Is your Phone System FCC e911 Compliant?

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Here is what you need to know about Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act 911 Direct Dialing, Notification, and Dispatchable Location Requirements!

If you are not familiar with Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act, you should be! Since the passing of the new laws for MLTS (Multi-Line Telephone System), Vox Tandem has been preparing our 3CX Communication business phone systems to be in compliance with the changes. 3CX is a software-based phone system that works with various IP phones and SIP trunks that can be installed on-premise or in a cloud. Voice over internet protocol (IP or VoIP) is a technology that allows you to use the internet to make phone calls, whether in the office or remotely from home.  Regardless of where you choose to work, all of our business phone systems have been updated to support a direct-dial  911 right out-of-the-box. Not only is Vox Tandem compliant, but you can also rest easy knowing that our systems help keep your company and employees safe.

In August 2019, the Commission adopted rules implementing two federal laws that strengthen emergency calling:  Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act.

Kari’s Law – Direct Dialing and Notification for MLTS

Kari’s Law is named in honor of Kari Hunt, who was killed by her estranged husband in a motel room in Marshall, Texas in 2013.  Ms. Hunt’s 9-year-old daughter tried to call 911 for help four times from the motel room phone, but the call never went through because she did not know that the motel’s phone system required dialing “9” for an outbound line before dialing 911.

Congress responded by enacting Kari’s Law in 2018.  Kari’s Law requires direct 911 dialing and notification capabilities in multi-line telephone systems (MLTS), which are typically found in enterprises such as office buildings, campuses, and hotels.  The statute provides that these requirements take effect on February 16, 2020, two years after the enactment date of Kari’s Law.   In addition, Kari’s Law and the federal rules are forward-looking and apply only with respect to MLTS that are manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or leased, or installed after February 16, 2020.

Under the statute and the Commission’s rules, MLTS manufacturers and vendors must pre-configure these systems to support direct dialing of 911—that is, to enable the user to dial 911 without having to dial any prefix or access code, such as the number 9.  In addition, MLTS installers, managers, and operators must ensure that the systems support 911 direct dialing.

The Commission’s rules also implement the notification requirement of Kari’s Law, which is intended to facilitate building entry by first responders.  When a 911 call is placed on a MLTS system, the system must be configured to notify a central location on-site or off-site where someone is likely to see or hear the notification.  Examples of notification include conspicuous on-screen messages with audible alarms for security desk computers using a client application, text messages for smartphones, and email for administrators.  Notification shall include, at a minimum, the following information:

  1. The fact that a 911 call has been made;
  2. A valid callback number; and
  3. The information about the caller’s location that the MLTS conveys to the public safety answering point (PSAP) with the call to 911; provided, however, that the notification does not have to include a callback number or location information if it is technically infeasible to provide this information.  (47 CFR § 9.3.)

Compliance date (MLTS direct dialing and notification) and Exemption for Legacy MLTS:  Kari’s Law and the Commission’s rules are forward-looking and do not apply with respect to any MLTS that is manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or leased, or installed on or before February 16, 2020.  (See 47 CFR § 9.17(b).)

All other MLTS (i.e., systems manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or leased, or installed after February 16, 2020) must meet the following compliance date:

Feb. 17, 2020:* 

MLTS manufacturers, importers, sellers, and lessors:

  • May not manufacture or import for use in the United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in the United States, an MLTS, unless the system is pre-configured so that when it is properly installed in accordance with the MLTS rules, a user may directly initiate a call to 911 from any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the digit 9, regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for the other calls.  (47 CFR § 9.16(a)(1).)

MLTS installers, managers, and operators:

  • May not install, manage, or operate for use in the United States an MLTS, unless the system is configured so that a user may directly initiate a call to 911 from any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the digit 9, regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(1).)
  • Shall, in installing, managing, or operating an MLTS for use in the United States, configure the system to provide MLTS notification to a central location at the facility where the system is installed or to another person or organization regardless of location, if the system is able to be configured to provide the notification without an improvement to the hardware or software of the system.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(2).)   MLTS notification must meet the following requirements:
    • It must be initiated contemporaneously with the 911 call, provided that it is technically feasible to do so; and
    • It must not delay the call to 911; and
    • It must be sent to a location where someone is likely to see or hear it.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(2).)

RAY BAUM’S Act – Dispatchable Location for MLTS

Under Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act, the Commission has adopted rules to ensure that “dispatchable location” is conveyed with 911 calls to dispatch centers, regardless of the technological platform used, including 911 calls from MLTS.  Dispatchable location means a location delivered to the PSAP with a 911 call that consists of the validated street address of the calling party, plus additional information such as suite, apartment, or similar information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party.  (47 CFR § 9.3.)   For further information on dispatchable location requirements applicable to non-MLTS, including compliance timelines, see the Dispatchable Location web page.

