Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging

1. Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
University Reduces Costs and Creates New
Opportunities with Unified Communications
Overview “We can cut back on travel expenses by at least 25
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Education—Higher education
percent ... after we deploy additional RoundTable
institutions devices and when employees take full advantage of
Customer Profile
Office Live Meeting.”
Mercer University educates 7,300 students Shane Milam, Director of System Networks, Mercer University
in 11 disciplines such as law and
medicine, at six campuses across the state Mercer University wanted to provide faculty and staff with up-to-
of Georgia. In 2007, the school earned
U.S.$160 million in operating revenue. date communication and collaboration tools. The university’s e-
mail, voice-mail, and calendaring applications were difficult to use,
Business Situation
The university wanted to replace its e-mail, lacked functionality, or were at the end of their life cycles. Mercer
voice-mail, and calendaring systems. also wanted to provide for more large-group Web conferences, and
Mercer was also interested in deploying a
full-featured voice over IP (VoIP) and Web- give employees access to voice over IP (VoIP) telephony and Web
conferencing solution. conferencing from their workstations. In 2007, Mercer decided to
Solution deploy a unified communications solution built on Microsoft®
A unified communications solution built on Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications
Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 and
Microsoft Office Communications Server Server 2007. With it, employees can access instant messaging,
2007 delivers integrated e-mail, voice mail, VoIP telephony, Web conferencing, and a unified inbox for e-mail,
VoIP, and Web conferencing.
voice mail, and faxes. In addition, the unified communications
Benefits solution will help Mercer to cut costs and provide for greater levels
Improved collaboration
Facilitated online learning of collaboration, online learning, and mobility.
Reduced costs
Provided for greater mobility

2. “The software client Situation make and receive voice over IP (VoIP) calls
Mercer University is ranked among the top 10 from their workstations. Still, the university
from Microsoft was percent of all universities in North America by wanted to keep its existing Private Branch
much more refined than The Princeton Review. Founded in 1833, Exchange (PBX) systems. “Because our PBX
Mercer has 1,300 employees who support 11 infrastructure works really well and is not at
the one from Cisco. The schools and colleges offering studies in fields the end of its life, we were interested in
unified communications including liberal arts, business, engineering, slowly replacing our voice infrastructure with
theology, and music. The university’s 7,300 a VoIP product,” explains Milam.
solution from Microsoft students attend classes at three main
also cost between 35 to campuses in Macon, Atlanta, and Savannah, Mercer also wanted to give employees access
and at three satellite campuses—all located to Web conferencing from their workstations.
40 percent less than the in Georgia. Last year, Mercer garnered Some employees frequently travel between
solution from Cisco.” U.S.$160 million in operating revenue. campuses to teach classes or to meet with
other employees or students. Employees
Shane Milam, Director of System Networks, In 2007, the university’s employees lacked routinely spent between 20 minutes and 3
Mercer University the tools needed to collaborate effectively hours to reach other university sites. Along
together or with students. “Our e-mail ran on with the cost of gas, Mercer reimbursed staff
PMDF, which was very simplistic and didn’t 50 cents for every mile driven. Not only was
function very well,” explains Shane Milam, the frequent travel disruptive to workflow, but
Director of System Networks for Mercer also instructors had to deliver the same class
University. “The Web-mail interface was to students at multiple locations, which could
archaic, and people just absolutely hated be extremely repetitive. To help minimize
using it. In fact, one of our biggest complaints travel, Mercer is implementing a video-
from users was that interface,” he says. As a conference facility in Macon. However, the
result, employees who frequently traveled video-conference system costs $100,000,
between sites or who worked from home did which makes it expensive to duplicate in
not always check e-mail. other locations.
The system’s OnTime calendaring application Solution
also created issues and was at the end of its The university spent several months
useful lifecycle. “The calendar service was evaluating numerous e-mail, voice-mail, VoIP,
underused,” explains Milam. “It was prone to and Web-conferencing solutions. Only
corruption and crashes. To set up a meeting, Microsoft could provide all of the functionality
people had to send an e-mail message to the the university sought in a tightly integrated
participants and include options for a solution that was also affordable. With this
meeting time and then wait for a response. solution, users could manage e-mail, voice
This constantly caused problems with mail, and faxes from their e-mail inboxes.
collaboration and delayed scheduling.” From their workstations, users could access
VoIP telephony, Web conferencing, IM, and
To help boost operational and employee presence technology—which gives instant
efficiency, the university wanted to upgrade insight into other employees’ availability,
some of its other communication preferred method of contact, and phone
technologies. The Nortel Meridian Mail voice- numbers.
mail system was at the end of its useful
lifecycle and needed to be replaced. The Commenting on the differences between the
university also wanted to provide employees solution from Microsoft and the university’s
with instant messaging (IM) and the ability to second choice—a system from Cisco—Milam

