Nortel reportedly said that higher education institutions in Maryland are relying on its innovative and cost-effective solutions to foster student success.

 

The company’s solutions support the increasingly complex, everyday demands placed on the school’s communications systems as they strive to educate and train the 21st century workforce, according to the company. In addition, the solutions are ensuring academic sustainability in the event of an emergency.

 

A two-year post-secondary school with approximately 40,000 students Prince George’s Community College is using mobility and data technology from Nortel (News - Alert). The Nortel’s mobility solution offers students and faculty the “freedom” to communicate outside of the traditional classroom walls.

 

Additionally, the energy-efficient network supports 5,000 data ports and all of the college’s communications needs such as building security, video surveillance, electronic door entry and, energy management.

 

Meanwhile, construction is underway on a new Center for Health Studies. This facility is expected to house the PGCC data center and emergency command hub that will provide ongoing access to the college’s Web site, employee email system, and active directory even during an emergency scenario.

 

“We worked with our local supplier Presidio to choose a Nortel solution because it was the most-cost effective option for meeting our current needs while providing a foundation to roll out even more advanced learning technologies such as lecture capture, streaming video, video on demand, video-based distance learning and closed caption Web video,” said Joseph Rossmeier, vice president for technology services at PGCC, in a statement.

 

University of Baltimore is another Nortel customer, and like PGCC, it tapped Nortel channel partner Presidio to deploy their advanced communications network. UB has deployed an IP-based Nortel call server and integrated it with contact center in order to improve call agent responsiveness.

 

UB said that the result has been more effective routing of calls and greater satisfaction among users, which range from students and prospects to faculty, parents, even suppliers. There are plans for integration of solutions such as interactive voice response and contact recording and quality monitoring in the future.

 

Additionally, the university is also deploying a Nortel unified communications solution, allowing its staff to leverage presence and other collaboration tools so that they can remain productive if they have to work away from the campus. Plus, UB plans to leverage Nortel’s Notification Suite to automatically alert students, faculty and staff via email, SMS, or voice if a critical event occurs.

 

“Responsiveness to students is the primary focus at UB and Nortel helps us achieve that," said Judith Wood, chief information officer at UB, in a statement. “Nortel’s solution empowers our faculty and staff to be as productive as possible while driving down total cost of ownership.”

“With Nortel’s solutions, colleges and universities can enable students to learn from any place at any time while realizing valuable cost savings,” Net Payne (News - Alert), vice president for global services and solutions marketing at Nortel, in a statement.