Designed to help make business smarter. ShoreTel systems are easy to use, simple to manage, incredibly flexible and reliable. So smart they almost take care of themselves. Imagine a phone system that actually anticipates needs, that fits into infrastructure so seamlessly, it's like an extension of a company's strongest team.

With an intelligent ShoreTel phone system, every worker – including IT staff, knowledge workers, and operators and executive assistants – can dramatically improve day-to-day productivity. By enhancing internal and external communications, firms can do a superior job satisfying customers and winning new business. In short, companies can more fully reach their potential.

ShoreTel technology facilitates communication at work. Our intelligent systems unleash companies to be faster, better. ShoreTel Smart™ – the way phone systems should be.

• Distributed intelligence
  With no single point of failure and embedded hardware platforms, ShoreTel systems are extremely reliable. In the unlikely event of a failure, the other ShoreTel devices will continue to operate. They can even assume the functions of the failed device, without affecting the rest of the phone system.
• Single management interface
  A single-view interface means users spend very little effort managing this streamlined system. And because ShoreTel technology requires almost no staff training or support, it saves both time and money.
• Application-rich
  From converged conferencing to unified messaging, distributed customer care to seamless telecommuting, ShoreTel systems let users choose from more than 400 features they can customize with point-and-click simplicity.
• Easy to use
  With a perceptive design and plug-and-play implementation, ShoreTel systems live up to their reputation as the industry's easiest solutions to deploy and use. ShoreTel systems remain flexible, so if companies want to change locations, employees can just pick up their phones and move. The minute the phones are reconnected, ShoreTel Smart systems know who users are and the features they want – automatically.
• Exceptional customer service
  The company has a six-year track record of outstanding customer satisfaction and financial stability. Our network of dedicated partners provides responsive support to hundreds of successful enterprises.
• Data-network independent
  ShoreTel wants its customers to stay with it because they're delighted with the quality of our products, not because they're forced into a closed system. That's why ShoreTel systems integrate with switches and routers from all the leading data vendors. Customers never are faced with costly network upgrades mandated by proprietary vendors.
• Phenomenal clarity
  Mature IP telephony is a stable communications platform today. Users and their callers won't be able to tell the difference between phone calls over traditional landlines or phone calls over the local and wide area network.
• Simple expansion capability
  Standalone or integrated solutions easily expand up or down, automatically seeking and enabling new locations. Users' in-house IT experts can add phones, change extensions, alter voice mail and reconfigure options without help. And if they need a hand, ShoreTel's knowledgeable network of partners can aid in installing new systems and enabling branch offices.
• Smooth migration path
  Starting with a branch office or corporate headquarters, ShoreTel technology is the easiest way to embrace IP telephony. Start the conversion to this proven technology today and begin to see system-wide savings right away.

A Great Leap Forward

Collaboration. It's never been more critical for enterprise success. The new economic landscape rewards companies that can respond to market events with swiftness and intelligence.

With Converged Conferencing, ShoreTel delivers a next-generation conferencing platform – an evolutionary leap made possible by the convergence of voice and data into a single, unified medium. Take control with your own in-house conferencing solution – ShoreTel Converged Conferencing delivers "anytime" access to up to 96 ports for audio conferencing, and empowers your workforce with an effortless means of sharing information.

And because ShoreTel Converged Conferencing is fully integrated with your phone system, it removes the cost barriers associated with traditional in-house collaboration solutions – and ends dependency on high-cost, hosted web services for ad-hoc audio/web conferences.

Topology of ShoreTel Voice Network in multi-site enterprise with Conference Bridge and web-based collaborative groups.

With ShoreTel Converged Conferencing, your enterprise can maximize its use of knowledge resources, make better-informed decisions, and respond more swiftly to customer needs and changing market conditions.

To view an animated, annotated version of this diagram, click here.

The ShoreTel system is a completely distributed, scaleable solution layered on the IP network with no single point of failure. At the heart of the system is a call control architecture that distributes call management functions to intelligent gateways – called voice switches – anywhere on the IP network. ShoreTel architecture distributes voice applications – including voicemail and automated attendant – to servers across locations, rather than centralizing applications at the network core. The resulting solution provides a single-image system for all locations and all voice applications. Gone are the days of multiple PBXs, multiple voice mail systems, multiple automated attendants, multiple ACD systems – all with their unique management interfaces. The ShoreTel system is distributed, the voice applications are integrated, and the management interface is best in class. Finally, somebody got it right.

