This document gives a brief overview of Shoretel's architecture

1. SOLUTION BRIEF
ShoreTel Unified
Communications Platform
Unique architecture distributes intelligence throughout the system
and offers modular scalability
At the core of ShoreTel’s Unified Communications (UC) solution is a unique
distributed platform that provides the system’s core communications
capabilities. Purpose-built for IP, this open, highly reliable platform, fits right
in with your existing infrastructure, works seamlessly with your business
applications and processes, and makes integrated business communication
easy to deploy and manage.
The ShoreTel UC system scales easily and is ideal for multisite companies
because it behaves and appears as a single, unified system with full PBX,
Benefits
voicemail, and automated attendant functions.
• Designed for the IP age to
be easy to deploy, use and
manage
A distributed • ShoreTel’s built-in distributed
communications solution workgroups feature provides basic ACD
• Highly reliable with 99.999% functionality that is ideal for informal call
(five-nines) availability The UC platform integrates multiple centers. Simple call routing, overflows,
for enterprise-class announcements, historical reports and
facets of communications into a single
performance
distributed architecture to provide a range real time alerts are built into the core
• Based on open standards of rich capabilities. platform.
to fully integrate rich
communications • Call Control is the foundation of the • Audio and web conferencing as well
capabilities while providing platform and the flagship of the ShoreTel as Instant Messaging are services fully
a single image of the architecture. Embedded in the highly managed and deployed through the
system reliable ShoreTel Voice Switches, ShoreTel UC System.
• Flexible platform for growth ShoreTel’s call control is provided as a
offers modular scalability true distributed application. Each voice • Features on the ShoreTel platform are
switch hosts the application, services easily accessed through ShoreTel IP
all of its associated users and network Phones and the ShoreTel Communicator
interfaces, and works with all other voice application suite, which includes full
switches to create the complete solution. mobility capabilities. Since the platform
is based on open standards, additional
• Applications including unified popular solutions, including Microsoft
messaging, account codes, and others, Outlook email, interactive voice response
are integrated into the core platform and systems, voicemail-to-text and leading
deployed at either a central location or CRM solutions easily integrate to meet
distributed to all sites. any business requirement.

2. Distributed call control agent or customer behaviors. The
integrated experience through the
The ShoreTel distributed software ShoreTel Communicator boosts agent
architecture deploys core voice and supervisor productivity and allows
communications capabilities at each them to monitor real-time queue or
site. This architecture means a single agent activity. Distributed workgroup
system can serve multiple locations while functionality further enhances the
providing for stand-alone reliability at customer experience by ensuring that
every site in the event of a wide area agents in remote sites or branches are
network (WAN) failure. available independent of any network
outages.
The result is a single-image system
that scales easily, distributes to • The UC platform also includes an
all geographies, delivers feature integrated call detail reporting (CDR)
transparency to all users and delivers rock- and call accounting system. With CDR,
solid reliability. the system tracks the calls for users,
trunks, and workgroups. The integrated
Distributed voice applications call accounting system goes further in
Voice applications, including voicemail, helping you manage communications
auto-attendant, and basic ACD are costs by associating customer or project
similarly distributed through the accounts to all calls or by enabling
enterprise as integral components of the password access to advanced calling
UC platform. permissions.
Leading technology
Designed for power efficiency • The ShoreTel UC platform unified ShoreTel Voice Switches and
and independently tested1, messaging features can be either Appliances
ShoreTel Voice Switches centralized at the HQ location or
also help lower energy distributed across a network on ShoreTel Voice Switches host ShoreTel’s
consumption, one of the key standard servers or inside ShoreTel distributed call control software and
drivers of ShoreTel’s low total support ShoreTel IP Phones, SIP devices or
Voice Switches. As a stand-alone
cost of ownership. combinations of analog devices. They are
system, ShoreTel provides a feature-rich
voicemail solution for all enterprises available in a range of sizes for enterprise
1 ShoreTel, Inc. Unified as well as advanced call routing rules headquarters, regional offices and small
Communications Systems that let workers customize how their to midsize businesses. ShoreTel Voice
Evaluation of Power Switches also provide network interfaces
callers are handled. When combined
Consumption vs.Cisco to bridge your communications beyond
Unified Communications
with ShoreTel desktop and mobile user
interfaces, users can take advantage the enterprise by supporting SIP, analog,
Systems, The Tolly Group,
of easy-to-use visual voicemail, can and ISDN trunking.
October 2008
integrate their voicemail inside their
ShoreTel 50V, ShoreTel 90V, and ShoreTel
Microsoft Outlook inbox, and can easily
90BRIV Voice Switches feature an
direct their calls based on their calendar.
embedded voicemail and auto-attendant
• The ShoreTel UC platform includes an functionality providing distributed and
embedded auto-attendant that provides survivable service attendant features at a
24-hour automated call answering and remote office or site.
routing to improve service and brand
ShoreTel’s VPN Concentrator and InGate
image. Outgoing prompts can be
SIParator are key components of the UC
customized and linked to the time of
platform that provide a secure solution
day and/or day of the week. Individual
for connecting to end-user telephones
groups have their own menus with
or service providers over the IP network.
unique greetings and options.
The ShoreTel VPN Concentrator enables
• Basic ACD is native to the ShoreTel secure and remote deployment of
UC platform. ShoreTel’s basic ACD or ShoreTel IP Phones in the user’s house,
“workgroup” solution provides basic customer’s location, or in the enterprise’s
call center functionality to enhance smaller locations. The InGate SIParator
customer experience and report on provides secure connectivity to network-
based service providers for both inbound
and outbound calling.

