New voice mail system will improve service, allow expansion of subscriber base

Changing over to the new system will require closing down the service for a period of 10 days, beginning at 5 p.m., Aug. 5. The new system will be operational at 7:30 a.m., Aug. 15.

According to Mike Lane, Telecommunications director, the system currently in use is operating at maximum capacity and is insufficient to support subscriber demand. Installed in June 1989, the system was designed to serve a maximum of 3,000 subscribers. A total of 2,027 faculty and staff members and students now subscribe to the system and the list is growing

"Our experience has been that the disk storage capacity is adequate to accommodate the design figure," Lane said. "However, the number of ports, which determines the maximum number of users accessing the system at a given time, is insufficient to support the load."

The lack of sufficient access results in callers receiving a busy signal when dialing voice mail at peak use times. The current system cannot be expanded beyond its present 20-port capacity.

The new system, the Centigram VoiceMemoII, will allow the university to eventually increase the subscriber base to 10,000 in modular increments and with a minimum of service interruption.

Memo will publish a directory of university voice mail subscribers and subscriber numbers in the Aug. 4 issue. University units should send changes in their subscriber data base to the Department of Telecommunications, 1 Lee Hall, no later than Thursday, July 28, to assure inclusion in the listing.

Lane advises voice mail subscribers to retrieve all of their messages prior to 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5. It will not be possible to transfer stored messages to the new system.

"We apologize for the inconvenience of having to function without voice mail for this extended period," Lane said.

Subscribers who have questions about the change may call Lane at 325-2458 for more information.