Avaya Helps Victory Junction Gang Camp Stay Connected With IP Telephony

- Reliable IP network and mobility solutions help camp serving children with chronic medical conditions maintain real-time communications between counselors, parents and medical staff

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Nov. 9 -- When the Victory Junction Gang Camp, a year-round sanctuary for children with chronic medical conditions and serious illnesses, needed to provide reliable communications between its highly-mobile employees and medical staff, they turned to Avaya Internet protocol (IP) telephony solutions to connect camp buildings and medical facilities serving children across a 72-acre campus. Using Avaya's solution, the camp -- which is part of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps spearheaded by actor Paul Newman -- provides counselors and parents with continuous, 24/7 access to Victory Junction's on-site healthcare personnel that support campers year-round.

The Avaya solution includes a state-of-the-art converged IP network and mobility applications that help ensure information and conversations can be shared rapidly and in real-time, in accordance with the camp's special needs. With this solution, a camper's parent or primary care physician can more quickly reach a child's attending physician at Victory Junction to inquire about a child's condition, provide medication information or answer time-sensitive questions about a child's illness. This type of intelligent, 'right-time' communications helps the camp focus on providing an adventurous environment for children, while closely monitoring their health.

Victory Junction's mobility capabilities are powered by Avaya Extension to Cellular, an IP application that transparently extends calls made to one's desktop phone to their cell phone, along with key enterprise telephony functions. It is used by physicians, nurses, counselors and other camp associates to gain one-number portability and remain reachable wherever they go, inside or out of the campus. This removes the issue of callers having to wait through numerous transfers just to reach a voice mailbox. Also, callers no longer get busy signals when a camper's health is in question or if a loved one just wants to check in on them.

A driving force behind the Victory Junction Gang is founder Pattie Petty, who made state-of-the-art communications an essential part of her vision for the camp.

"Our goal is to give children who are ill an adventurous and life-changing experience, and having reliable, high quality communications is an essential part of our vision," said Petty. "Avaya really stepped up to the plate by providing us with the IP solutions and consultation services we need to keep communications operations running smoothly, and helping to ensure that counselors, parents, children and doctors remain connected at all times."

In addition to serving the needs for greater mobility, the Avaya IP network gives the Victory Junction on-site medical staff confidence that communications will remain continuous when they need to request emergency medical system of an ambulance. Engineered with advanced levels of availability and continuity, Avaya's IP solution supports the camp's communications across 32 buildings year-round for recreational and education activities, including the high summer season, when more than 1,200 children come to the camp.

Adds Wes Carper, IT director for the Victory Junction Gang Camp, "When we sought out a high-quality, low maintenance network solution to deliver a mission-critical communications infrastructure -- one that crosses across our entire camp's hills, swimming pools, facilities and cabins -- Avaya was our top choice."

Victory Junction Implementation Details:

The Victory Junction Gang is using Avaya Communication Manager running on Avaya S8500 Media Server to integrate telephony call processing, call control, Modular Messaging, contact center functions, and to support both circuit-based and IP-based telephony. They now have 155 end points, 80 of which are IP telephones. Avaya provided consultation services to help design and install the converged network across the camp's entire campus.

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500(R). Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable IP telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications -- and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services -- Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya website: http://www.avaya.com/

About Victory Junction Gang

Founded by NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie in honor of their late son Adam, the Victory Junction Gang Camp is a year-round facility serving children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses. The children, primarily from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, are between the ages of 7 and 15. Victory Junction's 72-acre site has 32 buildings, including a dining hall, water park, Adam's Race Shop, theater, equestrian center, medical center and 16 camper cabins. For each of 10 weeks during the summer, children suffering from similar medical conditions gather to kick back, relax and have some fun. Campers may also participate in family weekends during the spring and fall. Personal stories of struggle and triumph are shared by campers in an atmosphere where they are safe, respected and loved.

The Victory Junction Gang Camp is a Proud Charity of NASCAR and a member of the Association of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps. Victory Junction opened its doors to campers on June 20, 2004 and is free to children and their families. The camp operates solely on the generous donations of individuals, corporations and foundation. For more information, visit http://www.victoryjunction.org/.