Southeastern Property Managers (SPM)

Objective:
Lower monthly circuit costs, while increasing capacity.

Situation:
SPM wanted to implement a Voice over IP solution to connect five of their locations, but wanted to justify the purchase by a reduction in overall monthly costs. SPM also wanted to increase bandwidth between sites to take advantage of some new document management software they purchased.

Resolution:
Although SPM ultimately purchased and implemented an Interactive Intelligence IP-PBX from Blue Ocean and tied all the locations together with a voice network, the savings came from a redesign of their circuits. Blue Ocean recommended that SPM install a 10mg Fiber segment from Bright House, that the number of T-1’s be reduced, and that the destination of some of the point-to-point T-1’s be changed. Four of the five offices were within six blocks of each other, so SPM paid a onetime charge to have fiber strung between the three closest offices. The fifth office was in Florida. Blue Ocean recommended a VPN between the corporate and Florida offices. Finally Blue Ocean suggested that SPM bring in SIP trunks from a national SIP provider. Because SIP trunks are less expensive than regular phone lines and typically carry a long distance charge of .02 per minute, SPM was able to reduce their trunking and long distance charges substantially. Ultimately Ed Welden, the president of SPM, increased the capacity of his network and cost justified a large capital outlay to his Board of Directors through the proper redesign of his voice and data circuits.