London School of Economics signs Cloud telephony agreement

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) today announced the signing of a landmark agreement with UK Managed IT Service Provider InTechnology to provide Cloud telephony and unified communication.

The agreement follows rigorous testing and evaluation by the LSE and meets the School’s need for a School-wide communication and collaboration platform to support its academic and administrative staff. The agreement includes the provision of over 3,000 telephone handsets, 1,000 softphones, the enhanced features that Microsoft Lync offers, 100 days of training, and round the clock support, all hosted on a highly resilient infrastructure. Calls can be routed across Janet, the UK’s research and education network.

Adrian Ellison, Assistant Director, IT Services at LSE says: “The adoption of InTechnology’s Cloud-based service will provide LSE staff with a wide range of tools that will not only improve communication but also deliver the potential to save on travel and the associated impact on sustainability, through the extensive collaboration facilities provided by the solution.

“InTechnology were chosen for their value proposition, the tight integration between the Broadsoft hosted telephony platform and Microsoft Lync, and for their commitment to the higher education community.

“Together InTechnology and LSE have devised a model services agreement, which it is hoped will pave the way for other education institutions to take advantage of Cloud-based communications. Licence types have been tailored for academic users.”

InTechnology was the first Janet-connected voice and data service provider. The company’s resilient Janet-connected delivery enhanced by its own private IP connectivity will enable and support the three million plus external calls made annually by LSE.

Tim Marshall, CEO of Janet, says: “The LSE’s investment is a bold move from a progressive institution and points the way forward for other education institutions looking to increase cost efficiencies while converging their telephony connectivity with their Janet IP network provision. We especially welcome the LSE and InTechnology approach which has developed a ‘model contract’ that other Janet-connected institutions can benefit from.”