Unified Communications

Two types of phone services are available through the LHRIC: Voice over IP (VoIP) which can be hosted in-district or Hybrid/Hosted and Intellipath. VoIP allows a district to make voice calls using their existing data network (LAN) connection instead of regular or analog phone lines. Both of our VoIP services offer support in: consulting, design, planning, implementation, maintenance, and repair, as
well as ongoing operations (additions/moves/changes).

The Intellipath service provides districts with a flexible, cost effective and efficient network for voice and data communications by using Verizon’s Intellipath II (Centrex) and PRI services. Intellipath service users become part of the LHRIC Intellipath consortium and save on phone circuit costs.

Districts can upgrade from legacy Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems to VoIP-based platforms. VoIP systems allow for voicemail to be sent via email. This enables your users to be more responsive rather than wait until they return to their classroom or office to check voicemail. Additionally, your district can add app-based communications, building speaker/paging and physical door access control to move toward a unified communication model.

The VoIP support service provides monitoring and remediation of phone system issues. Dedicated VoIP team members support district phone systems remotely. Currently supported systems are Cisco Unified Communications and Shoretel/Mitel. Depending on the VoIP platform, your district may be able to integrate the Unified Communications/VoIP systems with building security as part of your school safety goals. With VoIP, districts can make and receive video-based calls with other endpoints that have video capable units.

The LHRIC is offering a new streamlined voice service known as Hybrid VoIP, which expands on the capabilities of On-Prem VoIP systems by providing much higher redundancy and availability to schools. 

Hybrid VoIP adds Voice Call Managers and Unity Servers that are housed in LHRIC’s private cloud and are exclusive to our districts. This provides higher standardization, centralized system configuration and system redundancy. This adds new features such as a disaster recovery kit, which allows schools to configure phones for impacted buildings quickly at an alternate or recovery location.

Exclusive to Hybrid VOIP, shared, centralized SIP Trunk services deliver dial tone on phone circuits that are configured for IP based networking. This feature allows automatic failover and easier call rerouting to alternate locations.