[CCoE Notice] Update on new telephone system deployment

[Charles John Young Jr.]

We have now learned some additional information about the new 
voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone system being deployed in the College.

1. In Engineering 1 and 2, the network connections associated with 
telephones are being specifically programmed to support the VoIP 
equipment.  This means that telephones cannot be connected to any arbitrary 
network jack and still function correctly.  We are working with UH 
Information Technology to mark those network drops that are 
telephone-enabled.  In the mean time, DO NOT MOVE TELEPHONE NETWORK 
CONNECTIONS WITHOUT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FROM ENGINEERING COMPUTING.

2. The VoIP telephones and the computers connected to them are on a 
private, internal network which can communicate with the greater Internet 
normally.  However, to communicate with a computer connected to the 
telephone network from off-campus, you will now need to use the "virtual
private network" (VPN) to first access the campus network.

3. Last night, most of the telephones on the 4th floor of Engineering 2 
were converted to the new system.  It remains to be seen if they are 
actually working.

I will try to keep the College apprised of the status of this conversion as 
it unfolds.

John Young
Engineering Computing