The tides of telecom are shifting again. For nearly a decade, countless suppliers have chased the dream of being a leading solution in cloud-based communications, also known as Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). Each supplier delivers their own “unique solution” some built from within, some disguised as “unique,” with Cisco-owned BroadSoft as a backend. All touting the ubiquitous benefits of always up-to-date features, ultimate flexibility, and headache-free Op-Ex maintenance. For those born in the cloud (RingCentral, Zoom, 8x8, etc.) the path to achieving this goal has been much more achievable than those that came from the hardware-intensive on-site products of days past.

Under new ownership - what will ShoreTel Partner Support look like in 2019, in 2020, and beyond? In the wake of Mitel's acquisition of ShoreTel, the support channels have certainly shifted. But have they shifted for the better? This article will uncover why this shift has occurred, where we are headed as a ShoreTel (now Mitel) community, and what to focus on when evaluating who to partner with for ShoreTel Support.

In January 2017 ShoreTel announced End-of-Sale (EoS) and End-of-Life (EoL)  for various hardware and software. The highlights from the announcements were the EoL for all “Full Width” appliances, the EoL for the 14.2 software, and the EoS of the “Half Width” appliances. These were to happen on 12/31/18, 6/30/18 and 6/30/18 respectively. In the middle of these dates, Mitel acquired ShoreTel. In May of 2019 Mitel issued a new revised EoS/EoL schedule: 

In January of 2017 ShoreTel made several EoS (End of Sale) and EoL (End of Life) announcements. The announcements were for multiple hardware and software products.  The hardware products coming to EoL have been in EoS for more than 6 years.  ShoreTel’s track record of asking their clients to upgrade hardware has been incredible. The last EoL product from ShoreTel occurred more than 10 years ago, with ShoreTel’s original “Blue Appliances.”  Because most clients have never gone through this with ShoreTel, there is still a lot of confusion about exactly what this means and how to address it properly. The easiest way to begin dissecting this is to refer to this chart provided by ShoreTel:

If you read our previous article <Hunt Groups vs WorkGroups>,  you may have decided that a hunt group is the best choice for your company's call flow. To refresh your memory, Hunt Groups are primarily used for a group of receptionists or a specifically functioning team, for example, your HR team, where a group of people could conceivably handle any sort of call that comes in and the group has the specific need to handle multiple calls at once.

Early this morning Mitel announced an agreement to purchase ShoreTel in an all-cash deal worth about $430 million. The plan is to acquire all of ShoreTel's outstanding shares at a price of $7.50 per share, followed by a merger of the two companies. This merger will not require approval of ShoreTel's stockholders but will require a regulatory review before it can close. This is big news in the telecom industry, especially since the amount is $110 million less than what Mitel offered ShoreTel shareholders about three years ago. If approved, the merger will make "MoreTel" the 2nd largest player in the UCaaS market (Mitel + ShoreTel = MoreTel).

Over the past 6 years Unified Communications, or UC, is a buzzword that has swept over the business landscape like a rising tide through a reef pool, making its way into every nook and cranny and finding its place cross-departmentally in almost every industry. The trend is undeniable, and the value is real, but what good is UC if you don't know how to use it? 

A lot of thought needs to go into your call flow configuration to ensure a smooth process for your clients as well as making sure the calls get to the right person within your organization. With this article I will focus mainly on the best practices for setting up your Workgroups.

BrightMetrics is a reporting and analytics tool designed specifically to augment the ShoreTel phone system. At Matrix Networks we believe so much in this solution that we offer it as part of our Advantage+ ShoreTel Partner support, providing all the tools our clients need to gain insight and troubleshoot challenges. Although there are many reasons to use BrightMetrics and ShoreTel together here are three of our top reasons!

ShoreTel Support is the service provided to ShoreTel clients to support, upgrade, and maintain their existing on-premise ShoreTel solution. Whether you are in a blended environment or entirely on-premise, ShoreTel requires this support to ensure your system is current and well maintained. The support model is a well developed concept but can be complex to outsiders and clients. In this article we aim to give you a better understanding of what ShoreTel Support really is.

Emergency calling is something every good phone administrator should be prepared for. All too often, however, it is overlooked. The reality is that 99.9% of the time you don't need it, but when someone has an emergency, this view changes dramatically. It is critical that emergency services are able to identify where the call originated so they can reach the emergency location as quickly as possible.

We all want the same thing - boatloads of cash, world peace, and of course, successful tech projects. Unfortunately, these can all seem like distant realities, but at least one of them is attainable. Planning and good decision making are critical to the success of IT projects, but without experience, it is difficult to know what to prepare for. I am no expert in the deployment of a new NAS solution or printers, but I do know a thing or about new phone systems. 

Have you ever called into a business and all you hear is ringing, wondering if anyone is going to answer your call? Working with your ShoreTel solution you have a couple of options to choose from so your callers aren't left wondering. 

Best Practices and Considerations when Performing a ShoreTel Upgrade.

Imagine buying a computer and knowing that whenever the manufacturer improves the software, you can ask for an upgrade. And imagine that the computer company only makes one kind of computer, so they are focused on making the best damn computer on the market. That’s the situation with ShoreTel on premise UC solutions. The hardware may stay the same, but the brain that runs the whole show? That is constantly getting improved. Running Office 2016? No problem. Using Gmail instead of Outlook? No problem. Using Windows 8.1? Ouch, sorry about that.  

ShoreTel initiative that unified over 450 users across multiple locations for the Portland Trail Blazers. To read the full Case Study, click here.

As business owners and IT administrators it is your job to provide tools that maximize productivity within your organization. Modern voice applications, such as the collaboration suite provided by ShoreTel is making the task of empowering your workforce easier than ever before. But is your team using the tools you have invested in? The following is a list of valuable resources to share with your end users as well as best practices for launching a service appliance within a ShoreTel environment.

There are several elements to consider and decisions to make before you launch your new collaboration solution.  The most important being: consider how your organization currently leverages collaboration software and set goals based on what you feel can be improved on. The following article will assist in this thought process and prove to be a valuable resource for new and experienced ShoreTel Administrators.

In recent years, capital and operational expenses for IP telephone costs have dropped measurably. This decline is due to an increase in cost-effective options like ShoreTel provides, as well as market competition and shorter learning curves.

When making the switch over to VoIP technology, bandwidth must be a key factor you evaluate during the transition. Reason being, the amount of bandwidth determines how many phone lines you can have as well as the call quality you will experience on those lines. In order to evaluate effectively, you have to know the amount of bandwidth you have as well as what you may need to implement a ShoreTel phone system.