Case Study: College Converges Fixed and Mobile Phones

New College, Durham likes to keep ahead of the curve on technology. It's installing a system that will save money by letting staff use mobile phones to make calls over the college Wi-Fi network. Network managers have steered clear of voice on Wi-Fi so far, because the technology has been untried, the handsets bulky and power-hungry, and implementations have imposed unpopular devices and awkward user interfaces on the user. At the same time, mobile operators have been steering users away from the technology by making better deals for corporate cellphones. New College was in a better position than many to take the plunge, since it already has a well-established converged network, using Cisco's Call Manager VoIP PBX.