Forestry Commission upgrades network for VoIP

The Forestry Commission is planning to upgrade its communications network to provide voice over IP (VoIP) to its workforce. The upgrade will also enable greener business practices.

The organisations network was provided under a £14m, seven-year contract with Global Crossing, which commenced in 2005.

Global Crossing has provided a standard, unified voice service to the Forestry Commission’s 3,500 employees, who are located at 94 sites across the UK.

The network supports services such as wide area networking, broadband, audio and video conferencing, and satellite and radio communications.

A phased upgrade will now be implemented to provide VoIP to all sites by the end of 2007, providing one single managed communications infrastructure.