IP network enhances communication.

New technology to be implemented at Lakehead University will enable students and faculty at the Thunder Bay institution to learn and interact online by simultaneously collaborating on documents, carrying out conversations and exchanging e-mail.

Through a partnership with Bell Canada and Nortel Networks, the university is installing more than 2,000 Internet telephones on campus, offering converged voice, data and multimedia information on one common network.

The converged network - known as Internet protocol (IP) telephony or Voice over IP (VoIP) - allows student to organize virtual study groups, conduct research, register for courses and purchase supplies using Internet phones located at most buildings and residences across campus.

Phase 1 of the IP telephony project was launched on March 20 with the installation of the first 550 Internet telephones.

"This is a momentous day for Lakehead University," Fred Gilbert, the university president said at a media event unveiling the project. "(This technology) allows better communication outside the classroom between students and staff. We're on the leading edge of technology, and this demonstrates to the world that we have an integrated system second to none anywhere in the world."

Gilbert said the IP telephony network will be linked to the university's new Advanced Technology and Academic Centre (ATAC), a $44-million facility that will act as the schools central communications mode and serve as a catalyst for economic development in Northern Ontario. The technology will be housed elsewhere on campus until construction of the ATAC building is complete in 2003. The full complement of Internet telephones will be installed by the time the fall semester begins this September.

IP telephony carries voice, video, facsimile and data over a network using IP, the same protocol used on the Internet. It is a universal way for diverse networks to communicate and is the most efficient way to carry data between multiple computers sharing paths in a network.

Traditional public telephone networks carry voice traffic and save a path through the network for the entire length of a call. IP networks, however, are "packet-switched" and send traffic in packages or bits called packets.

Individual packets originating from the same address are sent over different routes and only use network capacity when data is sent.

Technical advances have lowered the cost and improved the quality of voice and video carried on IP networks. These technologies are also lowering the cost of building new networks.

The IP network at Lakehead University will be the largest voice-over IP network in North America and the first site to support over 2,000 IP telephones.

"By tying our current and future communications technology needs to Nortel Networks and Bell Canada, we have positioned Lakehead University with two world-class leaders that will ensure the university is at the forefront of integrated communications applications," Gilbert said.

Nortel Networks' vice-president of Canadian sales, Cynthia Ward, described the IP telephony implementation as a means to level the playing field for Lakehead University.

"This bridges the technology gap between this university and others in Ontario," she said. "In the 21st century, the Internet is the cornerstone to communications. This is the heartbeat of information flow."

The VoIP initiative at the university resides on Nortel Networks' succession IP telephony architecture. Bell Canada will maintain and upgrade the university's VoIP network for two years and will provide the necessary training to university staff.