Compliance Dates (MLTS Dispatchable Location):  The Commission’s dispatchable location rules for MLTS apply to all MLTS that are manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or leased, or installed after February 16, 2020.  While the dispatchable location rules apply to the same entities subject to Kari’s Law, the Commission established separate deadlines for MLTS to come into compliance with the dispatchable location rules.  As outlined below, MLTS are subject to compliance deadlines of January 6, 2021 and January 6, 2022, depending on the nature of the device from which the MLTS 911 call originates.* 

2021

Jan. 6, 2021

Provision of dispatchable location from MLTS on-premises, fixed devices:

  • On-premises, fixed devices associated with an MLTS must provide automated dispatchable location with 911 calls.   (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(3)(i).)

Dispatchable location obligations for MLTS manufacturers, importers, sellers, lessors, installers, managers, and operators:

  • MLTS manufacturers, importers, sellers, and lessors may not manufacture, import, sell, lease, or offer to sell or lease an MLTS unless the system has the capability, after proper installation in accordance with the rules, of providing the automated dispatchable location of the caller to the PSAP with 911 calls from on-premises, fixed devices.   (47 CFR §§ 9.16(a)(2) and 9.16(b)(3)(i).)
  • MLTS installers may not install a system unless it is configured so that it is capable of being programmed with and conveying the automated dispatchable location of the caller to the PSAP with 911 calls from on-premises, fixed devices.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(3)(i).)
  • MLTS managers and operators may not manage or operate a system unless it is configured so that the automated dispatchable location of the caller is conveyed to the PSAP with 911 calls from on-premises, fixed devices.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(3)(i).)

2022

Jan. 6, 2022

Provision of dispatchable location or alternative location information from MLTS on-premises, non-fixed devices and off-premises devices:

  • On-premises, non-fixed devices associated with an MLTS must provide automated dispatchable location to the appropriate PSAP when technically feasible; otherwise they must provide either dispatchable location based on end-user manual update, or alternative location information that meets the requirements below.

Alternative location option for MLTS on-premises, non-fixed devices:

  • Alternative location information may be coordinate-based, and it must be sufficient to identify the caller’s civic address and approximate in-building location, including floor level, in large buildings.  (47 CFR §§ 9.16(b)(3)(ii) and 9.3.)
  • Off-premises devices associated with an MLTS must provide to the appropriate PSAP automated dispatchable location if technically feasible; otherwise, they must provide either dispatchable location based on end user manual update, or enhanced location information that meets the requirements below.

Enhanced location option for MLTS off-premises devices:

  • Enhanced location information may be coordinate-based, and it must consist of the best available location that can be obtained from any available technology or combination of technologies at reasonable cost.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(3)(iii).)

Dispatchable location obligations for MLTS manufacturers, importers, sellers, lessors, installers, managers, and operators:

  • MLTS manufacturers, importers, sellers, and lessors may not manufacture, import, sell, lease, or offer to sell or lease an MLTS unless the system has the capability, after proper installation in accordance with the rules, of providing the dispatchable location of the caller as specified in section 9.16(b)(3)(ii) and (iii) to the PSAP with 911 calls from on-premises, non-fixed devices and from off-premises devices.  (47 CFR §§ 9.16(a)(2) and 9.16(b)(3)(ii), (iii).)
  • MLTS installers may not install an MLTS unless it is configured so that it is capable of being programmed with and conveying the dispatchable location of the caller as specified in section 9.16(b)(3)(ii) and (iii) to the PSAP with 911 calls from on-premises, non-fixed devices and from off-premises devices.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(3)(ii), (iii).)
  • MLTS managers and operators may not manage or operate an MLTS unless it is configured so that the dispatchable location of the caller as specified in section 9.16(b)(3)(ii) and (iii) is conveyed to the PSAP with 911 calls from on-premises, non-fixed devices and from off-premises devices.  (47 CFR § 9.16(b)(3)(ii), (iii).)

*The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is providing the above timeline to help regulated entities comply with the rules.  This timeline does not reference all of the relevant rules, does not include the full text of the rules, and does not modify or supersede the specific text of any rule that is referenced.  The Commission retains the discretion to adopt case-by-case approaches, where appropriate, that may differ from the approach in this timeline.  Any decision regarding a particular regulated entity will be based on the statutes and any relevant rules.  The full text of the 911 rules can be found here.

