Montgomery County commissioners approved a county IT project to upgrade network equipment to support a new voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone system and the sheriff's call-recording needs.
IT staff explained the county's existing phone-recording process relies on traditional phone lines; moving to VoIP requires an enterprise-class network switch able to mirror (SPAN) phone ports so calls can be recorded reliably. The county presented vendor and installation pricing: hardware and software roughly $16,703.34 and installation $5,700, for a total Huber quote of $22,403.34; staff estimated the overall phone project cost at a little over $34,000 when combined with related components.
Why it matters: County staff said the current system is more than 20 years old, spare parts are scarce, and voice services nationwide are migrating away from copper phone networks; staff called the upgrade necessary for continuity of service and to preserve call-recording capability used by the sheriff's office.
Supporting details: IT staff described the technical need as a throughput issue: VoIP recording requires an enterprise switch to mirror traffic without dropped packets; without the upgrade, recordings would be incomplete and unreliable. Staff said wiring is about 75% complete and vendors hoped to ship phones promptly; Huber will preprogram the switch off-site and complete on-site installation in a single day once wiring is finished.
Vote and next steps: The commission approved the work; staff said Huber will be the installer for switch programming and on-site installation and that the sheriff's maintenance contract covers future support for recording equipment. County staff said the VoIP migration should reduce monthly phone costs and that the underlying copper infrastructure is being phased out by carriers nationally.
Ending: Staff said they will proceed to order equipment and schedule the final installation when remaining wiring and phone shipments are complete.