Information Services Advisory Board

MINUTES

September 6, 2007, 6:00 p.m.

Town Hall Campus

Council Large Conference Room #10035

316 N. Academy Street, Cary, North Carolina

www.townofcary.org

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:03 p.m.

Present

Mark Evangelista, Helen Hutchings, Nazi Kite, John Nolander, John Fitzpatrick, Vijay Raghavendran, Lee Douglas, Council Liaison Julie Robison, Technology Services Director Bill Stice, and Staff Liaisons Susan Moran and Teri Peralta

Absent

Terra Shelton-Brown, Tangie Hofer and Todd McGee

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the August 2, 2007 meeting were approved unanimously.

Watch List:  Web Site Overhaul

Ms. Moran advised that the Web site overhaul is still on track for the first quarter of 2008.  She added that while NC State was updating their Web site they made it available before it was complete and asked for comments and feedback while finishing up the site.  Depending on whether the Technology Services department wants us to create a new site or convert the original, this might be an interesting concept to explore.

Ms. Robison arrived at 6:06 p.m.

Watch List:  Traffic Management System Update to Citizens

Ms. Moran explained that the Town will be providing the contractor with a list of tasks that should have been completed by now along with the opportunity to complete these items or leave the Town with no choice but to hire a different contractor.  She continued by noting that these are things Town staff cannot fix or work around and are now asking the contractor to resolve immediately or a new contractor will be brought on board to get the issues resolved quickly.

Watch List:  Dynamic Message Signs

Ms. Moran stated that the new Traffic Engineering Manager, Lori Cove, is developing a policy document such as the one discussed at length by the Board and that in the meantime the NCDOT model is being used with some adjustments as needed based on recent council direction.

Ms. Robison stepped out at 6:08 p.m.

Watch List:  2007 Annual Report

Mr. Evangelista noted that the most recent update to the annual report was e-mailed to the members.  He reminded them that any comments or suggested should be directed only to him with a copy to Ms. Moran and Mrs. Peralta.

Watch list:  RSS Technology

Mr. Fitzpatrick stated that, in his opinion, one of the best applications of RSS is updated airline information.  He noted that American Airlines has finally implemented this so that you can choose the flight and they will let you know of changes to the flight schedule via RSS.

Ms. Robison returned at 6:12 p.m.

Ms. Robison asked if the Town has submitted the Town’s Web site for any awards.  Ms. Moran replied that her staff looks at awards regularly, noting that many awards are geared toward sites with a lot of bells and whistles but do not put as much emphasis on content.  She explained that when the Web site overhaul is complete staff will take another look at what’s out there.  Ms. Robison also encouraged the board to take a look at the Town’s Neighborhood America tool if they haven’t already done so and to bring their feedback to the next meeting.

Old/New Business

IP Telephony

Mr. Raghavendran began his presentation by stating his opinion of some of the benefits of VoIP technology, including having access to your e-mail and the ability to pick up a call using you PC.  Mr. Stice noted that GPS systems are currently available on cell phones but not laptops.  He explained that if someone uses a work laptop at home, connects as an IP phone and uses it to make a 911 call, the 911 center will see the office as the location of the laptop rather than the person’s actual location.

Mr. Fitzpatrick asked if the town is supporting VPN beyond Town Hall, and Mr. Stice replied that cell phones are still used in the field.

Mr. Raghavendran continued by noting that if you are on your cell phone and another call comes in, you can pick up that call with your laptop using instant messaging, adding that there is a collaboration of various communication tools tied into one IP address.  He explained that, while there are a number of deployment options, self-managed deployment utilizing a pre-existing network is often the most advantageous.

Mr. Stice noted that a key difference between standard telephony and VoIP telephony is what is called “lifeline telephony”.  He explained that in a wired telephony environment, such as what you would get with a Centrex or Bell South system, the power to the phone comes through the phone line and in a power outage your phone still works whereas a VoIP system requires power to the phone and the switch and without a generator backup there is no 911 capability.  He went on to say that, while many of the Town’s facilities are generator protected, any facilities that are not will have one standard phone maintained onsite for 911 service.

