Nortel Buzzboard

With 1,600 locations, a variety of old PBX systems and the typical underfunded government budget, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) is not your average VoIP network deployment.

After signing a 10-year contract valued at up to US$300 million last year with Nortel Government Solutions, the SSA is now beginning a massive evolution of their voice network to VoIP. The new VoIP network will eventually support 55,000 field office agents, with 205 of the SSA’s nearly 1,600 field offices expected to be deployed in the first year and another 500 per year after that.

Larry Stevens of FedTech Magazine has this great article that details the progress, benefits and challenges that the SSA has faced in the early stages of their VoIP deployment. He interviews Philip Becker, associate commissioner of SSA for telecommunications and systems operations, and Michael Paige, chief operating officer for Nortel Government Solutions.

The potential challenges are many. Their 1,600 locations range from large sites that house thousands of employees in major cities to five-person mini-offices attached to rural post offices 100 miles or more from the nearest SSA technology support center. Ensuring 911 and 411 services are also a must, and of course the process of training users to use the new VoIP phones and services.