The call-handler feature of Unity's Automated Attendant tool lets Lexent operate virtual helpdesks and reception areas: "All our helpdesks have IP phones, so when a call comes in, the call handler routes it to the next available agent, wherever that person is," Haluza says. "This lets us run mean and lean helpdesks."
Lexent software developers, meanwhile, are working with the Cisco Avvid API set to write other phone-based applications. One demo application the team is building would let a supervisor in the field track his team's time on the job using an IP phone rather than having to lug around a laptop.
"It's too early to determine what benefit we see from that, but it's certainly the next logical step," Arduini says. Sometime next year, Lexent will begin testing video over the VPN.
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The Hard Sell
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Lexent's original plan was to upgrade its managed frame relay WAN service with more bandwidth. But a new managed frame service would have cost the company 50 percent more each month than it was already paying. Plus, the service provider (whose name Lexent won't divulge) required a three-year contract.
So Lexent's IT department proposed an alternative to company executives: a private VPN. The price tag would be half that of a new frame service ($20,000 vs. $45,000) and require only a one-year Internet service commitment. "This allowed us to recover our capital investment in the VPN the first year, including the additional voice equipment needed for the voice-over-IP pilot," Lexent CTO Charles Arduini says.
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