PMO Corner: Sunsetting Centrex — why the U is swapping copper phone lines for Avaya and Teams

UIT is about halfway through a major modernization effort to retire the university’s remaining Centrex phone systems and migrate thousands of copper-based lines to modern voice platforms, including Microsoft Teams for campus and Avaya for hospitals and clinics. The transition affects Centrex-dependent services across the University of Utah and University of Utah Health, from desk phones and fax machines to elevator phones, research alarms, and emergency lines.

Based on recent UIT reports, 3,125 of 5,784 Centrex desk and specialty lines, or about 46%, have been migrated or are currently being migrated. Since the project began in April 2025, UIT has migrated about 71 lines per week and about 307 lines each month. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.

Syndi Haywood, associate director for Voice Systems and Business Administration, said the move is necessary and deliberately paced to reduce disruption.

“We know it can feel like all we’re ever doing is changing, and in some ways, that’s just how it is in IT. Modernization is part of the work, but we’re mindful of change fatigue,” Haywood said. “Our goal is to complete this transition and move into a period focused on feature enhancements and upgrades for Avaya and Teams, rather than ongoing large-scale shifts.”

According to Briettny Van Ourkerk, IT project manager in UIT’s Project Management Office (PMO), planning is key.

“This is a big lift across the university. Our process begins with meeting with our users to understand their needs. We want to ensure departments know what’s coming, what to expect, and what they need to do,” Van Ourkerk said. “This proactive approach is what drives our project, which is much more ideal than reacting to a sudden carrier deadline.”

Why Centrex is no longer viable

The essential need to wind down Centrex, Haywood said, comes down to several industry-wide factors.

Centrex relies on aging copper infrastructure that telecommunications carriers are phasing out nationwide. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) signaled its intention to speed up the copper retirement process for phone carriers and phase out copper-based plain old telephone service (POTS) lines nationwide in favor of modern systems that support Voice over IP (VoIP), like Teams.

“The writing is on the wall,” Haywood said. “Carriers everywhere are stepping away from copper. We cannot build our communications strategy on a technology that’s aging out of existence.”

Haywood said replacement parts for Centrex systems are increasingly scarce, and technicians with relevant experience are harder to find. Some carriers, including Lumen Technologies, are reducing or eliminating support for Centrex services entirely.

“We’ve seen support gaps develop over time,” Haywood said. “Eventually, that becomes a risk, particularly for safety-critical lines.”

Sticking with Centrex also carries reliability and compliance risks. Modern safety expectations, resiliency standards, and regulatory requirements increasingly assume VoIP-capable infrastructure.

“Reliability used to be Centrex’s strongest selling point, but today, VoIP systems with proper backup and monitoring actually give us better control and higher transparency,” Haywood said.

A long transition nears its end

UIT has been moving away from Centrex in favor of VoIP systems since 2016. While many campus and hospital users have already transitioned to Avaya or Teams (included in the U’s campus agreement with Microsoft), thousands of older Centrex lines remained due to their connection to specialty equipment or because they were outside of the scope of earlier projects, Haywood said.

Centrex was once the gold standard for business telephones. Offered by local phone companies, it delivered private branch exchange (PBX)-like features, such as call transfer and voicemail, without needing equipment onsite. For universities, that meant simple analog phones in classrooms or offices, all managed from the carrier’s central office.

“Centrex was incredibly effective for its time — it was the cloud before the cloud,” Haywood said. “It gave universities PBX-level functionality without managing giant switchboards, but the future is software-based voice, mobility, and integration with tools people already use every day.”

What the Centrex move means for users

For most former Centrex users, using Avaya or Teams will feel similar, with additional flexibility that Centrex didn't provide:

• Softphones — a software application used to make phone calls over the internet — on laptops, smartphones, and tablets
• Voicemail delivered to email
• Click-to-call and integrated contacts
• Improved mobility for hybrid work

Of the 3,125 phone lines that have been or are being migrated, Van Ourkerk said 1,381 switched from Centrex to a VoIP solution, and 1,051 have been disconnected.

Elevator phones, fire alarms, research freezer monitors, and other dedicated lines tied to essential services are being reviewed individually. Each migration accounts for regulatory requirements, reliability needs, and appropriate power backup.

“UIT's goal is to make the move away from Centrex as smoothly as possible,” Van Ourkerk said.

A campuswide commitment

The Centrex project requires coordination across UIT including the Voice Services team. network engineers, account executives, field technicians, system administrators, database administrators, IT product managers, inventory, warehouse, and logistics staff, the PMO, Strategic Communication team, as well as departmental partners across campus and health.

“It truly takes everyone,” Haywood said. “From planning to field installers to desktop support, the teamwork has been extraordinary.”

If you have questions or would like to discuss pricing for non-Centrex options, please email the UIT Account Executives team at UITAccountExecutives@utah.edu.

 

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