End of Service and Sale Announcements
TNS is continually reviewing its products and services offerings to ensure that they are technologically advanced as well as robust and supportable. This process involves announcing new products and services and discontinuing older products and services that no longer satisfy these criteria.
| Polycom Viewstation H.323, 512 and Viewstation EX videoconference systems | 6/30/2009 |
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| The manufacturer of these systems will not offer support after the end date and the systems lacks features required to provide service based on current demands. ITS recommends that these systems be replaced. | |
| ITS Radio Paging Service | 6/30/2008 |
| Effective June 30th, 2008, the one-way Radio Paging Service offered by ITS at the University Park campus will be discontinued. The service was initially created a decade ago to provide University departments and organizations with economical localized paging capabilities. The discontinuation of the ITS Radio Paging Service is due to rising operational costs and the growth of commercial service availability, particularly in light of the small number of groups still utilizing this service. Organizations that currently use the ITS Radio Paging Service are encouraged to contact their ITS Consultant at http://css.its.psu.edu/cs/itsanalysts.html to discuss alternate commercial radio paging service options. | |
| Inter-Campus Transport Fee associated with all networking services delivered through Integrated Backbone (IB) Extensions | 1/1/2008 |
| Due to recent improvements in telecommunication vendor costs, ITS plans to eliminate the inter-campus transport fee associated with all networking services delivered through Integrated Backbone (IB) Extensions, effective January 1, 2008. An IB Extension allows University locations (that are not served by fiber) to connect directly to Penn State's Network - enabling these areas to retain their specific Internet address space and avoid the need to use a virtual private network (VPN). IB Extension users can also obtain larger bandwidth capacity than available through a commercial ISP, depending on their individual location requirements. With the improvements in vendor pricing, it is no longer necessary for ITS to pass the inter-campus transport portion of the IB Extension cost to the subscribing University location, thus providing a monthly cost savings to the location, depending on their specific connection type. To learn more about IB Extensions and other IB services, contact Telecommunications and Networking Services, a unit of ITS, at 814-865-6285 or submit an inquiry at https://www4.tns.its.psu.edu/forms/lanSerReqForm.html. | |
| Orinoco AP-2000 or Orinoco AP-3 Wireless LAN Access Points | 6/30/2007 |
| ITS recommends that University departments using the Orinoco AP-2000 or Orinoco AP-3 Wireless LAN Access Points (APs) plan to replace this equipment. The manufacturer of these products is no longer selling or repairing them. | |
| Sale of 100 Mbps Integrated Backbone (IB) services to end | 6/30/2011 |
| In order to take advantage of advances in networked services, leverage use of University networking resources, and continue to promote the use of forward-looking technologies, Telecommunications & Networking Services (TNS), a unit of Information Technology Services (ITS) is encouraging the use of Gigabit Local Area Network (LAN) technology. To facilitate an orderly transition to that technology from the 100Mbps technology currently in use, two milestones are being established. First, requests for Integrated Backbone (IB) connections which are made at the University Park campus that are less than Gigabit speeds will be honored through June 30, 2007 only. Any new 100Mbps Ethernet connections to be installed at the UP campus must be ordered by that date. After that date, all new IB connections at UP will be based upon gigabit or higher speeds. Second, while there is no similar end-of-sale date yet planned for 100 Mbps connections at other campuses, it is anticipated that replacement of 100 Mbps LANs and their associated IB connections, with Gigabit technology, should be well underway at all campuses by 2009, as a normal part of the life-cycle replacement process of LAN technology. As such, ITS support for 100 Mbps IB connections and associated LAN technology, which by then will be over 5 years old, will cease at all locations, after June 30, 2009. Regardless of campus location, those contemplating new backbone connections are encouraged to now consider the use of 1-Gigabit Ethernet connections in lieu of additional 100 Mbps connections. Fees for backbone connection services from ITS for 100Mbps and for Gigabit connections remain equal, with neither having a monthly service fee, and both subject to a $1000 one-time installation cost. Those wishing to obtain more information pertaining to Integrated Backbone services should contact TNS through the Web (Integrated Backbone Request Form) or by calling (814) 865-6285. In order to request IB service, a Telecommunications Service Requisition (TSR)  form and supporting Integrated Backbone Connection Design Request must be completed. Requests for 100Mbps Ethernet service at the University Park campus must be completed and submitted no later than June 30, 2007. |
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| Merlin Voice Processor Equipment and Telephones | 12/31/2006 |
| Previous announcements have highlighted that due to discontinuation of support for Merlin equipment by the manufacturer, ITS would not be able to continue to offer maintenance of that type of equipment after June 30, 2006. To help expedite the completion of VoIP installations at UP, the period of support of Merlin equipment by ITS is being extended for 6 additional months, until Dec. 31, 2006. | |
| Meridian, NorStar Non-VOIP Equipment & Telephones Maintenance | 8/1/2006 |
With the large scale transition of voice services from a vendor provided service to Voice over IP, several areas of concern are focused on the telephone instruments and systems that are an inherent part of the Nortel-based and Verizon-provided Centrex service. The systems and instruments affected include:
In order to facilitate a smooth transition, and to accommodate those who choose or need to delay conversion to VoIP-based services, departments which have submitted a signed Telecommunications Service Requisition (TSR) form to convert to VoIP by July 31, 2006 will be able to retain monthly maintenance support on their legacy telephone systems until their VoIP-based service is activated, or December 31, 2006, whichever comes first. This encourages orderly transition, and affords up to 5 additional months of Monthly-fee based maintenance, for those groups not able to transition to VoIP before this period.These changes mean current Centrex users have two options:
An analog VoIP-based service is available to provide voice communications services for many areas not able to otherwise utilize VoIP-based services. The Analog VoIP-based service supports devices such as fax machines and cordless phones that may not yet be compatible with VoIP technology and to serve where it may not be otherwise possible to install VoIP technology. The analog service helps to minimize the number of user offices located in facilities unable to utilize VoIP-based services, due to cabling limitations or other building constraints. The "dial tone" rate for the analog VoIP-based service is $14.65/month versus $15.50/month for Centrex based service. |
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| END OF SALE - Cisco VoIP 7905G Phone Set | 5/1/2006 |
| CISCO has recently announced a May 1, 2006 end-of-sale date for the basic phone instrument used for VOIP-based voice services at UP. After that date, a new model will be used by ITS for new installations of this type. The new phone, a model 7911G, is similar in form, function and cost to the discontinued 7905G, but includes additional internal memory to support future enhanced features and applications, and conforms to more generalized standards for powering it through the Ethernet connection. The cost of the new phone is $17 more than the prior one, lending to a cost of $65 (after the $100 subsidy for new VOIP installations) to those requesting its use. | |
