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As both a ShoreTel Certified VoIP Engineer and a CISCO CCVP I  have been working exclusively in VoIP since 1998.   For this reason,  one of the questions that is most asked of me is which is a better solution: ShoreTel and CISCO?   Since I have the sales skills of Attila the Hun, I assume that the question is being asked because someone is truly interested in understanding the architecture of the two systems.   At the end of the day  most people just want to pick up the handset, hear that warm reassuring sound of the dial tone, press some digits and talk to their target!  How that all happens is generally of little interest to the average user.   So why else would you ask that question unless you were generally interested in understanding the two systems and how they compare when resolving traditional telephony applications.  I thought it might be useful to drill down on the two solutions in a few key areas toward the goal of understanding how they both work.

Read the rest of this article on ShoreTel Cisco Comparison on DrVoIP Blog

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Recently, I discovered a new SIP softphone by CouterPath Corporation the company that brought you X-Lite, one of the most popular free phones on the net.    The new offering is named Bria and is ideally suited for your iPad.   Bria is a more of a “carrier grade” softphone enabling both voice and video calls over IP, the ability to send IM messages and transfer files to your contacts. Read the entire post on ShoreTel Sip Extension

System configuration is relatively straight forward, but very specific. Without getting into the infrastructure requirements, there are steps in the configuration that must be accomplished to bring up a useable platform. The SMR will connect to your PBX using both SIP Extensions and SIP trunks. Licenses, Authentication SSL Certifications, Time Servers, DID numbers and Network Interfaces are all necessary components to a successful deployment. The ShoreTel Roam Anywhere Client or RAC, can be downloaded from the Mobility Router itself for Crackberry and Nokia, or from the Apple AP store if you are installing on an iphone. Read more on ShoreTel Mobility Router

ShoreTel Recently announced the availability of Version 7 of the Enterprise Contact Center.  It is not secret that I am a big fan of this product, so I was anxious to see what the new version had to offer.The product has a number of new features and capabilities that are both feature specific and impact the infrastructure of the product. Read the entire post on ShoreTel ECC 7 

Software development is a process, not an event.  Having said that, from time to time, we have an event.  The release of a new version of software is such an event.  The software development process, however, continues.   The decision as to where to draw the line to separate one release from another is a complex interaction of competing goals.  The Marketing folks are trying to keep up with the competitive feature package from another vendor.   The support team desperately needs a patch for a nasty unforeseen system configuration that introduces an undesirable result and the software team has an aggressive agenda of its own making.

The list of new feature demands is unending.  Driven in part by user requests, marketing objectives and the pressures of other vendor releases.    If your product is built on Microsoft, clearly you are under pressure to stay compatible with any new releases they might make available to the market.  In fact, as it relates to ShoreTel, many people were seeking Windows 7 support when what they really want is Microsoft Office 2010 support!   Was it 64 bit desktop computers or 64 bit server software that the market demanded?  Do we do the Apple IPhone? Is that web based Communicator really needed in this release or can it wait?   Fixing the release of new features is one of the most challenging business decisions that companies have to make.

Generally companies try for two DOT releases per year and one major new release every year.  For ShoreTel, we generally expect a DOT one and a DOT two release.  For example we might have a Version 10.1 in general availability (GA) while we are beta testing a major release like 11.0.    We move to a GA release with the DOT and 11.0 becomes 11.1 available to all.   Currently, as of this post, ShoreTel is in GA on Version 11.1 while beta testing Version 12.0.  The GA Version of ShoreTel 11.1 has a host of exciting new features, but architecturally we are most interest in 64 bit server support; virtualization, Windows 7 Support, browser based Communicator  and distributed Databases.    Version 12 completes the Microsoft compatibility by supporting Outlook 2010.

Distributed Workgroups was made available in Version 10, which enables the continued operation of Workgroups on a distributed voice mail server (DVM) even if the HQ server failed.   This has some attractive options, but having an operating workgroup might be limited by an inability to have users log in or out of the workgroup.  Version 11 enables distributed database capability.  This means that in the absence of a HQ (e.g. read/write database) server, a user on a DVM could change their call handling mode; or a change in schedule from Off-Hours to On-Hours could be effected.   You have to chose one over the other and I would encourage you to choose the distributed database.   Best practice dictates that a Workgroup should be backed up by a Hunt Group that contains all the agents who make up the Workgroup.  In this way a failure of the Workgroup, still provides a call flow that reaches all Agents.  A distributed database, in my humble opinion, has higher impact.  IN a multi-site deployment, you will want to change call handling modes even if the HQ server is down. Continue Reading...

So there I am, on the my desk phone, talking to some very important client and I now have 45 minutes to make an appoint that is 1 hour away by car! The client is important and we have been trying to link up for days! I also have to be at this next appointment on time! This is where a new ShoreTel 11 feature called "twinning" comes in. While talking to my very important client, I hit a button on my phone labeled MOVE and my cell phone starts ringing! I answer the cell phone, hang up the desk phone and continue my conversation as I make a mad dash for the parking lot! How kool is that? With the release of ShoreTel 11 you will find a new option under the ShoreTel Logo in the upper left hand corner of your call manager. Select "Additional phones" on the drop down list. This will provide another drop down list and you will select "configure additional phones". Continue Reading...

Call Profiles can be of two varieties in the ShoreTel Enterprise Contact Center. They are either System Mandatory or User definable. ( Actually, to be absolutely correct, we need to acknowledge that "Skill Sets" are another type of call profile, but we are including them as User definable). The system assigns a number of Call Profile parameters automatically as the call moves through the system. Continue Reading...

Recently a client discoverd that at terminated employee, gone for almost a month, was still answering his office extension from his cell phone! We have so many technology options for mobility today that the HR deparment most be going nuts trying to keep the "exit interview" check list up to date! Without commenting on the HR ramifications, IT system administrators have long had to contend with terminated employees and how to handle remote access, email and the other regular components of an advanced Information Technology. With the advent of VoIP, most IT organizations have now had to add the telephone system to the growing list of security access concerens. This blog and video clip was created to knock off a couple of concepts simultaneously. First, adminstrators want to know how to configure permissions for different user types. Continue Reading...

 One of the benefits of a successful blog, is the talented people you meet and the ideas that you exchange with other industry professionals. Through an earlier blog on the subject of connecting an Apple iPhone to a ShoreTel System as a SiP extension, I met such a creative talent: Matt Vlasach of Pacificswell! Matt was both an excited ShoreTel VoIP user and a iPhone aficionado. Thought Matt was happy to play with SIP his real interest was in creating a ShoreTel App for the iPhone! As a result of Matts talented development team at Pacificswell, I have had the pleasure of playing with a beta version of StreamLine, a mobile call manager for the iPhone! If you have always wished that ShoreTel could work on your iPhone, your wish has been granted! Pacificswell's first release of the App is a useful, easy to master, technically brilliant mobile call manager! Using Streamline you can remotely connect to your ShoreTel server and setup your call handling modes and activate your Office Anywhere feature. The App is intuitive and graphically obvious! Even using the Apple developers platform to obtain the beta version ( an Apple strategy for enabling developers to offer the App before it appears in the App store), the download and install was remarkably simple. Continue Reading...

How many people hit the Auto Attendant and then dialed one for Sales? One of the most requested reports from ShoreTel clients is the analysis of Automated Attendant key strokes. With in the ShoreTel iPBX there are probably several ways to implement this, but we prefer the use of "route points" (see past blog). " Thank you for calling our company during our normal business hours. For Sales Press 1, for Service Press 2 or stay on the line and the next available member of our staff will be right with you". Continue Reading...