+OneX partners with government department to modernise comms infrastructure

Helping a government department make a seamless switch from legacy telecoms to state of the art IP-based unified communication.

The client

The client is a department of South Africa’s national government. It has more than 1,200 end-users at its head office in Tshwane.

The challenge

The government department wanted to modernise its head office communications infrastructure to cater for voice over IP (VOIP). To that end, it would need to migrate from a legacy analogue PABX to a modern communications platform as well as deploy a local area network that could support both voice and data. Based on its 20-year relationship with +OneX Communications (previously Nashua Communications) as its PABX partner, the government department approached us to help with the project.

The solution

The government department is a longstanding user of the Atos Unify PABX platform. We proposed a solution featuring the Atos Unify OpenScape 4000 Hybrid TDM/IP-PBX for Enterprise Voice as a natural upgrade path. Our Unify certified engineers implemented an OpenScape 4000 Duplex System including four satellite sites and a Deployment Service (DLS) for the government department.

We also worked with the government department to upgrade cabinets to accommodate modern power over ethernet (PoE) switches, deploy Wi-Fi access points throughout the building, and replace old cabling with Category 6 unshielded twisted-pair (Cat 6 UTP) cables. We installed and configured the infrastructure, including setting up separate virtual local area networks (LANs) for voice and data.

Phumelela Ndobo

Business Development Executive for Unified Communications & Collaboration at +OneX

“Modern communications are at the heart of a high-performing public sector organisation. We worked closely with this government department to implement an affordable, yet future-proof, business telephony solution that equips its teams to collaborate more efficiently and ultimately deliver a higher level of service to the public.”

Business value achieved

The Atos Unify OpenScape 4000 solution enabled the client to bridge the gap from legacy telephony to IP-based unified communications. Legacy and IP comms can reside side-by-side in the same enterprise on the same platform. This enabled the department to cut over to a modern unified communications solution in a seamless, orderly fashion with no changes to billing for telephony services.

With the new platform in place, the government department has consolidated its voice and data LAN onto a single Cat 6 UTP network. This enables it to reduce the costs of maintaining and managing infrastructure. It has also deployed Wi-Fi access points to give end-users more flexibility and reduce the need for physical cables. Teams at the government department can collaborate and communicate with each other seamlessly and securely across a common platform, wherever they have access to the internet.

RSA Government Department representative

“Apart from the technical aspects of this project, +OneX also played an instrumental role in user adoption, training and change management. The +OneX team drove a train-the-trainer programme, which equipped some of our senior users to train their colleagues in the new technology and business processes. This has helped our people to get the most from the new communications solution, as well as to enjoy using it.”