ShoreTel Integrates with Microsoft Unified Communications

In another step forward for Unified Communications (UC), ShoreTel is integrating its Pure IP Unified Communications solution with Microsoft’s Unified Communications solutions. Whether your organization is planning on taking the Microsoft path to UC or staying the course, ShoreTel offers you the flexibility to choose either or both.

“Many businesses are considering the migration to unified communications,” says Jerome Joanny, senior product manager at ShoreTel. “With the number of solutions out there and the confusion revolving around some of them, flexibility and openness becomes more crucial than ever. ShoreTel not only offers organizations the option to go with its embedded Unified Communications solution, but also provides several integration paths for Microsoft UC. Furthermore, the two solutions can actually coexist and interoperate within the same system.”

In parallel, ShoreTel is enhancing its architecture and improving its industry-leading reliability by distributing its applications, including ShoreWare Call Manager (Professional and above) for instant messaging, presence and video.

Productivity Gains and Interoperability
“Dial tone has traditionally been the key medium for initiating a communication. When I wanted to reach someone, I picked up the phone, listened for the dial tone, and then I knew I could place my call, because the device was ready,” says Joanny. “With UC, the technology is shifting from being device-centric to user-centric. Presence has truly become the new dial tone. With UC, if I want to call someone, I check his or her presence status before I make contact, and select the best medium to establish communication. Whether we jointly want to use instant messaging, the phone or another way is irrelevant; we simply want to communicate when we are available to do so.”

By shifting the paradigm, UC promises to deliver productivity gains for individuals and workgroups alike. Higher productivity means that projects are completed more quickly and sales cycles are reduced. Expertise is now available to everyone and shared optimally within the organization. With improved collaboration, meetings become more effective.

With the integration of ShoreTel and Microsoft UC, individuals now have the freedom to choose the applications that truly fit their communications taste and needs. Whether it is ShoreWare Call Manager, Microsoft Communicator, or to a certain extent Microsoft Office, users can communicate directly and from the applications they prefer.

The interoperability between ShoreTel and Microsoft UC also protects organizations’ IT investments; by leveraging existing applications and IP PBX solutions while also gaining greater UC capabilities.

Let’s look at the interoperability between ShoreTel UC and Microsoft Exchange, Live Communication Server (LCS) and Office Communication Server (OCS).

ShoreTel Integration with Exchange 2007
With integration to Exchange 2007, users can access voicemail and faxes from Outlook 2007. Users can directly reset their passwords, set greetings, and record out-of-office messages from Outlook. Outlook voice access and text-to-speech features are integrated with the user’s e-mail, calendar, voicemail and contacts, which all increase user convenience.

ShoreTel is delivering integration with Microsoft Exchange in two phases. In the first phase, integration is delivered via a third-party gateway that is certified by Microsoft. The Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI) standard is used for voicemail signaling. The second phase of integration will support the native Microsoft SIP implementation and T38 for fax integration.

ShoreTel Integration with Live Communication Server 2005 and Office Communication Server 2007
Microsoft Live and Office Communications Server offers presence, instant messaging and remote call control capabilities. OCS also includes software-based VoIP, so users can make, receive and manage phone calls using only Microsoft Office Communicator. OCS can also deliver multi-party on-premise audio/video and Web conferencing.

With remote call control, users can trigger calls on the ShoreTel ShorePhone directly via Communicator or any Microsoft application that is presence-enabled by Communicator.

ShoreTel’s first axis of integration with OCS and LCS is remote call control, which offers increased convenience to the user. With remote call control, users can trigger calls on the ShoreTel ShorePhone directly via Communicator or via any Microsoft application that is presence-enabled by Communicator (through the use of smart tags in Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.). This interoperability is driven by the ShoreWare CSTA server software, which communicates to LCS or OCS via SIP/CSTA. Another advantage of this integration is that the telephony presence is seamlessly and automatically propagated to Communicator and Office applications.

The second axis of integration is SIP, which is used to allow a voice path between the ShoreTel system and the Office Communication Server. This integration follows three phases. The first phase leverages third-party SIP gateways to provide access to OCS in a very similar way to what has been done with Exchange 2007. The second phase enables native SIP with the Microsoft OCS Mediation Server, which simplifies management and improves reliability by eliminating the need for a third-party gateway. In the third phase, ShoreTel will support phone twinning and become what Microsoft calls an advanced gateway, which will enable Office Communicator and the IP phone to behave as one device. It will also remove the single point of failure created by having the Mediation server on the Microsoft side.

The third and more innovative axis is the integration of ShoreTel’s Call Manager with LCS and OCS, which is a unique integration in the marketplace that allows Office Communicator and ShoreTel Call Manager to exchange presence and instant messaging information seamlessly.

The Benefits of Synergy
As communications become integrated into the very fabric of the applications we use every day, organizations need the freedom to choose the path to UC that will support their workflow and culture and preserve their investments in applications and IT infrastructure.

ShoreTel believes that integration with the Microsoft UC suite as well as other leading UC platforms in the future gives customers more choices when searching for the best UC platform. At the same time, ShoreTel enhances its own architecture and reliability by distributing its applications and offering trusted Pure IP Unified Communications solutions for customers who know ShoreTel for its ease of use, reliability and affordable price.