Telephone Service Upgrade Project

There has been a dramatic shift in how — and where — we work since the university’s current telephone system was installed in 1984. Failure to our current telephone system could mean losing the platform that supports all campus business, call centers, and emergency calling. Moreover, the pandemic has exemplified the need and direction for this change.

The university’s new telephone service will add the ability to make telephone calls from the Zoom application using Zoom Phone, using your existing U-M phone number.

Zoom Phone is a softphone service, which allows you to place and receive calls over the internet via a computer, smartphone, or voice over IP (VoIP)-enabled deskset. This means…

• You’ll be able to use your U-M telephone number wherever you may be, without the restriction of sitting at a desk with a physical telephone.
• You’ll no longer need to use or share your personal cell phone number for work purposes.
• This effort will also allow a significant reduction in the number of desksets used across our campus, reducing electronic waste and supporting the university’s sustainability goals.
• Read additional softphone benefits and features

The U-M Zoom Phone service will be available to the UM-Ann Arbor, UM-Dearborn, and UM-Flint campuses. The scope of this project does not include Michigan Medicine or the Med School, except for departments that have phone lines supported by ITS.

Project Timeline

ITS continues working with Unit Ambassadors and SRS submitters to transition their telephone numbers to U-M Zoom Phone. Each unit is completing submissions in the Telephone Upgrade Request Form, which is necessary for the upgrade.

Weekly batches of phone numbers requesting softphone-only and softphone first, deskset later continue to be transitioned. ITS collaborates with departments to clarify requirements for more complicated scenarios, such as shared line groups or multi-line sets.

Building by building deliveries of desksets and conference phones begin in June 2023:

• Prioritization is as follows:

1. Buildings that have only VoIP services (Cisco).

2. Buildings that have a mixture of VoIP and analog services.

3. Buildings that have only analog services.

• UM-Flint will transition first to retire end-of-life hardware, followed by UM-Dearborn. Both campuses have only VoIP services.

• Buildings on the UM-Ann Arbor campus will start transitioning in Fall 2023.

• A schedule will be posted and maintained on the project site.

The full transition from an on-premise telephone system to a cloud-based service includes 28,000 telephone lines across all three U-M campuses.

Background

In 2019, ITS proposed a $4.1M capital project approved by Executive Officers to replace the end-of-life, analog telephone system that enables inbound/outbound calls for the campus community. In Fall 2020, ITS sent out a request for proposals for a telephone service upgrade to provide a softphone application for the University of Michigan. The university received positive feedback from two proof of concepts (POC) that helped to determine the technologies needed to meet the university’s requirements, which include:

• Provide softphone telephone service via laptops, cellular phones, or desksets.
• Provide telephone service.
• Ensure the availability of connections for emergency telephones.
• Avoid investment in on-premise (redundant) equipment.
• Transition from a hardware-based service to a software-based solution.
• Deliver high-quality conference calls.
• Provide a public-facing U-M business number, minimizing the need to share personal cell phone numbers.

Moving to a vendor-based system also allows U-M to minimize back-end infrastructure purchases, reduces the complexity of the current telephone environment, and allows the U-M telephone costs to change as the footprint and adoption change gradually over time.