RACV to roll out new communication networks

NEC Australia  has signed a five-year contract with the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) to upgrade the organisation’s existing data and voice networks across all of its sites - operational headquarters, two club locations in Melbourne and Healesville, resorts in Victoria and Queensland (6) and retail outlets (40) - supporting over 2500 employees.

Over a two-year implementation period, NEC Australia will progressively replace RACV’s existing telecommunications network infrastructure with state-of-the-art voice and data services.

The implementation forms a key part of RACV’s telecommunications services strategy that aims to add member value, improve operational efficiency and reduce ICT costs through improved communications capabilities.

Martin Byrne, RACV’s General Manager of Information Technology and Telecommunications, said: “RACV required a communications technology supplier that had experience in rolling out large-scale deployments that were significantly complex and varied in terms of technology.

“After a public tender process, NEC was chosen to provide a solution that met RACV’s business needs and ensured we continue to provide excellent service to our members. NEC’s solution also allows for a phased implementation approach that is flexible enough to change as our business needs change.”

NEC Australia’s Managing Director, Alan Hyde, said: “NEC has devised a fit-for-purpose ICT solution for RACV which will improve the organisation’s efficiency and productivity, and reduce costs. Our robust and reliable voice and data equipment facilitates RACV’s long-term telecommunications roadmap, which will be fully supported locally by NEC Australia.”

Four of NEC’s SV8500 Communication Servers will be installed at RACV’s operational headquarters in Noble Park, Victoria. A full redundancy backup will be established at RACV’s Melbourne corporate headquarters and city club.

A Genesys Contact Centre for 550 agents will be supported by two of the four SV8500 servers at RACV’s head office. The Genesys Contact Centre can dynamically adjust the volume and mix of available resources, including back-office product specialists, to allow call staff to shift between activities according to their particular skill set and availability to handle multiple interaction types (job blending) or manage both inbound and outbound calls. The platform will be voice recognition capable and will route traditional voice interactions with new technologies like Twitter and Facebook.

RACV’s 40 retail outlets will be provided with a remote survivable gateway that is linked to the host SV8500 communications server (located at head office) to provide a single system image under normal operating conditions and to provide an uninterrupted communications capability if the data network should ever fail.

Stand-alone SV8100 communications servers will be located at the RACV’s six resorts, which are located in Victoria and Queensland, and the RACV Healesville Country Club. Each server will be integrated with the facilities’ existing FCS middleware server (billing engine).

NEC’s Unified Communications for Business (UCB) server complements the telephony infrastructure with a modular productivity enabling presence-based voicemail with Lotus Notes integration, screen-based operator consoles and auto attendant features.

NEC is replenishing RACV’s full data network and will build a standard-based network from the ground up using Cisco-based switch routers, servers and storage area network licences.

NEC is replacing the server infrastructure with a virtual server farm of IBM redundant servers. The virtual environment will greatly increase the speed at which staff can access applications, effectively pooling all the servers’ memory and processing power to enhance critical applications. This will include two SAN platforms that will provide a completely redundant storage system for the whole organisation.
NEC Australia will provide day-to-day facilities management of RACV’s telecommunications environment including multivendor support contracts. The implementation will commence early in 2011 and will connect 2000 extensions in a blended IP environment.