Real estate giant Mirvac's new five-story Sydney CDB complex will house the first VoIP implementation of a planned enterprise-wide IP phone system roll out.
The network will run in parallel with Mirvac's existing Nortel PABX system, and will use a combination of Nortel's CS (Communication Server) 1000 IP phone system, formerly Succession 1000, and Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Office Communicator with about 40 IP phone handsets.
CS 1000 will be rolled out for Mirvac Group's nine offices across Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Melbourne and Auckland.
Mirvac IT general manager, Chris Kennett, said more than 500 staff will migrate to VoIP.
"The initial driver was the move to the city and we took the opportunity to make sure we implemented a unified communications infrastructure which would take the organisation forward," Kennett said.
"The solution incorporates voice mail to [Microsoft] Exchange, fax to desktop, [Microsoft] Presence, and Instant Messaging in the one user interface.
"The solution is a hybrid with a small percentage of IP telephony to provide an IP-ready infrastructure, and we are already looking at rolling IP telephony out to our new Hotels' Central Reservations Office [and] eventually across the Group."
Scheduled for completion in mid-July, the project is the first local sale for the newly-formed Innovative Communications Alliance between Nortel and Microsoft.
Kennett said Mirvac expects significant improvements in communications between its geographically dispersed business units because the system leverages its existing data and telecommunications infrastructure.
Mirvac manages more than $24.7 billion of business across the real estate, funds management and hotel management industries and selected 3D Networks to implement the project.