"There was some scepticism when I first went to our executive and said we were going to put in a phone system that ran over our data network," said Baxter, information communication and technology manger at the state's elite sporting center.

"They were a bit concerned that if the network falls, what happens to the phones," he said. "Well in this day and age, with mobile technology, it is probably irrelevant because everyone has a mobile phone or Blackberry or some other form of communicating device."

The move in spring last year to NSWIS's purpose-built premises in Sydney's Olympic park gave Baxter a greenfield opportunity to deploy his new IP network, which now features a 10GB backbone and supplies gigabit to the desktops of its 95 full-time staff.

"When we decided to move to the new building, we decided to make it the best we could and we realized that communications is critical to us," he said

In deciding what VOIP solution to choose, Baxter said he looked at solutions from Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco, but ultimately selected a Mitel system because it ported nicely with newly purchased HP switches - a critical factor in Baxter's decision as the switches themselves came with a lifetime warranty.