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The most effective way for an educational institute to communicate within itself today is through wireless voice-over IP (VoIP) solutions. With VoIP, teachers are able to communicate with each other, can be reached directly by parents, and VoIP can help reduce a school’s capital and operational costs by eliminating the need to install new wiring or upgrading an existing network.

The growing trend of VoIP adoption in schools simplifies communication on campus and increases safety and mobility. Wireless VoIP has spread as a popular choice for educational institutions.

According to two surveys from Market Data Retrieval, 37 percent of K-12 public schools and 70 percent of colleges and universities report that they do use wireless networks.

Only 19 percent of colleges and universities have formally deployed VoIP, but 64 percent are considering it, according to the “EDUCAUSE Core Data Service 2003 Summary Report.”

Schools face many obstacles when deploying traditional voice technology, including budgetary constraints, limited technical resources, geographically dispersed campus buildings, and outdated infrastructures that cannot support new applications. Cell phones have proved problematic for most schools because they are expensive and difficult to regulate.

Large education campuses chose a hosted solution for their telephony needs, either to reduce the stress on the internal IT staff or to shift the cost to an operation expense.

VoIP installation offers numerous benefits. It allows for more cohesive communication between teachers and the staff in other buildings, increased mobility for those teachers traveling around campus, and the ability to utilize more security applications. VoIP technology also offers increased flexibility and security while providing cost savings for schools.

The solution is also cost-effective. The return on investment for competitively priced VoIP systems usually yields a higher ROI than a hosted solution.

With VoIP systems, the institution owns the solution and can have greater control on the behavior of their telephone network and advanced features. Some solutions even offer free software upgrades, allowing the campus to stay on the cutting edge without an additional investment a year down the road.

Epygi Technologies’ IP PBX line creates the optimum mobility for educational settings. It provides customers with the benefits of easy communication and increased safety and mobility on school campuses, and makes the change from analog to VoIP easy and affordable. Epygi's (News - Alert) integration with mobile handset providers enables it to have a hand in the development of communications technologies on campus, from inside and outside of buildings.

One of the most important parts of communication within a school is security. Silent visual warnings via the IP handsets allow staff to warn each other of possible threats. Epygi supports video pass-through for free, allowing schools to integrate a VoIP surveillance system with video footage form the IP cameras streaming to a computer or video phone. Door entry access can be managed from multiple devices on the telephone network, allowing limited security personnel the ability to grant access even if they are mobile.

Android devices can be seamlessly integrated with VoIP solutions. Patrick Nelson, from TechNewsWorld, said that people who invest in VoIP solutions are “abandoning lackluster cellphone signals” and instead routing calls over Wi-Fi and through “the Internet pipe.”

VoIP solutions can provide much higher quality than traditional phone systems. In-Stat (News - Alert) has stated that mobile VoIP services tripled in users during 2011, growing from nine million in 2009 to around 29 million.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

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