Telephony Services

The Client
U.S. Air Force, Surgeon General's Office

The Challenge
To offer an improved access to medical services worldwide, the Air Force customer needed to make drastic improvements in its telephone system. Many of its 74 Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF's) were not on a consistent platform, and some of the aging technology was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

The Solution
We are providing a total solution for the customer, from COTS evaluations to site surveys to installation and training. We provided program management and engineering support to the Telephone Modernization (TELMOD) program. This includes architectural analysis, design, and engineering; consulting support; implementation/deployment; and transition. Our methodology for telephony solutions consists of:

• Analyzing the current telephone system state of affairs to establish the "As-is" telephony operational and systems architectures
• Developing technical/architecture models reflecting the "To-be" telephony system and its integration with the current standard AIS and information technology (IT) architecture.
• Designing a standardized structured cable plant; providing overall technical specifications; performing a survey of the existing cable plant; and providing oversight of subcontractors who install the actual fiber.

Unique to this project was the requirement to collect general access metrics, a potential challenge over disparate telephony switches. Our telephony modernization team performed extensive market research and implemented a solution that outputs metrics in similar data formats to a centralized data repository, ultimately providing reports to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.

The Results
Our solutions have resulted in telephony systems that are scalable, interoperable, and standardized. The newly designed infrastructure for voice and data in Air Force MTF's will decrease maintenance costs and improve overall continuity of operations. We also provided technical assistance, and produced a full set of implementation documentation, including configuration details, installation/operation procedures, component lists, and relevant architectural details. Having already seen drastic improvements in the areas of functionality and customer support, in the years to come it will continue to see cost savings as well.