North Dakota state government and University System offices in Bismarck have joined the list of higher education institutions across the state that are accessible through five-digit dialing.
Calls from participating N.D. higher education institutions to state government and University System offices in Bismarck that have the 328 telephone prefix can now be placed using convenient five-digit dialing, without incurring additional long distance charges.
Calls to non-328 state government offices located throughout North Dakota will continue to require 10-digit dialing due to multiple prefixes, but such calls will no longer require an authorization code or incur long distance charges. Similarly, outgoing calls from state offices to IP-connected campuses will require 10-digit dialing and will not incur toll charges.
The connection between systems is significant in that state government owns the same Avaya telecommunications platform as NDSU, allowing for seamless voice over Internet protocol connectivity by leveraging state data network facilities to the following state government and North Dakota University System locations:
- Dakota College Bottineau: 2-xxxx
- Lake Region State College: 2-xxxx
- Mayville State University: 3-xxxx
- North Dakota State College of Science: 3-xxxx
- North Dakota State Government (Bismarck 328 #s): 8-xxxx
- North Dakota State University: 1-xxxx
- NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Center: 2-xxxx
- North Dakota University System Office (NDUS 328 #s): 8-xxxx
- University of North Dakota: 7-xxxx
- Valley City State University: 3-xxxx
In the same way that on-campus calls are placed, calls to other connected institutions involve dialing the single-digit prefix followed by the last four numbers of the recipient’s extension. The respective long distance cost is included in the existing monthly telecommunications rate.
This statewide effort, initiated by NDSU’s Telecommunications and Emergency Support Technologies department in collaboration with state government and respective University System institutions, is now realizing the efficiency and convenience benefits of the original 1994 dial plan design for enhanced and transparent communications between institutions and state government.
“Building on NDSU’s existing VoIP platform gives us the agility to manage this connectivity for the various entities, laying the framework for next generation unified communication technologies,” said Joan Chapek, assistant vice president of the Telecommunications and Emergency Support Technologies department.
Collaborative efforts to expand five-digit dialing to remaining University System institutions are ongoing.
More information is available at: www.ndsu.edu/telecommunications/5_digit_dialing
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.