school’s classrooms had intercoms, but the Internet connection at the central office. “A
rooms had no phones except for the 100-megabit connection is a dream for any
teachers’ own cell phones. system administrator because it can handle
VoIP and many other things, such as Web
All the schools were connected to the conferencing,” says Jones.
headquarters through a network running the
Windows Server® 2003 operating system. In addition, moving to a VoIP system would
The schools also each had their own separate significantly reduce phone service costs. At
local area network (LAN), and these ran on a the time, the school district was spending
variety of operating systems including the $76,000 per year for 320 standard
Microsoft® Windows NT® Server and Windows telephone lines. “By setting up a centralized
Server 2000 operating systems and very old VoIP system for the entire district, we could
versions of Novell NetWare. Teachers had significantly reduce the number of phone
computers in their classrooms, and in 2004 lines and thus reduce monthly access fees,”
the district had deployed Microsoft Exchange says Jones. With a new system, the district
Server 2003 for e-mail. However, because could easily integrate voice mail and e-mail
there were no phones in classrooms, so that these features would be accessible
teachers had to leave their rooms and take from the same interface, either on the
any urgent phone calls in the school’s main computer or over the phone. This would be
office. The school district wanted to find a especially useful for school district staff who
cost-effective way to install phones in the travel throughout the district on a regular
classrooms and to provide voice mail for basis.
teachers.

3. Reducing Meeting Expenses Solution
In addition to resolving the phone challenges, The Jackson-Madison County School System
the school district was looking for a way to decided to pilot test the Microsoft unified
more efficiently handle district-wide meetings communications solution with about 250
and professional development sessions. users, including the 125 employees at the
These meetings occur typically twice a month district’s central office and a sampling of
and often required teachers to find a principals, administrative staff, and teachers
substitute and take time out of the from various schools. In late March 2008,
classroom. The travel and substitute technicians from Enabling Technologies
teachers’ salaries also created extra costs. spent about two and a half weeks working
with Jones and his staff to build the core
“Many of the teachers had to drive 20 to 30 infrastructure for the pilot test. In the first
minutes one way for a half-hour meeting,” week of April, the deployment team started
says Jones. “We began to look at ways to rolling out the Office Communicator 2007
present many of those meetings online, client to the pilot group.
which would save the travel time and costs.”
The district could use the same solution to All of the pilot users except the teachers are
make professional development opportuni- equipped with the Polycom CX200 desktop
ties more available and convenient for more phone, which includes Office Communicator
teachers. 2007 and easily connects to a PC through a
USB port. The VoIP device doesn’t have a dial
“We obviously needed more than just a pad; instead, users click a contact name in
phone system; we needed a complete, the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003
unified communications system that included messaging and collaboration client to dial a
voice, e-mail, and conferencing,” says Jones. number. When technicians set up the users’
“I priced out a few turnkey VoIP hardware phones, they presented a 15-minute tutorial
solutions, but most of those met only some of to each individual on how to use the phone.
our needs.” Users also received the Office Communicator
2007 reference materials from the Microsoft
Jones then talked to Microsoft and Microsoft TechNet Web site for quick tips on how to use
Gold Certified Partner Enabling Technologies various features.
about a unified communications solution. The
school district engaged Enabling Technolo- “It took a little while for employees to get
gies because of this partner’s broad expertise used to going to their computer to dial a
in integrating PBX systems with Exchange phone number, but now they like the fact that
Server and Microsoft Office Communications they can just type somebody’s name and it
Server 2007. “We decided to go with the automatically pulls from their Office Outlook
Microsoft unified communications solution address book and dials the number,” Jones
that includes Microsoft Office Communica- notes.
tions Server 2007, Office Communicator
2007, and Exchange Server 2007 with The teachers who are involved in the pilot are
Unified Messaging, because that solution met using USB headsets connected to their
all of our requirements including VoIP, computers. These devices are particularly
conferencing, integrated voice mail and e- useful to the teachers because even when
mail inboxes, instant messaging, and they aren’t wearing the headset, they can still
presence—and at an affordable price,” says hear the phone ring through the external
Jones. speakers connected to their computers.

