The Maranatha Christian School had an aging legacy intercom system with no telephony connection, scalability, or reliable support.

“The existing intercom system at the school was outdated and extremely expensive to maintain. It was unreliable and the sound quality was extremely poor. Any change to the system required technicians to come out and reprogram the entire system. The wiring in each classroom was a nightmare and looked like rats’ nests”, explained Heinrich Helmbold, the school’s IT administrator.

The school has been long searching for an effective network intercom system. They finally came across the Grandstream GSC3510. Upon reaching out to MiRO, they were offered a loan unit to try out. MiRO’s team seamlessly handled all installations, and the user interface was easily comprehensible.

Perfect Exposure was responsible for all the school’s IT needs and technical support. They maintained the network and advised the school on emerging technologies that could aid in the daily operations of the school and church. They also equipped each classroom with Grandstream GSC3510 SIP intercoms to allow complete feature accessibility. A process Helmbold describes as “a breeze”. The Maranatha Christian school took advantage of this opportunity to take complete control of their entire VoIP infrastructure, all the while saving thousands of rands per month. Now every teacher can connect to the intercom via Bluetooth, eliminating the need for multi-speaker purchase.

Integrating intercoms into the VoIP telephone system offered the school the capacity to communicate with teachers individually. It also gave them the function to set up their own group calls and to integrate the system into their emergency evacuation plans. Communication throughout the school has improved tremendously. Teachers have now been offered the option to communicate directly to the office with a ‘push-to-talk’ button. This has helped them to be more present in the classroom.

Helmbold says that announcements no longer come from a central source. The principal can pick up a phone and make an announcement from their desk. Another advantage is that emergency evacuations can now be triggered from almost anywhere and not just from the main control desk. He says they are thrilled with the convenience, flexibility, and scalability.

 “My advice to others who share the same problem is that proper planning pays off. Plan from the bottom up and don’t make just any solution fit your needs. This advice is especially for schools, which decide on a solution without knowing if it’s the best one. They need to plan. For us, taking over our VoIP phones and simultaneously upgrading the intercoms provided an overall solution and one that benefits the entire school.”

 Perfect Exposure, a registered MiRO reseller, says MiRO had the product they were looking for, but MiRO’s willingness to help with demo units for testing definitely put them ahead of their competitors.

 “This system has met and exceeded our expectations. I would definitely recommend MiRO to anyone looking for cost-effective networking solutions from Grandstream’s product range. We now have the perfect all-in-one solution that works perfectly in a classroom environment”, concluded Helmbold.