Telephone Systems keeps Travis connected

  • Published
  • By Nick DeCicco
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Telephone Systems office's motto is: "You can talk about us, but you can't talk without us."

Though the phrase is not without its own confident swagger, it also serves as a visible reminder of the scope of the system the office has in its charge.

In the interest of best serving its customers, the office has worked on putting several new technologies to task.

"We're going from the 20th century to the 21st century, going from analog to digital," said Linda McLeish, circuit actions manager.

The most visible change to the Travis community may be the switch of voicemail systems, from the aging analog Meridian service to the incoming Callegra, which is digital.

While taking up less physical space in the office's nerve center, Callegra allows more voice messages.

"It increases the amount of memory you have for messages left and greatly enhances the capacity to store messages," Mrs. McLeish said.

Mrs. McLeish said the new mailboxes have seemingly endless capacity - "it can hold hours of messages." Shutting down Meridian completely is expected to happen before year's end.

Another change in the works will help deployed Travis Airmen call home more easily. The Air Force Combat Information Transportation System Automated Health and Morale System is expected to simplify keeping in touch with loved ones.

Now, instead of waiting in a long line to call home, Airmen will be able to dial a Defense Switched Network directly into the AHAMS and then be able to talk to those stateside for up to 30 minutes a week. The calls will be routed throughout local commercial phone lines.

Travis is the first base to have the AF CITS system installed.

"Although the AHAMS is physically installed and operable, we are still in the process of developing the system's programs, policies, and customer education," 2nd Lt. John Bernabe. "We're trying to figure everything out, trying to get it smooth and running. When it's up and running, it's going to be good."

Another new system already up and running is the Voice Protection System. VPS acts like a firewall for the base's phone lines, protecting calls to and from the base. It prevents against war dialers - machines programmed to call blocks of numbers beginning with the same prefix - in addition to checking faxes and modems for authorizations.

"It helps protect against the base's vulnerabilities," said Jim Lucius, chief of telephone systems.

This system scans the lines and automatically rejects numbers based on calling numbers in sequence or being unauthorized or previously blocked. Those are helpful criteria for the office members as there are nearly 12,000 phone numbers at Travis.

While they may not all be monitored, Airmen are able to view the nature of all calls coming in or going off of the base via a large computer monitor displaying the line in use, whether the call is incoming or outgoing, and the phone numbers involved. The system is not unique to Travis - the University of California, Davis, has a similar program.

One Air Force-wide program being put into place is transitioning from running phone lines through analog jacks to Voice over Internet Protocol. The nature of the connection can transfer more information than a regular phone cable, and then combines computer and phone into one digital line.

Another area of responsibility for the telephone systems office is the base telephone operators, which is comprised of contracted employees. These staff members direct 40,000 to 60,000 incoming calls per month.

Visit the 60th CS Telephone Systems office website at https://w3.travis.af.mil/60cs/scx/scxl/Home.cfm for information including voicemail and other telephone information, or contact their office at 707-424-3052.