HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/13/05 Technologies
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES BOARD
HELD ON
September 13, 2005
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The Regular Session of the TECHNOLOGIES BOARD of The Colony, Texas was called
to order at 6:42 p.m. on the 13th of September 2005, in the Planning Conference Room,
City Hall, 6800 MAIN STREET, THE COLONY, TEXAS, with the following
Technologies Board members present:
John Harton
Michael Lynch
John Marshall
Jack Turner
With four out of five members present a quorum was established and the following items
were addressed:
11.0 1 Call Meeting to Order: 6:30 P.M.
1 2.0 I CITIZEN INPUT
None
I 3.0 I AGENDA ITEMS
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3.1 Welcome and introduce Technologies Board new member, Jack Turner.
(Marshall)
3.3 Update on Back up Generator (Staff)
Fred Mobley, IT Manager outlined the status of the proposals for the back up generator.
He reviewed the bids for the electrical work of $45,000 from one company and the other
bid of$7,000 from a local company.
Fred then reviewed his schematic of the City's computer system locations. He mentioned
the 2 T -1 lines have been installed for the fire stations, so they no longer need to rely on
broadband. He is considering a T -1 line for the Water Department. He mentioned he is
examining consolidating the many printers the City uses. He has tested the remote access
to servers from off property locations and that is fully operational. Fred responded to
questions from the board about the security safeguards of the system. Fred said he will
show updates to the City's systems in future Technologies Board meetings.
3.2 North Central Communications (NCC) Voice Over IP (VOIP) Presentation
(NCC)
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Doug Cunningham, President and Steve Drew of NCC and Glen Ewing, Director-
Strategic Alliances and Doug Chase, Territory Sales Representative of 3Com made a
presentation about their proposal to replace the existing phone infrastructure with their
V oice Over IP system.
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Steve Drew began by reviewing Schedule A from their proposal of existing montWy
telephone bills for the City. He proposed to provide new phones and infrastructure over a
72 month contract and charging the City the same monthly rate as the City currently pays
for phone service. John Harton asked if there is a variance in the amount the City pays
for wireless service from month to month. Steve Drew replied they analyze the bills
quarterly. He then reviewed how to handle growth or decline in the City's phone
requirements. He reviewed upgrading the firewalls. He explained some technical issues
about voice and data being carried over the same "pipe" and that voice prioritizes data in
the VOIP system. He said the next step is to do a network assessment. The existing
investment in infrastructure is a concern for the City, since some relatively newly
purchased equipment would become unusable with the VOIP system. John Marshall
asked about NCC and Doug Cunningham explained they were incorporated in 1988 as an
interconnect company.
They explained the last mile would remain with SBC and their backbone provider is
Level 3. The board asked where the physical location was and Doug Cunningham was
not sure. He explained the PBX functions would change and be internal. He reviewed
the affiliated companies including Technical Warranty Services (TWS) which provided
supplemental warranty coverage.
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The board asked if 3Com had any local installations. Glen Ewing replied they had over
1,000 customers, mostly in Houston. NCC has over 35 customers, since 8 months ago.
Most phone systems are about 200 phones. The City of the Colony has 184 phones now.
They explained they require a 72 month - six year contract and after 60 months will
review the system. Capital 4 is a partner that provides the billing. Mike Lynch asked
questions about the many partnerships between the several companies in the proposal.
3Com is a public company and NCC is privately held. Glen Ewing said 3Com had
contractual agreements with the other companies. Power of Zero's relationship is purely
financial.
Steve Drew and Doug Cunningham said end user training will be provided onsite and is
also available on the web. He said the next step would be for his engineers to review the
City's existing system and analyze the needs.
Mike Lynch asked if all affiliated companies are in the US and was told they were. Steve
Drew said NCC has a 24 hour response and 3 hour response to emergencies. He said 2 of
their technicians live in The Colony.
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They were asked what the advantage to the City would be to sign the contract. The
response was that the cost would remain the same for six years and at the end of the
contract the city would own the phone system and network infrastructure. The proposal
also would have an option for $60,000 available to the City with one-half available as a
cash option and one half for equipment. John Harton asked how their business model
works and was told they buy in wholesale to save costs to sell in retail. Mike Lynch
suggested to look at the system in operation and NCC invited everyone to their offices in
North Dallas and said they would be available weekends or evenings. Everyone agreed it
would be good for Fred and Board Members, if available, to see a demonstration of the
system.
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I 4.0 I ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:25 P.M.
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~rshall, Chairman
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