NEC’s implementation of Microsoft Lync will reduce the council’s current ICT maintenance and operating costs enable flexible working and support improved communications across the entire estate. At a Glance The new Microsoft Lync solution will replace and consolidate the Council’s existing communications infrastructure into a single environment which will serve over 4000 users across multiple sites with the ability of increasing the number of users moving forward. All staff will have access to individual and group instant messaging, video conferencing, collaborative virtual meeting space and remote access and support.

1. Customer Story
Plymouth City Council
NEC installs next-generation Unified
Communications system at Plymouth
City Council to support 4000 users.
NEC IT NEC IT Solutions has won a contract with Plymouth City
Council to implement Microsoft Lync, the next-generation
Unified Communications system, which represents the largest
non-Microsoft delivered deployment of the system in the UK to
date.
NEC’s implementation of Microsoft Lync will reduce the
council’s current ICT maintenance and operating costs enable
flexible working and support improved communications across
the entire estate.
The new Microsoft Lync solution will replace and consolidate
At a Glance the Council’s existing communications infrastructure into a
single environment which will serve over 4000 users across
 Vertical: Local Government multiple sites with the ability of increasing the number of users
moving forward. All staff will have access to individual and
 Solution: Unified Communications
group instant messaging, video conferencing, collaborative
 Size: 4000 user, multiple sites virtual meeting space and remote access and support.
 Project drivers:
Neville Cannon, Assistant Director of ICT at Plymouth City
Reduce costs
Council comments, “Plymouth City Council put a tender out to
Facilitate flexible working the market for a replacement communications solution which
practices would enable the council to become more agile and streamline
our communications in light of the recent budget cuts
Streamline communications
announced by the Government. Over the past few months we
 Solution components: have had to reduce our office space by 30%, however we still
need to be able to deliver the same levels of service to the
Microsoft Lync
Public and our old communication systems simply would not
Professional services have enabled us to achieve this objective. NEC not only
provided the best technical offering but also proposed a
solution designed to meet our business requirements,
demonstrating their understanding about what we were
looking to achieve.”

2. Unified Communications
Mr Cannon continues, “Having considered what we were paying on maintenance and the costs to bring our
current environment up to a standard where it could be used for Unified Communications, we quickly arrived at
the conclusion that even with the cost of implementing the new Microsoft Lync technology we would achieve a
tangible return on investment.”
By implementing Microsoft Lync with NEC, Plymouth City Council now can incorporate remote workers through
a single interface on to instant messenger, voice communications and video and web conference calls. This
makes it easy for users to collaborate together and stay connected from virtually anywhere.
Mr Cannon continues, “Flexible working is now a reality at the council. For all staff to be able to instantly see
the availability of others no matter where they might be located can only improve the effectiveness and
efficiency with the way we work, which in turn will facilitate to further improvements in our service delivery. It
also enables us to implement new flexible working practices and potentially make further cost savings on
expensive office space. With the ability to extend the system in the future, we can also look at rolling this out
to or federating with other public sector organisations in the region.”
Mr Cannon concludes, “NEC has worked very closely with the Council to understand our key requirements and
present a system that ticked all of the boxes in terms of solution design, functionality and ease of use. I believe
the Council’s investment in the Microsoft Lync technology is not only an enabler for the Council to implement
more flexible and agile working practices but also allows us to cut costs and save money as needed without
affecting services.”
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3. Unified Communications
About NEC Unified Solutions:
NEC IT Solutions, the European IT services arm of NEC Corporation*, is a provider of intelligent IT solutions
designed to enhance business processes and empower technology customers within the public and private
sectors. NEC IT Solutions engages directly with medium and large enterprises on a national and multinational
basis, delivering customized solutions utilizing innovative IT, voice, data, mobile, video and networking
technologies, from within NEC and from best-in-class industry vendors.
NEC IT Solutions designs intelligent solutions to improve business processes within five key areas:
 Communications and collaboration – Increase efficiency, improve productivity and reduce costs by
integrating and embedding communications into business processes and applications, and facilitating
flexible working strategies
 Security – Protect people and assets in the organization with data and IT infrastructure security,
biometrics and intelligent video analysis
 Resource optimization –Locate, coordinate and manage resources effectively through the integration
of applications and the use of intelligent track-and-trace technology, helping to improve productivity,
customer service and reducing costs
 Knowledge management – Empower users to make quick and informed decisions by providing
intelligent search and analytical capability with access to real-time information, anytime, anyplace,
anywhere
 Intelligent interfaces – Integrate, consolidate and present information to be consumed and displayed
in different ways, supporting the varied needs of users and business processes
These solutions areas are underpinned by a portfolio of network and infrastructure technologies and supported
by a comprehensive suite of professional services support using on-premise, managed, outsourced and cloud-
based delivery models. Professional services expertise includes project and program management, solution
design, assessment & readiness audits, consultancy, deployment, management & monitoring, support &
maintenance, integration and software development services.
*A Global Fortune 500 company, NEC Corporation is one of the leading providers of Internet, broadband
network and enterprise business solutions, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse global
customer base.
NEC Corporation was founded in 1889 and employs over 140,000 people around the globe, with customers in
over 150 countries and millions of users consuming NEC technology daily. NEC has a rich heritage of technology
innovation across the areas of IT, electronic devices and networking, and is committed to using its extensive
experience in building highly reliable systems backed by state-of-the-art IT and network technologies, to realize
an information society friendly to humans and the Earth.
For further information: please contact your Account Manager or;
NEC IT Solutions
Tel: 01223 468000
Email: info@emea.nec.com
www.nec-itsolutions.com
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