4. “With Office The pilot users are now able to communicate In the past, the event was held at a high
more efficiently by using the instant school in the district and required that all
Communications Server messaging (IM) and presence features in 1,250 teachers drive to that school, attend
2007 conferencing, we Office Communicator 2007. “We no longer the approximately 20-minute session, and
have to deal with busy signals,” says then drive home. One of the supervisors at
can offer professional Shannon Erickson, No Child Left Behind the school district headquarters suggested
development sessions Instructional Administrator for the Jackson- that presenting the meeting as a Web
Madison County School System. “We can just conference would save a lot of time, hassle,
that teachers can attend glance at Office Communicator 2007 and if and gas, and the superintendent agreed. The
online, in their own the person we want to talk to is available, we superintendent and the rest of the leadership
can call and talk to them.” team will use a Microsoft RoundTable™
classrooms, before or conferencing and collaboration device at the
after school.” Users now not only have voice mail but can central office. RoundTable will provide remote
also access both voice mail and e-mail from attendees with a 360-degree view of the
Chuck Jones, Chief of Technology, Jackson- the same inbox and can easily keep track of conference room, high-quality audio, and
Madison County School System missed calls thanks to Exchange Server 2007 video that follows the conversation from
Unified Messaging. “With Exchange Server speaker to speaker.
2007 Unified Messaging, I know someone
has called—even if they don’t leave a voice Jones and his staff will install Office
message—because the system registers the Communicator 2007 on at least one
call,” says Jones. “I can also call into the computer connected to a projector in each
system, change my appointments over the school. Teachers can then go to the
phone, and have my e-mail read to me.” auditorium or classroom at their own school
to watch the presentation. “The superinten-
The Jackson-Madison County School System dent and the rest of the leadership team will
will continue to test the Microsoft unified be able to field questions from the teachers,
communications solution through August so conferencing with Office Communications
2008 with the initial 250 users. Then, Jones Server 2007 will be a completely interactive
expects to gradually eliminate the PBX experience,” Jones notes.
systems at the school district headquarters
and in the individual schools and to fully roll Benefits
out the solution to a few schools at a time When the Microsoft unified communications
over the next few years. “Eleven of our solution is fully deployed, employees of the
schools are getting completely recabled and Jackson-Madison County School System will
rewired this August, so those are the likely be able to communicate and collaborate
schools where we’ll deploy Office more efficiently and cost-effectively. The
Communications Server 2007 first,” Jones district will be able to expand professional
explains. “Ultimately, we would like to see development opportunities for faculty and
every teacher have the Office Communicator administrators. The district also expects to
2007 client on their computer.” reduce phone service costs by 66 percent
and to save hundreds of hours of travel time
In early August 2008, the school district will and thousands of dollars in travel expense.
test the viability of using Office
Communications Server 2007 Web Improved District-wide Communications
conferencing for the school district When the Jackson-Madison County School
superintendent’s annual presentation to the System deploys Office Communications
faculty, which kicks off the new school year. Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007,

5. and Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Expanded Professional Development
Messaging, it will have a leading-edge, Opportunities
centralized, unified communications solution The Office Communications Server 2007
that includes VoIP, Web conferencing, conferencing capabilities will help the
presence, and instant messaging. It will also Jackson-Madison County School System to
have voice mail and e-mail available through offer more opportunities for professional
the same inbox, which employees can access development and more targeted sessions for
by phone or computer. This will help to specific groups, such as first-year teachers. It
improve communications within the district will also support presenting sessions to large
office, between the district office and the groups in multiple locations to introduce a
schools, and between teachers and parents. new general initiative or technology.
It will also provide all of the district’s schools
with consistent communications capabilities, Professional development is a critical need
which will help to minimize training, support, for the district, but the time and cost required
and administration costs. to hold these events in a single, physical
location required that the sessions be
“Teachers and principals often move to directed to the broadest group of teachers
different schools within the district. By using possible. As a result, more experienced
an Office Communications Server 2007 VoIP teachers didn’t benefit as much because they
phone system in all the schools, they won’t had already participated in many of the
have to learn a new system every time they sessions several times. “With Office
change jobs,” says Jones. “It also means that Communications Server 2007 conferencing,
we have one phone system to support and we can offer professional development
maintain, instead of 28 separate systems.” sessions that teachers can attend online, in
their own classrooms, before or after school,”
Reduced Phone Service Costs by 66 says Jones. “And they can communicate in
Percent real time with the presenter to ask or answer
When the district finishes replacing its PBX questions as if they were in the same room.”
systems with Office Communications Server Because the expense is minimal for Web
2007 and Office Communicator 2007, it will conferences, the district can offer more
be able to reduce the number of standard sessions and tailor them to more specific
telephone lines it uses from 320 to 90, needs.
resulting in a projected $50,000, or 66
percent, annual reduction in service costs. At Saved Travel Time and Expense
the same time, the district will be able to The conferencing capabilities in Office
provide each teacher with a phone for as little Communications Server 2007 will also save
as the cost of a headset and a software travel time and expense on many short,
license. “The ability to use hardware devices routine meetings attended by teachers and
for the administrative offices and soft phones administrators. For example, delivering the
on the teachers’ computers will help to keep school district superintendent’s annual
costs down,” Jones notes. “But the real school year kick-off presentation by using the
benefit of going to an Office Communications Web conferencing capability in Office
Server 2007 VoIP system is that we save Communications Server 2007 will save an
those costs while significantly enhancing average of 40 minutes of travel time per
communications capabilities for the district’s teacher. This adds up significantly when
faculty and administrators.” multiplied by 1,250 teachers. It also is
projected to save $3,750 in mileage costs for

6. For More Information just one meeting. The district expects to Microsoft Office System
For more information about Microsoft achieve similar savings on a smaller scale The Microsoft Office system is the business
products and services, call the Microsoft throughout the year by virtualizing an average world’s chosen environment for information
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- of 25 meetings that are attended by smaller work, providing the programs, servers, and
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft groups of teachers. services that help you succeed by
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- transforming information into impact.
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of- “While the cost savings are very important,
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone the real benefit of the Microsoft unified For more information about the Microsoft
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in communications solution is the time that Office system, go to:
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in teachers save that they can devote to www.microsoft.com/office
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and enhancing their lesson plans, working on
Canada, please contact your local professional development, and providing
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information extra help to students,” says Nancy Zambito,
by using the World Wide Web, go to: Ed.D., Superintendent of the Jackson-
www.microsoft.com Madison County School System.
For more information about Enabling
Technologies products and services, call
(800) 923-4310 or visit the Web site at:
www.enablingtechcorp.com
For more information about the Jackson-
Madison County School System, visit the
Web site at:
www.jmcss.net
Software and Services Hardware
Microsoft Office Dell PowerEdge 2950 server computers
− Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007 Partners
− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Enabling Technologies
− Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published June 2008