This week, at ShoreTel's dealer conference, the company announced its 11th version of its software. I've got to say, that is news in itself. ShoreTel positions itself as a young--no legacy--company, yet version eleven (11!) is now available to customers.
ShoreTel has survived the VoIP-to-UC transformation with a strong underlying allegiance to the KISS method. Everything about their positioning and products rings of simplicity.
The industry is plagued with complexity. It takes months to train sales people and technicians alike. Unified Communications' overly complex configurations, certifications, and administration keep deployments and features a top shelf opportunity.
But This is first evidenced with its new web based implementation of ShoreTel's Communicator. The client version was previously known as Call Manager. It is not a softphone, it's a computer based system to manage and process calls. Client software usually introduces cost and complexity--particularly for shared and multi-computer (home, work, etc.) users. With ShoreTel making it web based, users can access all of these features from any computer with any of the major operating systems and browsers.
A step further, ShoreTel is also releasing Communicator clients for iPhone and BlackBerry devices. This allows mobile users access to rich call features and control from anywhere. Communicator allows users to change call control features/settings, click-to-dial, visual voicemail, and many other features.
Communicator is a logical evolution for Call Manager, but it is an unfortunate name as it is already used in other UC products from the likes of Microsoft, Mitel, Cisco, Avistar, and Avaya. But then "Call Manager" wasn't particularly unique either.
Release 11 also contains enhancements for administrators. Specifically, the distributed fail-over capabilities built into ShoreTel's solution are strengthened with improvements in database replication. Also, ShoreTel has expanded its support of QSIG for interoperability, presumably aimed at enterprise Nortel migrations.
But it's hard to argue with simplicity; in ShoreTel speak it's called "Brilliant Simplicity" and it seems to be working. ShoreTel recently revised its financial guidance 16% higher. The company claims a steady increase in market share. Its focus has historically been the domestic market, but its international efforts now represent more than 10% of its revenue and the company expects its products to be available in 50 countries next year.
ShoreTel CEO John Combs says disruption is benefiting ShoreTel, calling the marketplace a "Perfect Storm" and addin, "Nortel was the first to go, but won't be the last." ShoreTel appears to be benefiting nicely from Nortel's woes. The company picked up some impressive service provider resellers including Qwest, Verizon, and AT&T and is seeing its average customer size increasing.
ShoreTel has its sights on Cisco, Avaya, and Microsoft--big plans for a relatively small player (about $200 million in annual revenue). But underestimating ShoreTel isn't wise. The company creates excitement like few can.
