There’s a saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” while this adage rings true time and time again - this week it was challenged. The third oldest city in the United States (behind only Boston and New York) and the largest city in New Jersey, Newark, decided to upgrade the communications systems in City Hall and join the many adopting cloud communications.

Today, Phone.com (News - Alert) announced the city of Newark is leveraging the provider’s phone service in multiple offices and departments throughout the city. “We are delighted to be working with the City of Newark and serving their communication needs,” said Ari Rabban (News - Alert), CEO of Phone.com. “We knew our service capabilities and flexibility would match the scale and needs of the City, and we look forward to furthering our collaboration.”

City of Newark CIO, Seth Wainer explained the city is in the midst of a technology transformation. Partnering with Phone.com provides cost savings and an increased level of functionality. Wainer noted Phone.com’s “ease of use; speed to add new phone extensions, and the wide variety of features and customization it offers,” as the primary factors for the selection.

The newly added business phone system offers the City of Newark the flexibility and scalability to provide new and exciting communication possibilities—extending to city visitors, employees as well as residents.

Rabban continued to say, “This is in-line with Newark’s overall technology enhancement projects that include recent deployment of the world’s fastest large-scale outdoor public Wi-Fi system, enhanced public information kiosks and more.” 

The City of Newark and Phone.com have been working together since 2015. Starting with a small number of endpoints, the deployment grew to hundreds and per Weiner will continue to grow through 2016.

It is clear this old dog can roll over, as Newark is committed to revitalizing its phone system and Phone.com is the perfect fit for the transformation.