ShoreTel Adds Tools To VoIP Platform

With the latest version of its Converged Conferencing appliance, release 5.6, the vendor is adding Web collaboration/document sharing and enterprise-class instant messaging (IM) to the audio-conferencing features already available as add-ons to its IP telephony lineup.

Customers stand to see huge savings vs. buying conferencing services from providers such as WebEx, said Peter Proulx, CEO of Premcom, a ShoreTel partner in Amherst, N.Y., that has been beta-testing the upgrade.

“For anybody doing converged conferencing with outside service providers, the ability to show ROI on this [platform] makes it a no-brainer,” Proulx said.

For one of his customers, a high-tech defense contractor that holds weekly team meetings through a Web conferencing service provider, the ShoreTel product will show ROI within eight months, he said.

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With the new Web conferencing capabilities, users can share their desktops or specific applications with each other, enabling real-time collaboration on presentations or other documents, said Jeff Ridley, director of product management at ShoreTel, Sunnyvale, Calif.

“It lets you see what the other person is doing, which can be used for training or demo purposes. It also lets you take control, so you can make changes to documents [that are on the other person&'s system],” Ridley said.

The new IM function is designed for internal use and does not interact with public IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger, Ridley said. However, the add-on offers tighter security and can be used for both personal and enterprise-wide archiving of IM exchanges.

By integrating the IM feature with ShoreTel&'s VoIP and collaboration platforms, users can start conversations as an online chat and then migrate the exchange to other media by double-clicking the mouse, Ridley said.

The new appliance, available this week, comes in versions that range from 12 ports to 96 ports. Pricing ranges from about $700 per port for audio conferencing and IM to $1,500 per port for a full-featured appliance.