Mr. Raghavendran also noted that using VoIP on a computer works like an application, rather than a phone, and therefore does not provide a phone number but an IP address.  Mr. Stice added that using Internet lines limits the quality of service and calls could be dropped, whereas IP telephony allows control over bandwidth use and provides better quality of service.  He explained that voice transmission requires continuous connection whereas data tends to be transmitted in pockets or bursts.

Mr. Nolander asked if the switch to IP telephony would increase the responsibility on the staff compared to continuing with AT&T.  Mr. Stice replied that there were increased responsibilities in some respects and less in others, noting that there is a cost savings because the wiring and phones are already in place but other services would bring additional costs.  Mr. Fitzpatrick mentioned that the new devices are “smart devices”, and Mr. Stice agreed explaining that with conventional phones the phone number is associated with the jack but with the new system the phone number stays with the phone regardless of the jack the phone is plugged into.

Mr. Raghavendran then reviewed the benefits of IP telephony such as improved system security, centralized system management and lower operating costs.  Mr. Stice added that, within the Town’s phone system, there are several sites that are currently outside the Centrex phone system, meaning that they do not have the four-digit dialing capability that the majority of the staff already has.  He explained that increased support to these remote facilities will be incorporated into the new system and they will no longer be on a separate system.

Ms. Moran left at 7:12 p.m.

Mr. Fitzpatrick noted that a benefit to this switchover is that it will be transparent to citizens in that there won’t be any downtime, so they won’t know it happened.  Mr. Stice agreed and added that IP telephony offers the ability to build in all the redundancy and reliability deemed necessary, something we had no control over with an outside vendor.

Ms. Robison expressed concern about losing government revenue due to the changing standards from ground lines to cell and broadband.  Mr. Stice noted that while cell companies are migrating to broadband their fees haven’t been changing, although there are some fees that VoIP providers do not pay such as 911 fees.  He added that this has become a hotly debated nationwide issue, not just for voice services but for Internet services in general, and an issue that needs to be addressed on a national level.

Mr. Evangelista thanked Mr. Raghavendran for his presentation.

Statement of findings:

The board was briefed on current IP Telephony deployment that is ongoing within the Town and given a comprehensive review of benefits going forward of this deployment. Ms. Robison added that the presentation triggered additional questions on this interesting topic.

Citizen comments

There were no citizen comments.

Member comments

Ms. Hatchings commented that at the July meeting where streaming video was discussed Ms. Robison expressed that her interest in the subject was based on having a resource citizens could be referred to and Mr. Evangelista thanked her for providing citizen input to the group.  She continued by noting that, in her view, individually and as a group, the board needs to spend more energy understanding Cary citizens because all the technology and products discussed are really only relevant in terms of how they impact the citizen and it’s never discussed in the context of how it’s going to impact the citizen, what the benefit is going to be, what the concern is going to be to the citizen, what their attitude is.  She suggested that in future meetings when getting involved with community groups is discussed or when the town has focus groups for some reason, when possible, individually or as a group members go and observe those things. She concluded by stating that, as a group, the board doesn’t have a lot of qualitative information and it would help if we gained a little more in-depth understanding of the citizens.

Mr. Nolander noted that during the Lazy Daze festival the dynamic message sign on North Harrison near I-40 said this road is closed, but I was already off the expressway.  He said the information was good but needed to be more accurate.

Mr. Fitzpatrick suggested that those responsible for directing users to the Town’s Web site should be instructed to link directly to the page being referenced, rather than to the Web site’s home page which can make it difficult to find the referenced information. Additionally, he recommended that on any Web page where user input is expected, the cursor should be positioned where text is expected to be input, such as in the search text box on the Google search page.

Administrative

The board determined that the topic for the next meeting would be a discussion of the Neighborhood America tool, and Mr. Evangelista suggested Mr. Jeff Ulma, Planning Director, be invited to speak and/or answer questions.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m.