**The new rules became effective on January 6, 2020, although the compliance deadlines for the rules vary.  In addition, Sections 9.16(b)(3)(i), (ii), and (iii) of the rules contain information collections under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).  Compliance with these sections will not be required until after the relevant information collections are approved by the Office of Management and Budget.  Following such approval, the Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the compliance dates for these requirements and will update this timeline as necessary to reflect these dates.

Resources

911 Requirements for MLTS – 47 C.F.R. Part 9, Subpart F

Frequently Asked Questions – MLTS FAQs

Small Entity Compliance Guide:  https://www.fcc.gov/document/implementing-karis-law-and-section-506-ray-baums-act-0

The FCC will closely monitor any complaints about alleged violations of these 911 rules.

  • Consumers may file a complaint via the Consumer Complaint Center.
  • Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), also known as 911 call centers, and other public safety entities may request support from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and notify it of problems or issues affecting the provision of emergency services through the Public Safety Support Center.

Archive

Report and Order – Implementing Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act (Aug. 1, 2019)

Erratum – Implementing Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act (PSHSB Dec. 2, 2019)

Public Notice – Announcing Jan. 6, 2020 Effective Date for Rules Implementing Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act (PSHSB Dec. 5, 2019)

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – Implementing Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act (Oct. 26, 2018)

Notice of Inquiry – FCC to Examine 911 Capabilities of Enterprise Communications Systems (Sept. 26, 2017)

———————————————————————–

By John Chisca|June 14th, 2022| https://mynetworkmag.com/2021/01/working-remotely-is-your-phone-system-e911-compliant/ | Reference https://www.fcc.gov/mlts-911-requirements

How to send a fax from email

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One of the main features of eFax is the ability to send and receive faxes right from your email. Below you will find instructions on how to do this.

Note: This feature will only work from an email address associated with an active account in our system. If you don’t have an eFax with Vox Tandem, please contact your sales representative.

Addressing the email

To send a fax from email, compose a message from your email. In the To: field, type the 11 digit fax number (ex. 18885551212) followed by @faxmail.voxtandem.com.

Note: It is important to always use an 11 digit fax number when formatting the email. This means you need to include a “1” for faxing any number in the USA or CANADA. For international faxing, digits will vary but always include the country code.

Faxes sent via email are limited to 10 recipients or less. Attempting to send to more than 10 recipients will result in an error.

Populating info onto a cover page

If you have your cover page setting turned on, eFax will automatically take details from your email and populate it directly onto a cover page. To turn this feature off, click your initials in the bottom left, select “Your Settings” on the left, choose your ‘fax’ tab, and toggle it off:

If this setting is enabled, the details you enter into your email will populate onto your cover page:

Email subject line will populate RE: field of the cover page. (see screenshot below)

Body of email will populate the Comments field of the cover page. (see screenshot below)

Attach your document to fax

When sending a fax from email you can attach multiple documents types (see below). You can attach a single document or multiple documents (varying formats is fine) and they will be rendered, converted to a faxable format, and sent to your destination fax number. Max file size is 25MB. Max amount of file attachments is 25. 

Once your documents are attached, simply hit SEND. That’s it! We’ll take care of the rest.

Allowed Email Attachments:

Adobe Acrobat Documents (PDF)

Microsoft Office Files (DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLXS, PPT, PPTX)

Open Office Files (ODP, ODS, ODT)

Google Files (GDOC, GSLIDES, GSPREADSHEET)

Text Files (TXT, RTF)

Printer Files (PCL, EPS, PS)

Image Files (TIFF, TIF, GIF, PNG, JPEG, JPG)

Other Files (FXC, FODT, HTML)

Tips: If you create a file using a scanner or print to file, always choose the option of black and white for the output.

Fax Management System – Simple User Guide

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We’ve created this simple guide for you to provide to all of your users that will go over the initial basics, like how to view your fax number, how to send a fax, and how to navigate to your fax history.

Accessing the Service
Log into the service: https://fax.voxtandem.com (The username is an authenticated email address and passwords are set up upon first login). Upon FIRST login, you are required to reset the password for security purposes.

Changing the Password
This service uses an username and password unique to the system.

Steps to change the password:
– After you are logged into the service, select your name in the upper right hand corner
– From the drop down menu, select “settings”
– Select Password (located at the top)
– Enter in your current password, and create your new password.
– Select Change

Your Fax Number
Once logged into the portal, your fax number will be listed on the right hand side under “My Fax Numbers”

How to Send a Fax
Log into your account at https://fax.voxtandem.com. This will default you to your “send fax” view.

