Cisco's Own IP Telephony Migration

Cisco Undertakes the Largest IP Telephony Deployment in Industry History
by Cisco Systems
Published 2002; Posted July 2006

Abstract:

In October 2000, an enterprise-wide deployment of IP Telephony began at the San Jose campus and within the next twelve months, 55 buildings and nearly 20,000 users spread out over a two-mile radius were converted. This was the largest deployment of LAN infrastructure and IP Telephony in industry history. The program charter was to implement our own AVVID technology solution twelve to eighteen months ahead of our external customers in order to develop business models that would demonstrate ROI, complete technology proof of concepts, and develop processes for support and deployment of IP Telephony.

Cisco’s IP Telephony offers an immediate ROI by reducing total cost of network ownership through one converged network. Cost savings are even further realized through reduced equipment and infrastructure cost, increased productivity, and much easier network management. The financial impact of Cisco’s internal initiative encompasses significant annual savings in competitor-leased equipment and PBX maintenance cost, to name just a few.

However, in order to extract the maximum benefit from an enterprise-wide IP Telephony initiative, careful and comprehensive planning before the actual deployment was critical. Whether the deployment involves 200 phones or 20,000 phones, planning, communication, teamwork, and knowing where the ‘gotchas’ are hiding will divert problems before they even occur, reducing unnecessary costs and headaches that can hinder a successful implementation.

The voices in this paper come from the experienced team of project managers, engineers, operations personnel, and support teams who completed the conversion of Cisco’s San Jose, CA campus to IP Telephony. The paper focuses not on the technology, but on the planning and business processes associated with a large IPT deployment. Our hope is that by sharing our experience - bumps, bruises, and all - we can help our customers plan and realize the value of a converged, IP-enabled network.

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