Purdue Northwest Will Migrate Voice Services to Teams
The campus will decommission all physical desk phones by moving calling functions to the Microsoft Teams software.
Updated on Oct. 13, 2026 in Telecommunications
Live Poll
Do you prefer using app-based calling systems over traditional physical office desk phones?
Purdue Northwest plans to migrate its campus voice services to Microsoft Teams starting in late October or early November 2026. This move will culminate in the decommissioning of all physical desk phones across the university.
Why it matters
The transition shifts university communications from hardware-dependent infrastructure to a software-based model. By requiring the Microsoft Teams application for all incoming and outgoing calls, Purdue IT aims to unify telephony with existing digital collaboration workflows.
Users will handle telephony by running the Microsoft Teams app, which enables internal calling through a directory-based interface. The system requires that the software remain active to receive and initiate calls, replacing traditional desk-based hardware.
The players
Purdue Northwest
A regional university campus that provides higher education and research facilities in Hammond.
Microsoft Teams
A collaboration platform that integrates chat, video conferencing, and now voice services into a single software stack.
The details
The migration process utilizes VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol — a method for delivering voice communications over IP networks) to reroute voice traffic through the Microsoft Teams software environment. Purdue IT will manage the transition in waves, porting phone numbers directly into the digital platform. Once a user's number is moved, internal calls are initiated by searching for a colleague's name within the application directory.
Timeline
Waves of phone number porting will begin in late October or early November 2026.
The Tech Race
The transition at Purdue Northwest marks a shift toward unified communications platforms replacing legacy private branch exchange hardware. This move aligns with broader efforts to integrate enterprise telephony directly into collaboration software suites.
Staff and faculty will no longer rely on physical desk phones for campus communications after their specific migration date. To maintain call availability, users must keep the Microsoft Teams application running on their workstations throughout the workday.
The takeaway
The move to software-based calling requires users to integrate communication tools into their daily digital workflows. Watch for the specific migration notifications arriving in late October or early November to ensure no disruption in call connectivity.
What happens next
Users will receive an individualized migration notice approximately two weeks before their phone number is ported to the new system.
Further reading
For more information on infrastructure shifts, visit our Telecommunications section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Nwitimes.
Live Poll
Do you prefer using app-based calling systems over traditional physical office desk phones?