Steps to send a fax:
– Enter your 10 digit fax destination number in the box next to the flax icon
– You can also use the contact button to select a recipient from your contact list
– Next, select your file you with to upload, drag & drop from your computer, or upload a file from a synced cloud storage account
– Click the Send button. You’ll receive a pop up confirmation that will show the fax is processing

How to View Your History
– From the main page, locate the left side panel
– Select History
– In the top right, choose All
– Here is where you will find all inbound and outbound faxes
– Click on the three dots to the far right to view/print, download, and look at the info of your faxes (this screen will give information into why a particular fax failed)

Need help?
If you need additional help, feel free to contact your admin team directly, or use the in-app support, located in the bottom right hand corner of the Documo portal.

3CX Recognized as the Best VoIP Service and Web Conferencing Software

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best voip video conferencing software

3CX has been ranked as #1 provider of VoIP Phone Services and Web Conferencing Software in the most recent round of awards announced by Digital.com.

LONDON, UK, 11TH MARCH 2021 – 3CX has been recognized in Digital.com’s 2021 Awards as the leading provider of VoIP Phone Services and the Best Web Conferencing Software. Digital.com considered more than 90 top-notch software companies in their pursuit to provide independent reviews openly available to small businesses looking for reliable solutions.

Both awards applauded 3CX’s intuitive and user-friendly interface, high quality product and easy integration. Features such as contact management, Click-to-Call and SIP trunking were particularly well  received by the assessment team and 3CX users alike. The review emphasized that the unified communications solution appealed even to the most budget-conscious business owners. The software was able to accommodate the growing business demands and communication challenges at the time of the pandemic, while offering excellent value for money.

For more information and the full list of software companies evaluated by Digital.com, please visit https://digital.com/voip-phone-services/ and https://digital.com/web-conferencing-software/

About 3CX (www.3cx.com)

3CX is the developer of an open standards communications solution which innovates business connectivity and collaboration, replacing proprietary PBXs. The award-winning software enables companies of all sizes to cut telco costs, boost employee productivity, and enhance the customer experience.

With integrated video conferencing, apps for Android and iOS, website live chat, SMS and Facebook Messaging integration, 3CX offers companies a complete communications package out of the box.

250,000 customers worldwide use 3CX including McDonalds, Hugo Boss, Ramada Plaza Antwerp, Harley Davidson, Wilson Sporting Goods and Pepsi. Maintaining its global presence, 3CX has offices in the U.S., U.K., Germany, South Africa, Russia and Australia. Visit 3CX on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

About Digital.com (digital.com)

Digital.com reviews and compares the best products, services, and software for running or growing a small business website or online shop. The platform collects twitter comments and uses sentiment analysis to score companies and their products. Digital.com was founded in 2015 and formerly known as Review Squirrel. To learn more, visit https://digital.com/. By Amy Elliott | April 21st, 2021

Cogent: Covid-19 uncertainty still impacting revenue

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work from home
Cogent said some customers delayed service purchases and closed satellite offices amid the pandemic.

Cogent Communications posted modest increases in off-net and on-net services revenue during the fourth quarter of 2020, though company executives acknowledged Cogent’s revenue growth is still being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its quarterly report issued this morning, Cogent announced service revenue of $143.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, an increase of 1.1% from the previous quarter and about 2.6% year over year. The company also reported service revenue of $568.1 million for the full year of 2020, up 4% from the previous year. Results were positively impacted by changing foreign exchange values, according to Cogent.

Looking deeper, Cogent CEO and Chairman Dave Schaeffer said on Cogent’s quarterly earnings call today that the company’s corporate communications business saw revenue declines of 3.9% year over year for the fourth quarter, and 2.1% compared to the third quarter of 2020. Cogent’s network-centric business experienced a stronger fourth quarter of 2020, with revenue up 7.7% year over year and more than 15% sequentially.

Cogent CFO Sean Wallace, also speaking on the call, added “We believe the growth rate of our corporate revenues was directly impacted by office occupancy changes due to Covid-19.” Wallace said some customers delayed procurement and installation of services, and other closed satellite offices and workers were sent home to work remotely, trends which affected demand.

Still, Wallace noted that the negative trends were more prominent in off-net office buildings and among customers using Cogent’s 100 Mbps services and lower-bandwidth circuits. He said demand for Cogent’s 1 Gbps service remained strong with existing customers keeping upgrades on track.

Additionally, Cogent noted that some pandemic-related trends can lead to positive revenue development in some areas. For example, growth in remote networking from home is likely to continue to increase demand for high-capacity circuits to end users. Cogent also is helped by the fact that its revenue base is not highly concentrated around a small number of large customers, Schaeffer said.

