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Comprised of six locatons and 700 staff members, Rose Tree Media School District (RTMSD) is
home to about 4,000 students in suburban Philadelphia.
For over a decade, RTMSD struggled with a problematic Nortel Meridian PBX system from two vendors, causing communication issues and costly upgrades. In mid-2010, they contracted a third-party integrator to replace their phone systems with Asterisk®, aiming to connect all six locations with 500+ IP endpoints by September. However, the vendor’s failure to meet the deadline left the district without communication options for a week, compromising safety. RTMSD had to reinstate their old system, and in October, they engaged Infradapt to salvage the project.
Infradapt conducted a thorough assessment and decided on a site-by-site rollout across all six locations to minimize disruption. They ensured coexistence between the new solution and the legacy Nortel PBX system, allowing uninterrupted services during the installation of the new infrastructure. The flexibility of Asterisk and Infradapt’s approach enabled a seamless delivery with no downtime.
RTMSD’s Director of Technology, Patti Linden, praised Infradapt for their detailed plan and expedited timeline that met the district’s needs and maintained communication.
“The cost savings and benefits of the new system were astronomical,” said Ron Harris, Network Administrator of RTMSD.
The new system brought significant cost savings for RTMSD, upgrading all six schools at the cost of upgrading one site. The open-source Infradapt platform reduced maintenance costs and allowed for custom applications. Infradapt developed a Homework Hotline with a Web-based interface, where teachers could record assignments and parents could access them, strengthening parent-teacher relationships and benefiting students.
