Technology: Voice Over IP - ' Strategic Profile'

Strategic Profile: Cray Inc.

Moving to a new location can provide the impetus to consider voip, in hopes of reducing costs and increasing the features offered to phone users. Cray's decision to switch facilities led to the realization that a network could be designed from scratch to support both voice and data, for the same cost as a data network by itself.

PRECIS A Seattle-based manufacturer of supercomputers with an expected $150 to $160 million in 2002 revenues and 800 employees worldwide on three campuses.

CIO Nancy Soderquist

PROJECT MANAGER Tom Stephens, manager of network and hardware support

PROBLEM A new location in Mendota Heights, Minn., and an existing installation at Chippewa Falls, Minn., required both data and voice services.

GOAL Install a new system with maximum functionality and minimum cost.

STRATEGY Run data and voice using Cisco Systems Inc. equipment on a single Voice over IP network at each location; run VoIP between the two locations and use smart phones at each location (about 650 handsets to date).

CHALLENGES No major problems reported. "It pretty much plugged in, and it worked," says Stephens.

ROI The costs of installing voice and data equipment were about the same as data alone. Saved about $2,000 per month on calls between Chippewa Falls and the Minneapolis area.

ASSESSMENT "If you're thinking about buying a PBX, especially for a new facility, rethink the decision," says Stephens. "The paybacks for VoIP are there, and the technology works."