During the early months of the pandemic, Cogent provided ample evidence of how radical changes in office environments, work-from-home policies and related networking needs can quickly impact service providers. For example, last spring Cogent saw demand for corporate bandwidth and related 1 Gbps upgrades spike, but by late summer, the decline in office space was beginning to cause concerns.

by Dan O’Shea | Feb 25, 2021 10:18am | https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/cogent-covid-19-uncertainty-still-impacting-revenue

Virtual Schools to Be Increasingly Common After COVID-19

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School districts across the country expect the demand for online learning options to remain above pre-pandemic levels. Some are launching new virtual schools or preparing to accommodate future enrollment. BY BRANDON PAYKAMIAN / MARCH 24, 2021

School districts across the country expect the demand for online learning options to remain above pre-pandemic levels. Some are launching new virtual schools or preparing to accommodate future enrollment. BY BRANDON PAYKAMIAN / MARCH 24, 2021

While virtual learning and teaching have come with a plethora of challenges, some K-12 educators are more confident than ever about their remote capabilities after more than a year of virtual schooling during COVID-19 school closures. According to a February survey by the RAND Corporation American School District Panel, about 20 percent of schools now plan to establish and expand online courses for the handful of families who’ve welcomed the change of pace and flexibility of virtual learning.

Education officials from coast to coast say they’re bracing for an unprecedented increase in demand for online learning options in the years to come. And plans are underway to help meet that demand via the establishment of new virtual academies and the expansion of existing programs.

Jordan Virtual Academy Established in Utah

In Utah’s Jordan School District, officials are gearing up to offer the system’s newly established Jordan Virtual Learning Academy for students next fall. The new school, announced in December, is projected to serve at least 1,200 of the district’s current 3,000 virtual students through virtual core curriculum courses found elsewhere in the district, including math, reading and the sciences.

Principal Spencer Campbell said most of the new academy’s elementary students will attend virtual classes together in the morning, while others can choose to complete coursework asynchronously, meaning they can view lectures and finish coursework according to their schedules. Students can also choose to take a handful of hands-on art courses at in-person district campuses.

“There’s a little more flexibility as you move up through the [grade] levels,” he noted.

Campbell, a former virtual learning trainer, said educators feel more prepared to teach virtual classes after nearly a year of facilitating remote learning. He noted that 40 to 50 teachers from within the district have already applied to work with the new academy, made up of Kings Peak High School, Kelsey Peak Virtual Middle School, and Rocky Peak Virtual Elementary School.

“We had a lot of interest. Some of our positions had five, six, seven applicants that were within the district,” he said. “We also hired special ed teachers as well to work with our special needs students.”

Since most of the school’s staff come from within Jordan, officials expect the academy to be a cost-effective solution funded mainly through the district. However, administrators had not determined the exact cost of the school as of Wednesday. Campbell explained that while Utah’s schools are funded according to enrollment, some students may elect to take a couple classes virtually and others in-person. Because of this, he said, administrators are still exploring funding mechanisms.

“If we’re talking any student taking an online course, it will probably be about 2,000, 2,200. A lot of those will come from the high school level just taking one or two classes,” he said. “Full-time students, I would imagine, will be about 800 or 1,000.”

Butterfield Canyon Elementary School fifth-grade instructor Kasey Chambers said educators and administrators in the district had been discussing a new virtual academy since before the pandemic put the need at the forefront and put teachers’ virtual capabilities to the test. Though many were initially reluctant about going virtual, Chambers said she’s now looking forward to being part of something new in Jordan next semester.

“The challenge is that nobody has done this before for the majority of the time. We were all kind of thrust into it and doing the best we can with our expertise. As the year has progressed, we’ve gotten pretty good at it,” she said. “When the school opens, we’re really going to up our game.”

CAVA Hires More Teachers to Meet Demand

California Virtual Academies (CAVA) recently hired over 100 teachers to help facilitate enrollment growth, which has reached its brim with more than 15,000 students during the 2020-21 school year. Over the course of the pandemic, the K-12 charter academy system has witnessed growth not seen since its founding nearly 20 years ago.

April Warren, CAVA’s head of schools, said the school expects to retain many of these new students who enrolled for the first time during the 2020-21 school year, though projections for the fall still remain largely speculative. While many of those new students are new to full-time virtual learning, Warren thinks CAVA is up to the task of meeting the growing demand for online classes.

“We are hopeful many of those students will stay with us for the upcoming school year,” she said. “It is [still] too early to tell at this time what the enrollment for the upcoming school year will look like.”

Through the help of state funding, Warren said CAVA students can access comprehensive courses found in most brick-and-mortar schools, including world language courses. The school also offers Advanced Placement, career technical education and dual enrollment options that allow high school students to take college courses for both college and high school credits. The school also tailors instruction for some special needs students.

Similar to other online schools offering asynchronous learning options, Warren said CAVA gives students and teachers more flexibility throughout the school year compared to other traditional in-person public schools.