ShoreGear Voice Switches

The basic building blocks of the system are ShoreGear voice switches, which are intelligent devices that provide both gateway and call management functionality. ShoreGear voice switches are purpose-built devices that run an embedded, real-time operating system, each delivering 99.999% reliability ensuring dial tone – the most critical business application.

Even more significantly, the call control software is distributed to each and every voice switch, eliminating any single point of failure. In the unlikely event a ShoreGear voice switch does fail, the other switches on the network automatically take on the call-processing load. There is no server involved with the basic telephony, thus the system delivers levels of availability unmatched by even legacy vendors.

And even though there are multiple ShoreGear voice switches distributed to locations across the network, they communicate as peers on the network using an enhanced version of the Sessions Initiation Protocol (SIP). The resulting solution is a single system delivering 100% feature transparency between locations.

ShoreGear voice switches are available in five different models to meet the needs of small, medium and large offices supporting IP phones, analog phones, analog trunks and digital trunks. And since the design is inherently scalable, there are no hardware break points and associated "forklift" upgrades – the system architecture scales infinitely, and the product has been certified to 10,000 ports in a single system.

ShorePhone Telephones

The ShoreTel system supports standards-based IP and analog telephones as well as a soft phone. The beauty of standards-based telephones is that competition will drive prices down, drive quality up and increase choice. IP telephones plug into the Ethernet network and communicate to the call management software on a ShoreGear voice switch using the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). Analog telephones plug into a ShoreGear voice switch and communicate to directly to the call management software on the associated voice switch.

The ShorePhones are highly functional devices, supporting a complete suite of telephony services including make call, take call, transfer, conference, pickup, park, intercom and multiple line appearance. They are available in a wide range of options supporting caller ID, message waiting and speakerphone.

PSTN

The ShoreTel system connects to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) using ShoreGear voice switches. ShoreGear voice switches support analog trunking (loop start, wink start) as well as digital trunking (T1, T1 PRI and E1 PRI).

ShoreWare Voice Applications

Sitting on the network is a standard server that acts like a storage device for voice mail. The software on the server provides voice mail and automated services without traditional port and storage limitations. Each server can support up to 254 simultaneous calls and storage is limited only by the size of the hard disk. Voice mail servers can be distributed across the network to reduce the bandwidth on the wide area network as well as providing survivable voice mail on a per-site basis. And even though there are multiple servers on the network, they still behave as a single system – reply, forward, broadcast and distribution list are seamless between servers simplifying communications.

ShoreWare Director

ShoreWare Director is a browser-based management interface. From anywhere on the network, the system administrator can launch a Web browser and gain access to ShoreWare Director – the best-in-class management interface. Through one browser, you can manage all the sites, including the PBX, voice mail, automated attendant and desktop applications. ShoreWare Director is hosted on the main voice application server and pushes Web pages out to the system administrator. When a new user is added, the system administrator simply clicks "add new", enters the user's first and last name and hits save. The management software automatically updates the centralized database – allowing for easy backup procedures – and the change is propagated to each and every voice switch, the mailbox is created, the automated attendant dial by name and number is updated, the online directories are updated and the user even gets an email with a URL to download their desktop productivity application! All in seconds.

ShoreTel Call Manager

In addition to a highly functional telephone, each user runs applications on the desktop that integrate with your business process and drive improvements in productivity as well as customer satisfaction. What does this really mean?

• General users get unified messaging so voice mail shows up in their email inbox, desktop call control allows them to control the behavior of their phone, and features like follow me find me allows them to be reached.
• Operators or executive assistants get online directories and constant presence information to connect calling parties with the right person quicker and help collaborate with key staff.
• Contact center agents and supervisors can choose from a suite of products that allow them to be the most productive as well as deliver on customer service targets.

