New $230,000 system should save city money in the long term
Gilroy – Council members have approved up to $230,000 to bring the city’s tapped-out phone system into the 21st century.
The changes are being driven by the need for 140 new phone lines in the future police station, according to David Chulick, the city’s information systems director.
“The reason why we’re replacing the phone system is that the current system maxes out at 400 phones,” Chulick explained. “We’ve hit that ceiling.”
He estimated that expanding the system would cost nearly as much as a new one using Voice over Internet Protocol, commonly known as VoIP. The technology allows phone calls and video to be sent over the same data lines used for the Internet, freeing users from traditional phone charges.
In addition to combining phone calls and e-mails over a single data line, the new technology will allow nearly half of the new phones in the future police station to operate with a wireless connection, according to Chulick.
AMS.Net, a Livermore-based technology and networking company, won the bid to install the new system. Chulick said the city is now negotiating the particulars of the upgrades with the company.
Councilman Craig Gartman, a former manager for tech company Nortel Networks, said that VoIP would help the city “get more bang for its buck.”
“It always costs money every time we pick up the phone or do data searches,” he said. “Currently, we pay for the land lines and we pay for the Internet. By combining capabilities, it’s going to save the city money in the long term.”