“While some traditional school experiences are not available in our setting — for example, competitive sports — students have more flexibility and support to develop other interests, such as afterschool jobs, community service or travel experiences,” she said. “For educators, they’re a part of a school designed to meet the individual needs of students … The model allows them to work with students individually or in small groups in ways the traditional school model struggles to provide.”

NC Virtual Expects Continued Growth

NC Virtual, a tuition-free supplemental online school in North Carolina, offers about 130 different courses and employs nearly 750 part-time and full-time instructors who now teach tens of thousands of students.

Executive Director Eliz Colbert said online learning at NC Virtual has been gaining popularity over the years since the school was established in 2007, but the pandemic boosted enrollment in the spring of 2020 and the 2020-21 school year.

“For the last several years, NC Virtual has averaged enrollment numbers of around 50,000 students in full-course credit classes. This year, we are on pace to exceed 60,000. I say ‘full-credit courses’ because some online schools count course enrollments by half credits. That is an important distinction to note,” she said in an email. “If we counted half credits, we would be exceeding 100,000.”

According to Colbert, the school is now planning to expand its course catalog, which currently includes foreign language classes and career courses, as well as K-12 core classes found in other public schools.

“We have 11 different world languages, a group of career technical education courses, and about 16 Advanced Placement courses,” she said, adding that courses sometimes vary by semester. “We are also growing our middle school course offerings.”

The school operates under a state enrollment-based funding formula similar to California, which works through a three-year rolling projection model so schools can budget ahead of each year, with reserve funds for drastic changes in enrollment.

“If a student enrolls for one class with us and the other six at their local [in-person] school, NC Virtual gets the money for the percentage of the one course through the average daily membership (ADM) formula for that particular district,” Colbert explained.

While learning loss has been a major concern for schools not used to full-time remote learning, Colbert noted that the school’s state test scores and AP scores generally match up well when compared with scores from the state’s in-person public school students, though state testing data has been limited during the pandemic.

Colbert said other schools often look to NC Virtual for help facilitating remote learning through programs like its Partnership Courses program. Colbert said programs such as this have “taken off” faster than expected during the pandemic as teachers and administrators throughout North Carolina continue navigating the challenges of virtual learning.

“Many districts in North Carolina want local virtual academies, but building a standards-aligned course catalog is most difficult,” she said.

Brandon Paykamian Staff Writer

Brandon Paykamian is a staff writer for Government Technology. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from East Tennessee State University and more than four years of experience as a multimedia reporter, mainly focusing on public education and higher ed.

Will work from home outlast virus? Ford’s move suggests yes

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Rugaber reported from Washington. AP Business Writer Alexandra Olson contributed to this report from New York.

DETROIT (AP) — It’s a question occupying the minds of millions of employees who have worked from home the past year: Will they still be allowed to work remotely — at least some days — once the pandemic has faded?

On Wednesday, one of America’s corporate titans, Ford Motor Co., supplied its own answer: It told about 30,000 of its employees worldwide who have worked from home that they can continue to do so indefinitely, with flexible hours approved by their managers. Their schedules will become a work-office “hybrid”: They’ll commute to work mainly for group meetings and projects best-suited for face-to-face interaction.

Ford’s announcement sent one of the clearest signals to date that the pandemic has hastened a cultural shift in Americans’ work lives by erasing any stigma around remote work and encouraging the adoption of technology that enables it. Broader evidence about the post-pandemic workplace suggests that what was long called tele-commuting will remain far more common than it was a year ago.

A report this week from the employment website Indeed says postings for jobs that mention “remote work” have more than doubled since the pandemic began. Such job postings are still increasing even while vaccinations are accelerating and the pace of new confirmed COVID cases is declining.

“If job postings are a guide, employers are increasingly open to remote work, even as some employees return to the workplace,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist at Indeed.

The share of Indeed’s job postings that mention “remote work” or “work from home” reached 7% last month, up from just below 3% a year ago. But in some industries, the gains were far more dramatic, including those that haven’t traditionally welcomed remote work.

In legal services, for example, remote-work postings for jobs including paralegals and legal assistants jumped from under 5% in the second half of 2019 to 16% in the second half of 2020, according to Indeed data. In banking and finance, for such jobs as actuaries and loan underwriters, remote-work postings surged from 4% to nearly 16%. For mental health therapists, they rose from 1% to nearly 7%.

Such shifts could, in turn, trigger changes in where people live and affect the varying economic health of metro areas. Some highly skilled workers could migrate from high-cost coastal cities, where they had clustered in the decade after the Great Recession, to more affordable cities or small towns. Downtown offices could shrink and exist mainly for collaborative work. The tax revenue of large cities could tumble as fewer workers patronize downtown bars, restaurants and coffee shops.

