UC Irvine CPG Campus Report
Network and Academic Computing Services (NACS)
Summary: The Communications Planning Group (CPG) is a group of network and telecom managers from each of the UC campuses. We meet quarterly to discuss relevant issues and to share what we are doing in network and telecommunications at each campus.
June 28, 2005
Network/Telecommunications
VOIP Update
- The Cisco IP phones installed in Calit2 have been well received by the users. There are some feature interoperability issues with the Ericsson PBX and the voice mail system, but the users do not seem to be too concerned. NACS is debating if all new buildings should get IP phones.
- NACS has installed a SIP gateway on our PBX provided by SIPPhone (www.sipphone.com) and calls to UCSD and UCSC are currently being routed through the SIP gateway with no usage costs.
- There have been a few inquiries from NACS clients about using Internet phone services such as Vonage and Skype to reduce their long distance usage costs. NACS is researching and evaluating a number of these services so we are more informed when asked by our clients.
- NACS is planning to evaluate low-end Cisco IP phones as more cost-effective replacements for analog phones.
- NACS is planning to evaluate Cisco WiFi IP phones and to determine any enhancements that will need to be made to our WiFi infrastructure.
- NACS is planning to research the feasibility of dual-mode WiFi/Cellular IP phones as an alternative or compliment to wired IP phones.
Natural Sciences 2 Building
- NACS is finalizing planning for the Natural Science Unit 2 building scheduled for completion August 2005. This building will house programs from Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Biomedical Engineering. NACS is planning the network infrastructure to support IP phones, and is currently having discussions with the future tenants to get there perspective on the pros and cons of going with IP phones in this building. So far the users seem to be in favor of IP phones in this building.
Wireless Networking
NACS continues to incrementally add wireless capacity this year. We have multiple requests for wireless installations in the project queue. For more information, visit the wireless networking web page at: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/.
Faculty and staff wishing to enable their campus guests to use UCI's wireless network can now do so easily. The host can register up to 25 guests at a time, assigning an expiration date 1 day, 7 days, or 28 days in the future.
NACS is looking to develop more effective ways to register and authenticate authorized and guest users of our wireless network.
NACS is researching commercially available solutions for wireless network security and management.
UCInet Backbone Upgrade
NACS continues to make progress on the backbone upgrade. The border router and the four core sites have been upgraded. The core has been upgraded from 1 gigabit Ethernet on Cisco 5509/8510s to 10 gigabit Ethernet on Cisco 6500s. Most of the layer 2 building distribution switches are currently being upgraded to Cisco 3750 layer 3 switches. The upgrade does not include the edge or access layer equipment or cabling.
Next fiscal year, NACS plans to install a new collapsed distribution layer (CDL) at each of our core sites. The CDL is a layer three switch at each core site connected directly to the core. The CDL provides connectivity for servers located at the core sites, and for layer 2 distribution switches out in the network.
Network and VOIP Planning
NACS is in the process of developing a "network infrastructure upgrade plan" that will present a summary of the current state of the UCI network, discuss where the issues and opportunities are, and propose a plan to implement the appropriate upgrades over time. A description of current NACS provided IP phone service and our VOIP migration strategy can be found at http://www.nacs.uci.edu/telephone/voip.html
Voice Mail Upgrade
In Fiscal year 2005/2006, NACS is planning to replace the existing Unysis/Pulse Point (formerly Digital Sound) voice mail system with a new system capable of supporting unified messaging. We are monitoring developments at UCSD and UCB. We are also looking for speech-enabled, automated attendant, directory information functionality to augment our human telephone information operator staff.
800Mhz Radio System Upgrade
NACS is upgrading the central site controller for our Motorola 800Mhz campus radio system from a model 6809 to a model MTC 3600. This will allow us to extend the useful life of our radio system and our analog radios. For more information, contact Brian Chrisman, NACS Radio System Specialist, at 949-824-8151, or bchrisma@uci.edu.
Cisco Cost Comparison
NACS is informally comparing the cost of Cisco equipment with the cost of equipment from a couple of Cisco’s primary competitors. NACS wants to be sure that Cisco equipment remains competitively priced and continues to provide good value relative to the competition.
