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Telecommunications at Central Connecticut State University Laurie Napierski, Assistant Director, Telecommunications Voice Systems Analyst |
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Voice telecommunications has evolved considerably
since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. Likewise,
telephone service at Central Connecticut State University has evolved
considerably since the installation of a private telephone switch (a
system for connecting calls) in 1993. Prior to 1993, telephone service
was provided by Southern New England Telephone Company. Many faculty
and staff shared rotary dial telephones, which were in use until 1990
when they were replaced with push button telephones. Voice mail did not
exist, and, if fortunate, some departments may have had an answering
machine. The Student Center had a row of pay phones in old wooden
booths which were in constant use. In 1992, the Connecticut State University System received funds to install a state-of-the-art voice telecommunications system for the four state universities and its System Office. At the time of installation, this network was the eighth largest in the state. This was a significant turning point as we essentially became our own telephone company. The telephone switch was installed at |
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CCSU in 1993, and the students were the first to use
it. Telephone service was provided to each room in the residence
halls. The cost for this service was subsumed in the residence hall
fee. In 1994, faculty and staff push-button telephones sets were replaced with new, modern models. No longer needing to share, each full-time faculty and staff member was assigned their own telephone set, telephone number and voice mailbox. We grew from a few hundred telephone lines to over 4,700 active lines and over 2,800 voice mailboxes. Now operating our own telephone company, we are responsible for all telephone operations. Our focus now is to provide excellent customer service and support for voice telecommunications with faster turnaround of work orders and quicker resolution of problems. The Telecommunications Office, a division of Information Technology Services, is also responsible for managing the voice mail system, coordinating cellular services (including BlackBerrys), providing conference calling services, issuing calling cards and coordinating the publication of the campus telephone directory. The most critical function is maintaining the E-911 database so call origination location is properly displayed for emergency personnel. You may also have noticed the 80 blue emergency telephones scattered around the campus. These emergency phones, as well as the 250 courtesy phones located throughout the buildings, provide security for all University personnel, students, and visitors. Most recently, the Telecommunications Office set up a voice mailbox for the University’s neighborhood telephone hotline for reporting neighborhood and campus issues. Additionally, our telephone switch is also used by another neighbor, Charter Oak State College. What will the future bring? With the proliferation of cellular phones, gone are the wooden booths in the Student Center. But we can look forward to new technologies such as unified messaging, where one can read voice mail messages on a computer and listen to e-mail messages on the telephone. We are CCSU. “Can you hear us NOW?”
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