3. says, “The software client from Microsoft was Security for Exchange Server—part of the
much more refined than the one from Cisco. Enterprise CAL Suite—to supplement the
The unified communications solution from university’s Cisco IronPort e-mail filtering
Microsoft also cost between 35 and 40 appliance.
percent less than the solution from Cisco.”
Next, eight team members began to migrate
The solution from Microsoft was less employees from PMDF to Exchange Server
expensive for several reasons. Rather than 2007. To provide each user with access to e-
deploy separate infrastructures to support mail, an IT employee installed the Microsoft
multiple components, the university could Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and
implement a single infrastructure for the collaboration client on the user’s workstation
unified communications solution from and migrated the user’s mailbox to Exchange
Microsoft. Mercer could also acquire the Server 2007. This process was initially done
solution’s core programs—Microsoft® manually, but recently the university deployed
Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Transend Migrator, which automates and
Communications Server 2007—as part of the accelerates the migration process.
Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) Suite.
By doing so, the university would gain 10 Meanwhile, three consultants from Enabling
other collaboration and security products, Technologies installed Office
without spending additional money. Communications Server 2007 on the systems
that run Exchange Server 2007. To facilitate
In November 2007, Mercer engaged communication between the Nortel Meridian
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Enabling 1 Option 81c PBX system and Office
Technologies Corp. to create an architecture Communications Server 2007 so that the
and implementation plan for the unified PBX and VoIP solutions can coexist, the
communications solution. While Mercer consultants deployed an AudioCodes Mediant
would manage the deployment of messaging, 1000 gateway. After the infrastructure was in
Enabling would manage the deployment of place, the consultants rolled out the unified
VoIP, Web conferencing, and IM. communications solution to 250 users—who
also had access to Exchange Server. The
In February 2008, a team of 10 Mercer IT consultants installed Microsoft Office
employees installed nine Dell PowerEdge Communicator 2007 and Microsoft Office
2950 server computers and one Dell Live Meeting on the users’ workstations.
PowerEdge SC1425 server computer that Users can either conduct calls directly from
runs the Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise their desktops with Office Communicator
Edition operating system at the data center in 2007, or they can use an IP phone device
Macon. Next, the team installed Microsoft such as the LG-Nortel Bluetooth Headset
Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition and 8502 or the LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540.
Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 data
management software on the server To provide for Web conferencing with larger
computers. To facilitate high availability for groups, Enabling consultants deployed one
the messaging system, the employees took Microsoft RoundTable™ conferencing and
advantage of cluster continuous replication in collaboration device in a meeting room at the
Exchange Server, which maintains a real-time Macon campus. The device provides for an
copy of the e-mail database. The team also enriched Web-conferencing experience by
deployed an antispam and antispyware capturing a 360-degree view of the meeting
solution built on Microsoft Forefront™ room and individual images of participants.

