Novartis telecom director: VoIP is the cure for all ills

Network World
June 02, 2003 12:10 AM ET

Pharmaceutical company Novartis recently took the plunge and installed about 600 IP phones at a new research facility in East Hanover, N.J., and about 400 in a new facility in Cambridge, Mass., linking the systems using part of an OC-12 that runs between them. Director of Telecommunications Marc Shipman spoke withSenior Editor Tim Greene about integrating voice over IP with the old PBX system, planning and executing the project, and lessons learned.

Why voice over IP?

Being the more intelligent phone, we saw some of the advantages first on Sept. 11. The phone is able to send to our security group the office location where that call is coming from. Secondly, because the phone essentially is a Web browser with an eight-line display on it, we can now use it to drive applications. We wanted to position ourselves for future technologies and leverage those technologies in all areas of the business.

So the idea is that we didn’t see a long-term future in the current telephone technologies. We felt the voice-over-IP products that were offered were mature enough. At that point we did an evaluation among several vendors to choose one primary strategic vendor. . . . We picked Cisco. Primary evaluation was between Cisco and Avaya.

Was cost a driver?

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No, not really. VoIP was what we believe was slightly less. We felt the long-term cost savings existed. We’re starting to see some small benefits to our moves, adds and changes. Anytime a user moves you don’t have to have somebody come and pick up their PC and plug it into the data network, and then someone else come and move their phone. Now the same person who is moving the PC is taking the phone with them.

Do you get any new phone functionality?

We have three new applications. First it’s the corporate phone directory. You can walk up to the phone, type in a person’s name, and that name will come up with the phone number. All you have to do is hit the dial button. Next we have a world clock. Because we’re a global organization, you can go up to the phone and ask “What time is it?” in corporate headquarters in Basel [Switzerland] or in Japan or in our U.K. location. People struggle with the time difference between here and there and the U.K. The last thing we did, and it’s kind of along the lines of nice-to-have, is you can get the weather. You go up to the phone, type in a Zip Code and it will give you the current weather and the forecast on the phone.

We wanted to have easy-to-use applications that would generate some thought on the part of the end users to say, “Hey, can I do this or do that with the phone going forward?”

Do you use call center or conferencing features?

Not yet. I was hesitant to add new technologies to our call center until we were able to do proper research. I think it’s a natural progression once we feel comfortable with the overall technology.

You will still have traditional PBXs at other facilities?

Yes. Back in East Hanover [in older facilities] we have a mix of Cisco [VoIP] in our research building and sprinkled in other buildings, but it’s primarily a legacy Avaya telephone system.