Retirement village to go VOIP

15.08.2006
Aged services provider The Hammond Care Group has announced plans to roll out a VOIP network across New South Wales, a state in Australia.

The group has started the implementation at its main administration center in Sydney with plans to extend it to eight residential care villages across the state.

The group's chief technology consultant Bruce Coller said the site will be upgraded from a PABX to IP later this financial year and eventually provide IP services across the residential care group.

"At the moment the nurse call systems are on a traditional stand-alone network and we want to get those facilities to an IP platform," Coller said.

"The duress systems are on Cisco wireless and we want to allow the carers in residential sites to move around accessing online data and be able to input information if need be.

"We will be connecting all sites and we are looking at providing independent living unit clients with broadband and IP telephony when the upgrade is complete, but a lot will depend on client demand.

"We are trying to achieve an IP platform to support data, two-way voice and multimedia and also for safety and security."

Hammond Care Group has deployed the Cisco 7961G and 7970G handsets to staff within the head office along with the Cisco Catalyst 3560 switches, as well as upgrading the legacy PABX network at the head office and its Hammondville residential sites.