Recently ShoreTel announced that it has achieved VMware Ready™ status. This designation indicates that the latest ShoreTel software release has passed a detailed evaluation and testing process managed by VMware and is now listed on the VMware Partner Product Catalog.

Passing the extensive VMware-specified testing helps ensure that ShoreTel makes best use of VMware technology and is ready for deployment in customer environments.

“We are pleased that ShoreTel qualifies for the VMware Ready™ logo, signifying to customers that it has passed specific VMware testing and interoperability criteria and is ready to run in production environments,” said Bernie Mills, senior director, alliance programs, VMware.

“By deploying ShoreTel in a virtualized environment with VMWare® VSphere 4.0, enterprises can further lower their total cost of ownership by reducing server requirements, and saving energy and space. ShoreTel’s commitment to cutting the cost of complexity with brilliantly simple solutions aligns perfectly with the virtualization benefits offered by VMware,” said Kevin Gavin, vice president of marketing, ShoreTel.

The VMware Ready program is a VMware co-branding program for qualified partner products and is a benefit of the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program. With more than 1,300 members worldwide, the VMware TAP program works with best-of-breed technology partners to provide them a comprehensive set of VMware technical and marketing services, support, tools and expertise to deliver enhanced value to joint customers.
 
ShoreTel can be found within the online VMware Partner Product Catalog at http://wwwa.vmware.com/partnercatalog/catalog/. Hardware products can be found within the online VMware Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.

ShoreTel customers rate its technology, customer service, and value highest in the industry

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 15, 2010 –ShoreTel® (NASDAQ: SHOR), the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems with fully integrated unified communications (UC), today announced that for the seventh consecutive year, it has received the highest ratings for IP telephony products from IT decision makers in Nemertes Research annual benchmark. The high ratings earned ShoreTel the Nemertes PilotHouse Award for Best IP Telephony Provider–Market Challengers. Nemertes, an independent research firm based in Illinois, received ratings for 37 IP telephony vendors and determined the award solely on the views and experiences of more than 2,000 actual users of IP telephony systems.

ShoreTel continues to win by a significant margin in all areas evaluated, beating all providers, including Cisco, Avaya, and Mitel, in all categories. “ShoreTel has maintained its first-place standing, with more authority than ever,” the report states. “This year, ShoreTel is the winner with an impressive 4.22 overall score.” The next highest overall score from a competing vendor was 3.90.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Customers rated their providers on a scale of 1 to 5 in the following categories: Technology, Customer Service, and Value. ShoreTel was the only vendor to score above a 4 rating in all categories. Nemertes analysts also conducted in-depth conversations with a subset of IP telephony decision-makers to understand the reasons behind the results.
• Technology: This year, ShoreTel received its highest rating yet for technology, 4.33, surpassing last year’s 4.08. “From a technology perspective, participants rating ShoreTel also say the system is easy to understand and not overly complex like some of its competitors,” the report states.
• Customer Service: ShoreTel received a 4.10 rating for customer service, another jump over the previous year. One research participant, a CIO of a $100 million K-12 school districts is quoted in the report as saying of ShoreTel, “They are sterling relative to their peers.” ShoreTel was the only vendor to score above 4 in this category.
• Value: The value rating measures what customers think about what they get for their money. With the top value rating of 4.24, ShoreTel far surpassed the competition, beating out vendors such as Cisco, Avaya, Mitel and Microsoft.

QUOTES

“We are honored to earn this highly prestigious award for the seventh year running. Clearly, ShoreTel customers value our commitment to product and service excellence. ShoreTel’s all-in-one UC system was designed to eliminate complexity by offering a brilliantly simple solution to help our customers align business communications with business goals, improving efficiency, reducing costs and increasing productivity.  Our partners and employees understand how important it is to our customers that the decision to bring ShoreTel into the business is the right decision. Our consistently high marks in the Nemertes PilotHouse Awards indicate that we continue to deliver on these promises”

-          John W. Combs, CEO  ShoreTel

“ShoreTel is the only vendor in any technology category to have received the highest scores since Nemertes started tracking IT decision-maker ratings seven years ago. ShoreTel's customers continually rate its customer service, technology and value ahead of all of its competitors."

-          Robin Gareiss, Nemertes’ executive vice president and senior founding partner

What’s interesting in 2010?

As the year starts we all look for ways to “start anew”. One of our partners, Sparkspace, shared with me recently; “with 2020 only ten years away, the year 2010 takes on new significance”.

At Accent many of you have know us for years as a provider of solutions. The truth is we hardly come up with the solutions alone. You, our clients, tell us what works best for you and provide the direction we need for a Great Solution.

We have been running the IT Seminars downtown Columbus for nearly three years now and as we “start anew” we are looking for input regarding the topics we should highlight for the upcoming year.

You have the floor.  What is of interest to you? Seminars on general business processes, specific phone technology, Contact Centers, web based solutions  etc…? We are looking forward to some exciting seminars this year with your help. Please send your suggestions to aisoffice@accentservices.com . They will be considered for upcoming events.

Don’t forget that we will be giving away two premium seats to one of the Blue Jackets games on the 19^th. We hope to see you there.