ShoreTel Converged Conferencing

ShoreTel Converged Conferencing is delivered on an embedded platform that connects directly to the IP network. Providing audio and data collaboration services, enterprises can drive down the cost of conference services. Converged Conferencing makes your communication with individuals and with groups more effective so you can get the business results you need faster than ever before. For instance, a user on a call can share a document by dragging and dropping the file in the ShoreTel Call Manager application, and the other party is instantly brought to a Web page with the information!

ShoreTel Contact Center

ShoreTel Contact Center solutions provide a suite of applications from basic hunt groups and voice queuing to complete multi-media queuing and skills – based routing of voice, email and chat. The Contact Center solution allows an enterprise to route incoming calls to the most appropriate agent in a multi-site contact center, regardless of location. The solution treats all available agent resources across all sites as one "virtual" contact center. This allows companies to maximize agent productivity, reduce call center costs and boost customer satisfaction level.

The ShoreTel phone system scales seamlessly from 0 to 10,000 users making it a perfect match for small, medium and large businesses. A completely integrated system with PBX, voice mail and automated attendant functionality, the solution has installation, administration and management tools that are second to none in the industry that will liberate you from the tyranny – cost and complexity – of other vendor solutions – cobbled together by data networking vendors or repainted to look like new by legacy-minded vendors. The system is ideal for multi-site companies since the distributed architecture unifies multiple locations so their phone system behaves as one, unified system.

To view an animated, annotated version of this diagram, click here.

Enterprise Everywhere

The new enterprise is no longer confined to a fixed location – it is a fluid and dynamic system that redraws its boundaries on a daily basis. Business occurs spontaneously, wherever you happen to be – at a branch office, in a hotel room or driving on the interstate. A true mobility solution is light and transparent. It lets you extend the boundaries of your enterprise while giving you a tactical advantage over your competitors.

Talk to People, Not Phone Numbers

ShoreTel bases its mobility offerings on a simple – yet revolutionary – idea: It makes more sense to call a person rather than a physical location. When workers travel, their office telephone numbers and voice features should go with them. Important calls "find" the knowledge worker – at her desk, on a factory floor or relaxing in a hotel room in Paris.

Road warriors should no longer expect to sacrifice features for mobility. Wherever they may be, knowledge workers have access to the extensive functionality of their phone system. They can launch their call manager and softphone and be productive in an instant office – with all their standard voice features available at a click of a mouse whenever they access an acceptable network connection.

True mobility means connecting to others without delays. It means making yourself instantly available to valued customers, regardless of where you are or the kind of communications device you have with you. True mobility also means having control over your availability – you decide who can reach you, when they can reach you, and by what means they can communicate with you.

• ShoreTel™ AnyPhone
  Transforms any phone into your personal enterprise extension.

• Find Me
  Never miss an important call again. Callers are announced before you accept a call, eliminating the time sink created by "junk" calls.

• Advanced Call Handling Modes
  Customizable call handling modes give ordinary users a professional, efficient telephone persona – customized for their individual needs.

• Calendar-based Call Routing
  Unification of desktop telephony with Outlook means that the ShoreTel system can route your calls on the basis of calendar entries. For example, if Outlook knows you're in New York all week, it can route calls to your cell phone or a vendor extension.

• Notifications
  Customizable notifications give you a "heads-up" on critical calls.

• SoftPhone
  When no telephone is available, your computer can give you all the capabilities of your desktop extension – even over wireless networks. SoftPhone can offer dramatic advantages – especially to businesses with fluctuating staffing needs. Using SoftPhone, you can add staff without making substantial investments in formal offices – workers can join the company's telephony network from home offices or satellite branches. For road warriors, SoftPhone raises the bar on mobile productivity, whether you're working from remote office in Portland or from a luxury hotel room in Shanghai.

• Dial In/Dial Out
  Dial into your company's 800 exchange to place outbound calls. Secured by an authentication service, Dial In/Dial Out eliminates exorbitant hotel phone charges if your cell phone is unavailable, or allows you to save cell phone minutes if you are not near a land-line phone.

SoftPhone Requirements

Note: For ShoreTel desktop applications to function correctly, you must install the Client for Microsoft Networking.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 is required for the Web Access call handling application and for SoftPhone.