“The pandemic has broken the social and cultural norms for how we work,” said Timothy Golden, a professor of management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Remote work has become much more accepted.”

Ford is just the latest company to allow more work from home after the pandemic. Salesforce, Facebook, Google and other tech firms have said they’ll continue work-from-home policies indefinitely. Target Corp. will leave one of four downtown Minneapolis office locations because it’s moving to a hybrid model for 3,500 workers. It will keep other downtown offices.

Flexible remote work is hardly an equal opportunity perk. It is disproportionately concentrated among more educated, well-paid workers. The jobs of lesser-paid employees generally require on-site work or face-to-face contact with the public.

More than one-third of Asian employees and a quarter of whites worked from home because of the pandemic in January, according to an analysis of government data by the Conference Board, a business research group. Just 19% of Black workers and 14% of Hispanics were able to do so.

Ford has found over the past year that employees and supervisors believe that more work can be done remotely, that they can still connect with each other and that they have the means to do their jobs, said Kiersten Robinson, chief people and employee experiences officer. So when its hybrid schedule begins in July or soon thereafter, Ford will give teams a choice of when to come to the office.

Robinson said a flexible schedule will also help Ford compete for talent.

“I do think we’re seeing a real shift in expectations among candidates,” she said.

Among the employees pleased by the new policy is Kelly Keller, Ford’s chemistry and material compliance manager. Keller, who has been working a hybrid schedule since the pandemic erupted a year ago, wouldn’t want to go back to commuting to work each day. Now she generally works three days from home and then commutes for the next three workdays, an hour each way, to a lab in Dearborn, Michigan.

Sometimes when she’s home, she gets to take her daughter to elementary school and start work a little late before finishing later in the day.

“I definitely enjoy the flexibility,” Keller said. “I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue the hybrid arrangement, for sure.”

Of the workers she supervises, seven commute to the lab every day; four work from home. The at-home workers, Keller said, have been more productive than they were before the coronavirus struck because they often work during the time they would have been commuting.

“For most,” she said, “I think they put in longer days.”

A study last month by Alexander Bick, an economist at Arizona State University, and two colleagues found that nearly 13% of workers they surveyed plan to work from home full time after the pandemic — nearly double the 7.6% who did so in February 2020. An additional 25% expect to do so at least one day a week, up from 17% before the pandemic.

Company executives overwhelmingly report that remote work has succeeded during the pandemic, according to research by consulting firm PwC. About 55% said they envision allowing continued remote work, according to the survey of 133 executives of mostly large companies. Just 17% said they wanted employees back in the office as soon as possible. An additional 26% said they preferred only limited remote work but recognized that it’s become popular with employees.

Ford and other companies have been redesigning their offices, or considering doing so, to reflect fewer cubicles and personal offices and more conference rooms and other spaces for workers, who may be on-site for just part of the week, to collaborate.

A more flexible attitude about workplaces could deal a blow to the largest U.S. cities. Many Americans are already capitalizing on remote work to leave New York, Los Angeles, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area in favor of Phoenix; Tampa, Florida; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and other less expensive areas, real estate data shows.

One telling detail: Even as the number of homes for sale has tumbled nationally in the past year, the supply of for-sale houses in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles has actually increased, according to the real estate brokerage Redfin. And the drop in available homes has been much smaller than the national average in other large coastal cities, such as Seattle, Boston and Washington.

Many cities may also absorb a financial hit even if remote workers don’t move. One academic study estimates that spending by workers at downtown businesses will shrink 5% to 10% after the pandemic.

Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, said the pandemic has accelerated a trend that predated the virus: More Americans have sought cheaper homes in lesser-known cities and suburbs.

Fairweather herself left Seattle last summer after wildfires in Oregon turned the city’s skies smoky and dark. Originally, she, her husband and two small children planned to stay for just a month in a small town in Wisconsin, near his family. Soon, though, they decided to make it permanent, and Fairweather has been able to work remotely.

“We liked the pace of life — we liked being near family,” she said. “It’s so affordable here.”

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By TOM KRISHER and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER | https://apnews.com/article/will-work-from-home-last-after-virus-5409e050ff98749621f3d0edbe47f5dc

Cisco CEO: Work-from-home a struggle mentally for people

By / Telecommunications / / Leave a Comment
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins is cautiously optimistic that IT spending will increase this year, and says companies are preparing to send employees back to their office spaces by installing Wi-Fi 6. (FierceTelecom)(Mike Robuck/FierceTelecom)

The shine on working-from-home has worn off for most people, according to Cisco CEO and President Chuck Robbins.

