If you look at the glass as half empty, the phone system went down completely at 9:30 pm last night.  If you look at the glass half full, the phone system went down completely at 9:30 pm last night; thankfully when most people were not on campus.

 

Our security alarm provider notified Campus Safety that the alarms were not functioning due to the loss of telephone connections---this occurred around 9:15 pm.  And, if you were trying to check your voice mail at that time, it was not working either.  Campus Safety contacted me and I came in to check the status of the phone system.  I verified that analog, digital, and VoIP phones and voice mail were not functioning. 

 

I then called ITS staff who dialed into the phone switch from home but could not get the phones working.  Dave then drove to campus and while we troubleshooting the situation the phone switch went completely down and we could not dial into the switch at all.  At that point we called Maintenance since we believed that part of the problem may be electrical connections. 

 

Cody came in and determined that there was no power to the phone switch.  While we were troubleshooting that issue, the UPS (uninterrupted power source) for the phone system interrupted.  It interrupted so much that it burned out.  The electrical system then had to be rerouted to avoid the UPS.  That occurrence helped us determine the source of the problem---our UPS.  The phone system was rebooted and up and running by 1:30 am this morning.

 

ITS is now looking to replace the 15 year old UPS as it is no longer functional.  When it worked, it provided 4 hours of battery back-up for the phone system as well as surge protection.  And, yes it has served the College well as it was used several times when electrical storms took the electrical power down in our area.  As with everything, it ages and then expires.  Here is to a UPS that has served us long and proud for it was the technical equivalent of an 200 year old person.