WIDE AREA NETWORKS Smooth sailing - Company Operations

Communications News, June, 2001

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS)--the only builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the U.S., and one of two companies that builds nuclear-powered submarines--sought a communications system with the flexibility to make up to 11,000 network changes every year.

"Located on more than 2.5 miles of waterfront property with machine shops, construction and engineering facilities, and the need for shipboard communications, the NNS campus is not a typical business configuration," says Dan Ackaway, manager of information systems operations for Naptheon Inc., an NNS subsidiary.

Ackaway notes that NNS typically makes 10,000 to 11,000 changes to its voice configuration each year, as it adds, drops and moves 17,000 employees and contractors around the campus of 550 buildings. For example, when one ship moves from the north to the south yard, 500 to 700 phones may need to be reprogrammed.

To meet the need, NNS implemented an Avaya solution that sends voice conversations over high-speed ATM data networks. The DEFINITY enterprise communications server can process, switch, transport and store multimedia communications, and deliver features and control to all elements in a network. The Cajun M770 multifunction switch allows voice transmission over the existing fiber network.

Programming changes can be made quickly and easily, because the voice system is part of the network. Employees and contractors have caller ID service, and applications that receive voice, fax and e-mail messages in one mailbox.

www.avaya.com

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