4. “We are excited about Five hundred employees use the new using Web conferencing to conduct classes
messaging solution supported by Exchange over the Internet,” explains Milam. “They are
having the ability to Server 2007, and Mercer expects to also interested in recording classes and
conduct impromptu complete the deployment to all employees by posting them on a Web site so that students
October 1, 2008. The university will also can watch a class at any time in passive
video conferences. The continue to roll out much of the unified mode.”
RoundTable device is a communications solution and hopes to
deploy numerous RoundTable devices to The university’s Learning Technologies Center
perfect alternative to our expand the number of Web-enabled (LTC) also plans to use Web conferences to
traditional video- conference facilities at its campuses. educate employees and students about IT
technologies used on campuses. “LTC does a
conference facility Benefits lot of training for single users and small
because we can deploy With the university’s new unified groups at the different campuses,” says
communications solution, employees can Milam. “So rather than traveling, LTC can put
it for a fraction of the more easily communicate, schedule the class on here at Macon and then a group
cost.” meetings, and access their communication at another campus can participate online.”
and collaboration tools from remote
Shane Milam, Director of System Networks, locations. Mercer can also save money and Reduced Costs
Mercer University provide for new opportunities in online The ability to conduct Web conferencing will
learning. save money. Milam explains, “We can cut
back on travel expenses by at least 25
Improved Collaboration percent—or roughly $250,000 annually—after
Employees can now choose from a variety of we deploy additional RoundTable devices and
tools to better communicate with students when employees are taking full advantage of
and coworkers. The new solution provides the Office Live Meeting.”
option of having a unified inbox that helps
people stay in closer contact. Employees can The university also expects to save money by
also initiate or join a Web conference from using VoIP telephony instead of continuing to
their workstations or from a location that has build on its PBX infrastructure. “We recently
a RoundTable device. “We are excited about bought a building in Atlanta,” says Milam.
having the ability to conduct impromptu video “We have data service going to it, but we
conferences,” says Milam. “The RoundTable don’t have phone service. So instead of
device is a perfect alternative to our subscribing to a T1 communications line, I
traditional video-conference facility because can deploy VoIP phone service to it, which
we can deploy it for a fraction of the cost.” means I avoid spending $300 a month for
another T1 subscription.”
Employees also find it easier to schedule
meetings. “We finally have true groupware Provided for Greater Mobility
functionality,” says Milam. “This may not Unlike the previous Web-mail interface which
seem like a big deal, but it is for us because was difficult to use, the new system provides
of the system we had before. Exchange for easy access to e-mail from most Internet-
Server 2007 provides a calendaring tool that enabled computers. “Microsoft Office Outlook
faculty and staff actually want to use.” Web Access gives users a current, full-
featured mobile interface to their e-mail and
Facilitated Online Learning calendar infrastructure—which is a big
The university plans to create new learning change from our previous solution,” notes
options. “Many departments are interested in Milam.

5. For More Information Employees can also make and receive calls Microsoft Office System
For more information about Microsoft from their workstations by using their Internet The Microsoft Office system is the business
products and services, call the Microsoft access and Office Communicator 2007. “I world’s chosen environment for information
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- can walk into a coffee shop, log on to the work, providing the programs, servers, and
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft campus network, and then I can make and services that help you succeed by
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- receive calls,” explains Milam. “No one knows transforming information into impact.
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of- I’m not in my office. We have tried this from a
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone number of different locations and with For more information about the Microsoft
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in several Internet providers—and the quality of Office system, go to:
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in service was very good. It’s nice to have the www.microsoft.com/office
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and option of carrying your phone extension with
Canada, please contact your local you to different places, including your home.”
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
by using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about Enabling
Technologies Corp. products and services,
call (800) 923-4310 or visit the Web site
at:
www.enablingtechcorp.com
For more information about Mercer
University products and services, call (478)
301-2700 or visit the Web site at:
www.mercer.edu
Software and Services Microsoft Enterprise Client Access License
Microsoft Office Suite
− Microsoft Office Communications Technologies
Server 2007 − Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access
− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007
− Microsoft Office Live Meeting Hardware
− Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Dell PowerEdge 2950 server computer
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio Dell PowerEdge SC1425 server computer
− Windows Server 2003 Enterprise LG-Nortel Bluetooth Headset 8502
Edition LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540
− Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft RoundTable
Enterprise Edition
− Microsoft Forefront Security for Partners
Exchange Server Enabling Technologies Corp.
− Microsoft SQL Server 2005
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published June 2008