Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Wed, July 14, 2010
Network Equipment Technologies Enables the Greater Amman Municipality to Integrate Microsoft OCS Into Existing Telephony System
FREMONT, CA--(Marketwire - July 14, 2010) - Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. ("NET") (
The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is responsible for delivering public services to a largely urban community in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and is committed to playing an active role in helping Jordan become an information and communications technology hub for the region. GAM wanted to help reduce travel costs and lower phone charges within an organization serving 4 million people. After performing pilots with other solutions, the municipal authority switched to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for unified communications. Initial trials demonstrated an estimated savings of 45% on travel and 35% on telephony, as well as productivity gains by senior managers from instant messaging and video conferencing.
The Mayor of Greater Amman, H.E. Omar Maani, leads an organization of 22,000 employees -- including a highly experienced senior management team -- working from 130 separate sites. The authority's business needs are mostly focused on supporting the delivery of front-line services to citizens. Given pressures on public spending in the current global economic climate, Mayor Maani and his executive team were concerned at the rising travel budget for staff and the growing burden of communications costs. The authority as a whole is highly dispersed and public expectations for service delivery have been rising in line with directives from central government.
Sakher Al Khreisha, IT Executive Director, Greater Amman Municipality, said, "Previously, our senior managers were obliged to travel for face-to-face meetings by car through congested traffic because there was no alternative. Internal communication was by phone and paper, using fax machines and letters. External communication was expensive and time consuming and video conferencing was not an option." The pilot project showed significant time savings for the senior management team, with video conferences replacing meetings that previously involved directors travelling between locations. In addition, GAM is making a contribution to cutting the carbon footprint of the public sector in Jordan by lowering fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
PAIS, NET and Microsoft worked together to design a solution for GAM using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and NET's VX series that would enhance collaboration between the employees in the head office and branches. "We selected a Microsoft and NET solution because it offered us a lower total cost of ownership, more agility, and improved ease of use compared to other tools available on the market," Khreisha explained. The authority expects that it will eventually use Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to link with 58 government entities once they have the appropriate infrastructure. "Our aim is to extend the solution authority-wide to 2,000 users in 2010, and a further 2,000 in 2011."
PAIS, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a Microsoft Voice Specialized Partner for unified communications, is managing the systems integration work at the authority. Wajeeh Al Mesherky, Chief Executive Officer, PAIS, said, "We handled the first deployment of unified communications in Jordan and have brought our specialized knowledge to the implementation for the municipality, which is the largest in the country so far."
Further, Mohammad Qatarneh, the UC Project Manager, said: "Unified communications will help GAM to streamline information delivery and also allows for easier, more direct collaboration between co-workers, such that human delays are minimized, cost savings for the GAM are achieved and business travel is reduced. Unified communications will simplify and provide integration of all means of communications of GAM to raise the efficiency of the business processes, reduce the response time, and improve business productivity."
"PAIS chose NET's VX series after studying the Greater Amman Municipality's requirements both in the near term and long term, with the understanding of the voice integration with the UC, and also to make sure that the solution is scalable in the future," Said Nauman Afsar, Regional Manager (MENA) for NET. "We are delighted to partner with an industry innovator like PAIS. Working closely with PAIS will extend our joint presence in, and subsequently grow, the unified communications market in the public sector in Jordan."
With the new tools, users can now communicate with instant messaging, voice, and video-conferencing features, and are able to switch seamlessly between different communications channels. When users log off their office networks, calls are automatically delivered to their mobile devices without having to set up manual call forwarding.
The Greater Amman Municipality is expected to experience a significant cut in telephone and travel costs when the solution is fully implemented. By starting with senior managers, there is now complete acceptance from the Mayor's office, which will help with employee adoption. The pilot project -- with 35 users, including the Mayor and his senior management team -- was highly successful and resulted in productivity gains by all senior managers. Mayor Maani commented, "Unified communications is already resulting in a culture change within the authority. With better tools for collaboration, we've improved decision making and service delivery to citizens."
Greater Amman Municipality has pioneered unified communications in the public sector in Jordan.
For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: [ www.microsoft.com/casestudies ]
[ www.net.com ]
[ www.twitter.com/net4uc ]
About Network Equipment Technologies:
Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. (NET) provides network and VoIP solutions to enterprises and government agencies that seek to reduce the cost to deploy next generation unified and secure communications applications. For a quarter of a century, NET has delivered solutions for multi-service networks requiring high degrees of versatility, security and performance. Today, the company's broad family of products enables interoperability and integration with existing networks for migration to secure IP-based communications. NET is headquartered in Fremont, CA and has 14 offices worldwide including the US, the UK, France, the Middle East, China, Japan, Australia, and Latin America. The company sells its solutions through a direct sales force and an international network of resellers and distributors.
