Nebraska's Capital City and County Choose NACR for VoIP

EAGAN, Minn., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology and communications integration expert NACR is partnering with the capital city of Lincoln, NE, and its county, Lancaster, to bring a long-time plan to fruition: switching both from a traditional telephone system to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution that could save several hundred thousands of dollars annually and will pay for itself in only four years.

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After completing a stringent proposal process, thorough due diligence, and public approval, the City Council and County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to award the contract to NACR. The company will design and implement a state-of-the-art solution that uses ethernet cabling and an IP network to switch more than 3,000 users from a legacy system to a new Avaya VoIP system.

NACR is one of the largest Avaya channel partners worldwide and the leading independent integrator of best-in-class communications, collaboration, and customer interaction solutions in the United States — delivering comprehensive sales, consultation, training, and technical support, as well as managed services, maintenance, and repairs. NACR works closely with Avaya and other technology partners to integrate the latest hardware, software, and applications into end-to-end multivendor solutions for diverse markets including government, education, and healthcare.

"Lincoln and Lancaster have been considering the move to Voice over IP for several years, undergoing a meticulous process and considering seven bidders before selecting a vendor," according to Lisa Porter, NACR's Senior National Account Manager for the city and county. "That makes it all the more gratifying and exciting to be chosen as their partner on this extremely important project."

"We think this project will accomplish two major goals," said Steve Henderson, Chief Information Officer for both Lincoln and Lancaster. "First, we believe that over time we will realize a significant cost savings compared with our current approach; and second, we believe we'll see significant productivity gains by virtue of the many features and capabilities available within the new system."

A VoIP solution can reduce costs by routing voice calls over an existing IP network. In addition, while the old system provides basic dial tone and not much else, the new NACR solution will include features such as voicemail, caller ID, and faxing. The solution will also support conference calling, instant messaging (IM), and video conferencing, and can be fully integrated with cell phones to provide one-number reach as well as full support for mobile-only users. In addition, the NACR solution will provide notification capabilities the city and county can use to enhance safety and security, with automatic broadcasting of alerts for events such as tornados.

"NACR is thrilled to be the partner to bring the robust calling features and potential savings of a Voice over IP solution to Lincoln and Lancaster County," according to Dick Bourdow, NACR Central Region Vice President. "In addition, like all NACR solutions, it will provide the benefits of our personalized customer service and our investments in technologies including two state-of-the-art Network Operations Centers for ongoing monitoring and maintenance support."

In choosing NACR, Lincoln and Lancaster officials got recommendations from other municipalities that have used the company to successfully implement VoIP, including nearby Sarpy County, NE, and Miami-Dade County, FL, as well as from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Henderson also noted that the partnership between NACR and hardware provider Avaya was an important factor, representing a solid combination of proven experience and technical competency. "The thoroughness, knowledge, and responsiveness demonstrated thus far by both companies has made it clear that this was a great choice for us," he said.

NACR and Avaya are already hard at work on the solution, with preliminary plans projecting completion within the next few months. In the initial deployment, NACR will implement the core infrastructure across 28 buildings and carry out the complex task of porting more than 3,000 telephone numbers to the new system. The city and county plan to handle deployment to smaller individual sites.

For more information about NACR solutions, customers can call their NACR representative or contact the company at 1-888-321-6227 or www.nacr.com.

About NACR

With offices nationwide, industry award-winning NACR (Eagan, MN) is a certified Avaya Platinum Channel Partner, eight-time Avaya Business Partner of the Year, and the leading independent integrator of best-in-class communications, collaboration, and customer interaction solutions for businesses. Its highly trained and experienced team, with more than 600 industry-recognized certifications, delivers proven, scalable, cost-effective solutions tailored to a customer's end-to-end needs, from sales through ongoing support. Using sophisticated processes, advanced tools, and two high-tech Network Operations Centers (NOCs), NACR provides comprehensive monitoring and managed services for multivendor infrastructures. And to help customers keep pace with changing technology and business needs, the NACR Center of Excellence for Learning and Development provides training and educational opportunities. For more information, call 1-888-321-NACR (6227) or visit www.nacr.com.

SOURCE NACR