Juniper Communities is an assisted living network dedicated to fostering active bodies, engaged minds, and fulfilled spirits for their residents. However, communication was hard work for staff as the organisation was relying on an outdated and unreliable PBX phone system. To continue providing industry-leading services, the organisation decided it was time to modernise to a new IP communication solution.
Environmental stewardship
Juniper Communities understands the importance of preserving our natural environment. Their Green Canopy program promotes healthier living for residents, staff, and the community through various environmentally conscious events and initiatives.
Through the Green Canopy program, the organisation has helped plant trees in the local community, organised fundraising events to restore fresh waterways in Florida’s coastal region, and care for gardens of flowers and vegetables every spring.
Modernisation objectives
Additionally, the Chatham location was one of the first retirement communities to embrace the green building movement; using LEED standards to design the facility.
As Juniper Communities planned their modernisation to IP, network infrastructure became a key challenge. Traditional network design philosophy would involve ripping and replacing the existing voice infrastructure with new Ethernet.
Along with the extremely negative environmental impacts, the organisation was concerned with the long deployment times and the disruption to their residents that this would cause. Juniper Communities required an innovative solution to overcome their challenges.
Change the conversation; improve the outcome
PoLRE switch enables Modern LAN principles and allows organisations to leverage their existing infrastructure
Given the customer’s needs, the reseller partner was confident in recommending Modern LAN design and introduced the customer to the NVT Phybridge PoLRE® switch.
The PoLRE switch enables Modern LAN principles and allows organisations to leverage their existing infrastructure, eliminating the disruptive, time-consuming, and costly rip-and-replace requirement. Juniper Communities was impressed and decided to test the solution in their environment.
Secure and robust PoE backbone
After a few simple setup steps, the PoLRE switch transformed their existing and proven voice network into a secure and robust Power over Ethernet (PoE) backbone for their new IP phones.
The PoLRE switch extends PoE up to 1,200ft (365m) – 4 times farther than standard PoE switches – ensuring the customer could easily connect the new IP phones exactly where they were needed. Juniper Communities was able to responsibly modernise to IP, as they were able to:
- Prevent over 650 lbs of wiring from ending up in a landfill
- Eliminate IDF closet requirements; reducing ongoing energy consumption
- Maintain a physically separate point-to-point network topology for voice to enhance network security
- Simplify their modernisation to IP and eliminate disruption to staff and residents
Cost-effective solution
“Our existing telecom system was aging, unreliable and becoming a huge liability”, said Don Breneman, Vice President of Risk Management and Business Operations at Juniper Communities.
“As we planned the upgrade to IP, saving money while providing a high level of reliability and system management was important to our team. Luckily for us, we discovered the perfect innovation from NVT Phybridge. I would highly recommend the PoLRE solution to any organisation upgrading their communication system to IP.”
A better return on investment
Juniper Communities took a proactive approach to find new and better ways to support their IP modernisation objectives in a financially and socially responsible manner. The organisation was able to satisfy all the necessary infrastructure requirements without compromise, due to the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the solution.
By applying Modern LAN principles and leveraging innovative technology, Juniper Communities was able to:
- Reduce infrastructure costs by over $100,000; significantly improving the project’s return on investment
- Accelerate the project’s timeline and eliminate operational disruption to staff and residents
- Reduce the project’s impact on the environment; preventing over 650 lbs of e-waste from entering a landfill
- Build a secure and robust PoE platform for their new IP communication solution
- Find a no-compromise solution that satisfied all the customer’s requirements
