On Friday, September 14, Dale Mallory, assistant vice president, ETS; Joan Smith, assistant director, communications and network services; and James Clement of communications and network services, were in Albany to accept the 2007 New York State FORUM Technical Implementation Award for MCC's Project VISION (Voice and Information System Integrated Online Network). The FORUM’s Best practices awards are given annually to a limited number of New York State and local government agencies in recognition of their efforts to improve government services through the use of effective information management.
In recent years, MCC has implemented a number of infrastructure upgrades and system projects to integrate voice, video and data communications. But MCC's Project VISION is more than just an Internet phone system – it is an emergency communication system and an example of innovative network-based service capabilities now available at MCC. Through this project, MCC has enhanced its ability to provide 24/7 access to information, communications and transactional services for the entire college community.
Project VISION was selected for the 2007 NYS FORUM Technical Implementation Award for three reasons:
1) the improved business processes which resulted have enhanced communications capability
and capacity for future Internet Protocol (IP) services.
2) the project is on time and on budget.
3) the effectiveness of ETS staff in developing a replicable process that can be shared as a best
practice with other agencies and institutions.
According to Dr. Jeff Bartkovich, ETS vice president, MCC's collaborative processes and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) implementation pre-planning efforts built a strong and solid foundation which helped ensure this project's success. "Project VISION has taken MCC to the next level of integrated network and communications services. MCC students, faculty and staff can now learn, teach and work in a secure, state-of-the-industry environment that will continue to evolve and serve MCC's core mission -- student success."
The Project VISION teams included the following ETS staff members:
Design, development and planning team members:
Joy Braselton (scheduling)
Marilyn Christian
James Clement
Ron Dellaporta
Dale Mallory
Donna Pogroszewski
Deb Smith
Joan Smith
William Wagoner
Installation team members:
Andy Eggleston
Christine Montagliano (scheduling)
Dave Truman
Tim Williams
MCC relied on several telecommunication partners and consultants to successfully implement Project VISION including: HPA and Associates, M/E Engineering, Annesse and Associates and CISCO.
Background on the New York State FORUM can be found at:
<https://www.nysforum.org/about/index.asp#background>
Left to right: Greg Benson, NYS FORUM Executive Director, Joan Smith, James Clement, Dale Mallory
Janet Ekis
Public Affairs
10/15/2007 |