3. ShoreTel Director
PSTN
/ITSP
HEADQUARTERS INTERNATIONAL
BRANCH
Headquarters Server
(System Adminstration, voicemail, ShoreTel
ShoreTel Communicator &
auto attendant, work groups)
Communicator & RoamAnywhere
[Physical or Virtual]
RoamAnywhere
Analog
Device ShoreTel
Voice Switches
ShoreTel
Contact Communicator Distributed Voice
Center
Server (voicemail
& auto attendant)
ShoreTel [Physical or Virtual]
ShoreTel Appliances
(Collaboration, Communicator
VPN Concentrator, Contact Center
& Mobility Router) ShoreTel
ShoreTel IP Phone
IP Phone
ShoreTel
Voice Switches
IP WAN
ShoreTel
Communicator &
ShoreTel RoamAnywhere
ShoreTel Voice Switch
Communicator & ShoreTel
RoamAnywhere Communicator
ShoreTel
Legacy VPN Phone
Voicemail
OFFICE
Legacy ANYWHERE
Phones
Legacy PBX
PSTN
/ITSP
REGIONAL OFFICE
PSTN
SINGL E
E-IMAGE ARCHITECTUR
Business-critical reliability • Processors that do not require or use
mechanical disk drives, eliminating the
The ShoreTel distributed architecture single most common point of system
provides highly reliable and brilliantly failure.
simple UC capabilities across multiple
enterprise locations. ShoreTel software • An embedded, real-time operating
is hosted on embedded voice switch system and unique call control
appliances to extend the overall system’s architecture, enabling them to
reliability. communicate with each other and
distribute call processing in the network.
ShoreTel Voice Switches exceed today’s
most stringent enterprise IT requirements, Additional reliability is proved by the
delivering 99.999 percent (five-nines) following powerful capabilities:
availability with:
• PSTN failover: If the WAN is down
• N+1 redundancy that helps ensure that or over-utilized for voice traffic or
if a ShoreTel Voice Switch fails or is if bandwidth limits extension-to-
isolated by a network fault, the phones extension calls between sites, calls can
supported by that switch automatically automatically route over the PSTN,
fail over to another voice switch – either ensuring seamless communication.
at that site or a shared resource at the
HQ location.

4. • Ethernet port failover: ShoreTel Voice Conferencing offers support for wide-
Switches feature redundant network band codecs, providing a higher level
uplinks. If the upstream network device of listening comfort, making everyone
fails, voice switches automatically fail – regardless of their location – feel
over to the redundant link, helping to more immersed in, and closer to, the
ensure continuous operation. conversation.
• Power failover: Every ShoreTel Voice • Zero-touch web conferencing: Users
Switch features power fail transfer. If a on both PCs and Macs can share their
complete power outage exceeds reserve desktops to collaborate on documents
power duration, one analog trunk on with their team. They can manage
the ShoreTel Voice Switch automatically their documents in their own personal
connects to one analog telephone, libraries or using the public one.
providing emergency dial tone. Participation for attendees is simplified,
• Server Virtualization: For the as well: with a simple click on web link –
applications residing on servers (such and no download – attendees can see
as ShoreTel Director or Contact Center), the shared desktop within seconds.
customers have an option to leverage • Self-service scheduling: Without
a variety of business continuity features IT supervision or assistance, users
offered by virtualization infrastructure
can schedule or create spontaneous
vendors to further strengthen the
robustness of their UC deployment. conferencing, or even reservation-less
conferences using an intuitive Web
Integrated collaboration interface. For Outlook users, scheduling
a conference has never been simpler:
ShoreTel Conferencing and Instant simply pressing the “Conference” button
Messaging make conferencing universally in the Outlook ribbon automatically
accessible – well beyond traditional users, associates a ShoreTel Conference with
such as Sales. It empowers all users with the meeting, including all information
real-time collaboration tools, including those required for the host and participants to
who have only occasional need for them. join.
• Dial-in, high-definition conferencing: • Instant recording: The Instant
Whether it’s a one-time conference or an Recording feature gives users more
always-on conference, users can invite options for the storage and distribution
their colleagues, partners, or customers of the recording of the conference and
to dial into the audio conference services its accompanying Web presentation,
in a single step. Because participants including keeping an archive of the
can be dialed in directly, the dead-time event or enabling the distribution of the
associated with waiting for them to join information to a broad audience.
the conference is eliminated. ShoreTel
About ShoreTel
ShoreTel is a provider of business communication solutions whose brilliantly simple unified
communications platforms, applications and mobile UC solutions promise a new rhythm of
workforce engagement and collaboration. With costly complexity eliminated by design from
its award winning, all-in-one IP phone system, UC and contact center solution, and its industry
leading hosted business phone system, workers enjoy a freedom and self-reliance that other
providers can’t match. Users have full control to engage and collaborate, no matter the time,
place or device, for the lowest cost and demand on IT resources in the industry. ShoreTel is
headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has regional offices and partners worldwide.
For more information, visit shoretel.com or shoretelsky.com
WORLD HEADQUARTERS 960 Stewart Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94085 USA. shoretel.com and shoretelsky.com
+1 (800) 425-9385 Toll Free +1 (408) 331-3300 Tel. +1 (408) 331-3333 Fax for ShoreTel
+1 (646) 230-5000 Tel. +1 (646) 230-5001 Fax for ShoreTel Sky
EMEA +800 408 33133 Freephone +44 (1628) 826300 Tel.
ASIA PACIFIC +61 (0)2 9959 8000 Tel.
Copyright © 2012 ShoreTel. All rights reserved. The ShoreTel logo and ShoreTel are registered trademarks of ShoreTel, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other copyrights and trademarks herein
are the property of their respective owners. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Part #850-1236-01/08.12