Microsoft UK Education

Sure enough its there, even though, with over 3500 academic and administrative staff. An additional 1500 as well work in 14 National and Regional Centres across the UK. It's clear that efficient communication between these people, and beyond, is vital if the level of service to the university's quarter of a million students is to be maintained.

It shouldn't be surprising, at the time, that when the OU IT Infrastructure Team looked to update the university's internal communications, they decided to take a leap beyond a straight like-for-like replacement of the existing phone system. Instead, they went for a 21st Century solution in the form of Microsoft Lync Server 2010, which offers fully interactive integrated communications, including voice, instant messaging, conferencing, meetings and shared desktops, all from a single interface.

With the University's current PABX system up for renewal or replacement at the end of 2012, there were some clear options. One was to take an upgraded version of what was already in place. Another was to look at integrated communications systems from Microsoft, and others. Nevertheless, for Adrian Wells, the OU's Assistant Director of IT Infrastructure, the decision to go with Lync wasn't difficult. Not only would the system provide the right kind of integrated support for the OU's project teams, it would as well, says Adrian, be substantially more cost effective.

The key lies in the ease

The key lies in the ease, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of installing and running Lync as compared with either updating the existing system or changing to a competing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) provider.

"We're a mainly Windows-based organisation, so the software was included in our Campus Agreement. And Lync offers strong integration with our MS Office 2010 platform, SharePoint and Windows desktop, after a fashion that another system wouldn't."

The story began with a trial in 2009 of Lync's predecessor, Office Communications Server, as a possible replacement for the existing phone system, which was coming to the end of its life.

Limited furthermore roll out of OCS

Spring 2010 saw a limited furthermore roll out of OCS, however Adrian and the team knew that Lync, with increased functionality, was on its way. So to put it more exactly than face two major changes, it was decided to wait for Lync, and roll it out while 2011, beginning with Instant Messaging and "Presence" and moving to full enterprise telephony for the whole campus and national and regional centres. The aim is to have the existing telephone system completely replaced by early 2012.

A roll-out of this nature is a management challenge. It's often a matter of finding a balance between bringing keen early adopters on board on the one hand, and working methodically through the structure of the organisation on the other. It's a fine judgement for an IT leader to make, requiring deep understanding of the institution and its people as so then as mastery of the innovation.