Speaking on Tuesday’s second fiscal quarter earnings call, Robbins said based on the uptake that Cisco has seen for its Wi-Fi 6 offerings, companies are planning to send their employees back to their office spaces by using a hybrid model.

“I think we sort of moved into that phase where people actually struggle mentally,” Robbins said during the earnings call, according to a transcript.  “People are—they’re not enjoying it. One of our employees said to me the other day, ‘I don’t mind the option of working from home. I don’t like being forced to work from home.’ And so I really believe it’s going to be hybrid where people are going to work from home.

“And everybody is sort of landing here where they work from home three days a week and then work from the office two days a week or vice versa. The question is, what accommodations does that lead to for customers based on employees’ concern over space issues, concern over future pandemics or other concern? That’s what we just don’t know yet. But I do believe, based on what we’ve seen with Wi-Fi 6, that tells me customers are getting ready. And they’re upgrading the wireless infrastructure now.”

Robbins said he anticipated Cisco’s employees would return to their offices starting in the mid-to late-summer timeframe. In addition to the Wi-Fi 6 upgrades, Robbins said the return to office spaces could also require more switching infrastructure to support the Wi-Fi 6 builds. 

“We also believe that every meeting in the future is going to be a hybrid meeting, even when people are back in the office,” Robbins said. “You’ll have people in the office and you’ll have people remote.

“And in order to accommodate that, we suspect most of our customers will be putting video units in every conference room they have, which, again, will also accommodate the hybrid work model but will also drive bandwidth requirements, which could lead to switching infrastructure. So that’s the way we see it playing out over the next few months.”

Cisco by the numbers

Due, in part, to the lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Cisco’s revenues decreased for the fifth consecutive quarter. In the second quarter, Cisco’s revenue was $11.96 billion, which was relatively flat from a year ago, but exceeded analysts’ projections of  $11.92 billion, according to Refinitiv. For the quarter that ended Jan. 23, Cisco’s earnings rose 2% to 79 cents per share from a year earlier versus the 76 cents per share that was expected by analysts.

Cisco’s Infrastructure Platforms business revenue, which is its leading product segment that includes its data center switches and routers, was down 3% year-over-year to $6.39 billion in the second quarter. Revenue for switches was flat while revenue from routers and servers decreased.

Cisco’s applications unit that includes its Webex video-calling products posted $1.35 billion in revenue, which was surprisingly flat year-over-year and below the FactSet consensus estimate of $1.40 billion.

On the plus side, service provider revenue was up 5% while commercial was up 1%, but the enterprise segment was down by 9%. Robbins said Cisco was starting to find traction with web-scale customers that operate large-scale data centers. Roughly a fourth of Cisco’s service provider revenue came from web-scale clients in the second quarter.

“On the SP (service provider) space, if you look at what we saw in the quarter from an order perspective, we saw positive growth in cable, which represents about 15% of the segment,” Robbins said. “We saw triple-digit growth in web scale, which has represented 25% of the segment. And then our telco business was down, and that’s roughly 60% of the business.

“And primarily, that is because of where we are in the stages with 5G. We have roughly 35 customers around the world that we’re working on 5G solutions with mobile backhaul, with orchestration, with packet core. And so we’re just early in that transition. And I think that particular sub-segment of SP will begin to show progress for us as we see the core backbone build-out, as we’ve been saying over the last few years.”

RELATED: Cisco and Acacia move forward on merger but price tag goes up to $4.5B

Robbins also commented on the on again, off again deal to buy Acacia Communications. After claims and counter claims in court last month, Cisco and Acacia Communications announced they had settled their differences and are moving forward on their merger, but the price tag increased from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $4.5 billion last month.

Cisco and Acacia were at odds over whether Cisco garnered regulatory approval from China by the deadline last month.

“So on the Acacia thing, I think it’s quite clear what occurred,” Robbins said. “We didn’t have China approval. We thought we did. We didn’t have it in time. So we renegotiated the price because our contract with them had expired. And candidly, the performance they put up in the 18 months between our original deal and this deal was pretty astounding, so the price was not out of the question.”

With China’s regulatory stamp of approval in place, Robbins said the deal is awaiting final approval by Acacia’s stockholders, and that he expects it to close in the third quarter.

Going forward, Cisco expects 80 cents to 82 cents in adjusted earnings per share on 3.5% to 5% revenue growth in the fiscal third quarter.

“Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic as recent surveys of IT spending indicate year-over-year IT budget growth for calendar 2021,” Robbins said.

by Mike Robuck | Feb 10, 2021 | https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/cisco-ceo-work-from-home-a-struggle-mentally-for-people