Category Archives: ShoreTel

Avaya, M&A Activity, Polycom, ShoreTel

iQ Solutions Group Acquires Fidelis Communications

iQ Solutions Group, a provider of converged communications, data center solutions, managed services and cloud based solutions announced today that it has acquired Fidelis Communications, Inc., a provider of solutions including Avaya, ShoreTel, Samsung and Polycom. The acquisition brings a strong base of Avaya clients into the iQSG portfolio, including a high concentration of healthcare, financial and retail businesses.

David Mayhew, President and CEO of Fidelis – “I am very pleased with the acquisition as I have the upmost confidence and respect for iQSG’s capabilities and their Executive Management Team, our customer base can rest assured that they will have the support of one of the most experienced IT Solutions Partners in Ohio and the Tri-State area.”

“This acquisition is particularly exciting for us because of the excellent relationships and client base that this acquisition presents to our business. iQSG looks forward to continuing to support and service Fidelis’ clients, while enhancing the quality of care extended,” commented Tom Richardson, Principal at iQSG.

“Fidelis’ passion for client care and emphasis on understanding their clients’ business requirements aligns strategically with our core values and approach. Their impressive client base includes organizations whom have invested in leading market solutions from Avaya, ShoreTel and Polycom, which align very well with our expertise. The acquisition of Fidelis allows us to continue to build upon our ability to extend premium support and service to our clients, which we refer to as ‘iQ Care,’” added Mark Nield, Principal with iQSG.


Blackberry, iPhone, Mobile, ShoreTel, Telecommunications, Unified Communications, Voice

ShoreTels Cloud Division Announces Unified Communications for iOS, Android, Blackberry

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...

ShoreTel today announced the release of ShoreTel Mobility for customers of ShoreTel’s M5 cloud division. The solution extends the voice and unified communications (UC) applications businesses love to the smartphone. The initial launch will support iPhones and subsequent releases over the summer will add support for other smartphone and tablet devices including Android and Blackberry. Users are able to leverage a single converged device for both business and personal communications, and access deskphone and UC capabilities on their iPhone without having to learn a new interface.

In addition to offering users a dual persona, ensuring easy separation of personal and business identities on a single mobile device, ShoreTel Mobility automatically and securely selects the best available network – Wi-Fi or cellular – without any action by the user. The solution is available to ShoreTel’s Cloud Division clients for a monthly fee per user.

“I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the ShoreTel Mobility application. I’ve been wanting this for 4 years now and I’m glad that M5, as part of ShoreTel, will be one of the first in the market. I have no doubt that true corporate mobility will improve productivity for our remote and traveling employees,” said Derek Stewart, Finance and Operations manager at Foursquare.

“The way people work has changed. Instead of fighting the trends of mobility and bring-your- own-device, we are empowering our clients to embrace them by extending our cloud phone system capabilities to the device that users love the most – their own,” said Dan Hoffman, ShoreTel Cloud Division President. “The solution represents a win-win, giving our customers the ease of using the device that is already in their pocket and giving the enterprise a way to reduce costs, while maintaining a consistent corporate identity and caller experience.”

Users enjoy the following benefits:

  • Identity – Business calls to and from any ShoreTel Mobility
    user are made using their business phone number, not their personal
    mobile number. This means corporate identity is maintained and the
    company, not the employee, owns the contact relationship. Employees no
    longer need to reveal personal mobile phone numbers and can instantly
    tell if an incoming call to the mobile device is personal or work
    related.
  • Convenience – Users can leverage all of the benefits of the M5
    cloud business-phone system that they enjoy when using a deskphone
    including: transferring calls to other employees and utilizing
    four-digit dialing. Coaching tools such as barge and whisper are
    available to management.
  • Metrics – Mobile calls are no longer omitted from the phone
    system’s business intelligence. Records for business calls made to and
    from the mobile device are included along with deskphone calls, giving
    management true visibility into employee performance and the health of
    the business.
  • Network Flexibility – ShoreTel Mobility can significantly
    reduce direct dial and international roaming charges on the smartphone
    by utilizing software that switches networks automatically,
    intelligently and securely between wireless and cellular for the best
    available coverage at any given moment.

For more information about ShoreTel Mobility in the cloud, the M5 Unified Communications Suite, or other products, please visit www.m5.net.


Instant messaging, Messaging, ShoreTel, ShoreTel Communicator, Unified Communications, Voice, Voice over Internet Protocol

ShoreTel Introduces Collaboration Solution

ShoreTel, a provider of premise and cloud-based business phone system and unified communications (UC), today announced the availability of collaboration applications to meet the demands of large enterprise customers deploying ShoreTel solutions around the world.

ShoreTel 12.3 supports 10,000 concurrent instant messaging clients, 1,000 audio conferencing ports and 500 Web conferencing ports. ShoreTel’s Linux based Service Appliance 400 enables tightly integrated collaboration services that are administrated by IT in ShoreTel Director and managed by the end user in ShoreTel Communicator.

ShoreTel is increasingly being selected by large global enterprises in more than 48 countries, which need to collaborate internally and externally on a massive scale – between departments or with customers, in any location.

“The SA-400 from a feature standpoint is simply amazing. Beyond the added capacity that comes with the new hardware the new feature set is so rich that it enables users to work in ways that were not possible before,” said Bakari Taylor, Systems Administrator at Current TV. “When we first received the new conference bridge we thought it was a standard upgrade, but to our surprise it was so much more. To put it simply the SA-400 is a game changer.”

Faster and more casual than email, IM is the new dial tone. And collaboration helps coworkers easily share ideas – avoiding lengthy games of phone and email tag, which create latency in productivity. With the new levels of concurrent client capabilities, employees can chat one-on-one or in groups. When instant messaging is not enough, users can easily turn an instant message into a video-enabled phone call at the touch of a button, and easily share their desktop with a single click.

ShoreTel Collaboration integrates with enterprise applications such as Microsoft Outlook, where appointments automatically configure voice and Web collaboration resources for both internal and external participants.

“We’re pleased to be selected by large enterprises that wish to provide applications for their employees, but without the cost of complexity of traditional premise or hosted services. By offering a single scalable platform that serves both midsize and large enterprises, we’re able to concentrate all efforts on making solutions brilliantly simple for users and administrators,” said Kevin Gavin, chief marketing officer at ShoreTel. “Like most UC vendors, we include collaboration tools with our UC platform. But it’s not an add-on or after thought; it’s functionally integrated into our system and end-users applications, with no more IT burden for deploying collaboration at the lowest cost for the organization.”