Siemens and CSM Deliver Money-Saving VoIP System to the City of Gulfport
Share:
Open Communications Solution Delivers New Features, Cost Savings
BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 28 -- The City of Gulfport, Florida, strives to foster a positive quality of life for its nearly 13,000 residents, but the aging communications system in city buildings was negatively impacting the service it provided to citizens. Knowing that it needed to upgrade its 10-year old Centrex system, the City of Gulfport decided to work with Siemens Communications, Inc. and Communications System Management (CSM) to deploy a new IP-based unified communications system across all of the city offices.
The City of Gulfport needed a more reliable and flexible communications solution, but also hoped to realize some cost savings with a new solution. "In addition to the considerable expense we were facing to upgrade our legacy Centrex system, we were unhappy with the ongoing costs associated with the system," said Sam Rivera, IT Director for the City of Gulfport. "Once we started looking at VoIP solutions, we realized we could get a lot more for our money."
After exploring solutions from a number of vendors, the City of Gulfport decided to deploy a Siemens® HiPath® 3800 IP solution with support from CSM. The solution provided the city with the cost savings it wanted -- projected at about $100,000 over 10 years -- but also offered a rich feature set in an easy to use package.
"Our previous solution was just not working anymore -- even simple changes or moves took weeks to make; for years, the message waiting lights on all of our phones hadn't worked; and simple things like programming frequently called numbers was just not possible," said Rivera. "With our new Siemens system, we're able to do a lot more and even the sound quality of our calls has improved."
Even more important, the city's main city hall and five outlying buildings that house city workers, police, fire department and recreation departments are connected by a single, unified solution with reliable communications between buildings. With the previous system, calls within the City of Gulfport were routed via Tampa, impacting call quality. Now, city employees are all on the same phone and voice mail system so are able to use four-digit dialing to reach co-workers at any location. Employees also have greater control over how their calls are handled, improving responsiveness among employees and with citizens.
Because its new communications system would be used by the City of Gulfport's public safety departments, reliability and high-quality service were also key concerns. CSM was able to deploy the Siemens solution in the timeframe required with minimal impact on city workers. Ongoing maintenance is also provided by CSM, at a lower cost than the city was paying just for its phone lines previously.
"The City of Gulfport just needed a reliable, easy-to-use communications system," said David Littrell, Vice President for CSM. "The Siemens HiPath solution provides all of the features they need and we at CSM are providing the ongoing service they need, all well within their budget."
"Siemens Open Communications architecture will enable the City of Gulfport to enjoy the collaborative, productivity and efficiency benefits of second- generation, IP-based communications, while still using its legacy infrastructure," said Mark Henley, Senior Vice President, Channel Management and Development, Siemens Communications, Inc. "With CSM's expert integration assistance, the city is charting a course for its future that holds endless possibilities for enriching the communications experience for citizens, city officials and staff."
About Communications Systems Management, Inc.
Communications Systems Management, Inc. (CSM) is a leading provider of enterprise communications solutions with expertise in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and data network technologies. CSM's converged business solutions help customers enhance communications, accelerate business processes and improve operational efficiencies through IP-based unified communications. CSM was established in 1984 and is privately-held with headquarters in Tampa, Fla. For more information, visit www.csmflorida.com.
About Siemens
Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $107.4 billion in 2006. Founded 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $21.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com.
About Siemens Communications, Inc.
Siemens Communications, Inc. is an affiliate of Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, one of the world's leading vendors of Open Communications solutions for enterprises of all sizes, enabling business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure -- with any device, network or information technology infrastructure. Siemens Communications Inc., and Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG are wholly owned subsidiaries of Siemens AG with about 15,000 employees globally and headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. For more info, visit http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/home.html.
FCMN Contact: amyp@connectpr.com
Source: Siemens Communications, Inc.
CONTACT: Amy Martin of Siemens Communications, Inc., +1-408-492-2785, amy.martin@siemens.com
Web site: www.usa.siemens.com/
http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/home.html
http://www.csmflorida.com/
