FOOTHILL RANCH, CA--(Marketwired - May 13, 2013) - In an age of mobility, with college-age students and university staff alike relying primarily on mobile devices to keep them connected, the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) embarked on a major project to replace its outdated Octel voicemail and call processing system for more cutting-edge technology. No small feat when you're the largest public university in New England with over 200 departments, 27,000 students (12,000 of which live on-campus) and 5,000 faculty and staff spread over a 1,450-acre campus.
At the outset of the project, UMass Amherst Director of Communications, Randy Sailer, identified Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. ( AVST ) as an ideal solution to bring them next generation voice and mobile technology. But after looking deeper, Sailer viewed AVST's CX-E as the platform to take the university into the future with a greater level of mobility and flexibility, unified messaging, contextually-aware personal assistant, mobile interface and integration with calendars and speech recognition. And under the hood, AVST brought the greatest level of high availability and disaster recovery to support their uptime goal of 99.999 percent for mission-critical departments like the police department, student services and health services, to name a few.
Today, the UMass Amherst CX-E system handles more than 288,000 calls per month. Of 200 departments campus-wide, 40 percent are currently using CX-E automated attendant to conduct daily business -- saving the university both time and money.
"A campus of our size needs a communications solution that provides not only the highest reliability but also the power to support our large call volumes," stated Karen Howard, Manager of Voice Application Services for UMass Amherst. "From day one, AVST's CX-E platform has been rock solid. Its architecture, interoperability and powerful set of UC applications have allowed us to utilize all of the current, cutting-edge communication technologies that are out there today."
When looking to the future, the telecommunications team at UMass Amherst is focused on the mobility needs of its faculty, staff and students. The team is particularly excited for the future implementation of Atom™, AVST's context-aware Total Office Manager, into their communications mix. Atom will bring new location-based services, federated presence, a multi-lingual speech interface, unified messaging, and more to the university. Atom will significantly increase user productivity for the university and will keep faculty, staff and students connected -- wherever the day may take them.
For more information about AVST, please visit the company's website at www.avst.com .
About UMass Amherst UMass Amherst, the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system, is consistently ranked among the top public research universities in the nation. UMass Amherst offers 100 majors in a wide array of academic disciplines and nationally known programs of study. Over 27,000 students from all 50 states and over 100 countries attend the University, making its campus a national and international center for intellectual and cultural activity. With one of the largest residential life systems in the nation, UMass Amherst houses approximately 12,000 students on campus. The extensive library system is the largest at any public institution in the Northeast, and offers students a state-of-the-art learning environment through the Learning Commons, a place that fosters academic collaboration and social interaction. Students participate in over 300 organizations, 19 NCAA Division I athletic teams, extensive intramurals, living-learning residence halls, community service, and internships. The campus sits on nearly 1,450-acres nestled in idyllic Amherst, Massachusetts. With Boston and New York City just hours away, Amherst has a truly unusual combination of New England charm and international sophistication, which lends to its consistent ranking in the top 10 list of best college towns in America. For more information, visit www.umass.edu .
About AVST The typical enterprise communications infrastructure is made up of a collection of technologies from multiple vendors, acquired over time and never intended to work together. To maximize user and business productivity, while leveraging existing IT investments, interoperability is a must.
AVST delivers the industry's most interoperable Unified Communications (UC) platform that brings best-of-breed voice, mobility and business process applications to the enterprise. Unlike virtually every other UC vendor, AVST does not constrain customers with a single vendor lock-in approach. In fact, it's the very opposite. By connecting new and existing technologies, AVST frees organizations from the constraints of a closed, single-source UC solution, unlocking the full potential of their communications infrastructure.
With over 15 million users worldwide and three decades of innovation excellence, AVST is unifying communications ® .
Headquartered in Orange County, California, AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, Washington, Victoria B.C., Canada and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices throughout the United States. AVST's UC solutions are sold and supported worldwide by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. To learn more about AVST, our products and partners, please visit http://www.avst.com or you can follow us at Twitter , Facebook or LinkedIn .
Media Contact: Kevin Mayberry Lages & Associates (949) 453-8080 Email Contact
