Easy management makes ShoreTel IP PBX a delight

One thought kept running through my mind while I tested the ShoreTel 6 phone system: “This is too easy.” Surely, I thought, there must be a point at which the ShoreTel PBX becomes a pain in the neck. I thought wrong.

ShoreTel 6 is a collection of IP PBX products that includes ShoreGear Voice Switches, ShoreWare Director V. 6, and other components. You can buy ShoreGear Voice Switches in three configurations, designated by the number of VoIP versus analog users they’ll support — the ShoreGear 120/24 refers to 120 IP users or 24 analog users, not IP and analog users, as an analog port uses the same capability as five digital ports. There are also ShoreGear 60/12 and 40/8 switches. The system is highly modular, so you can deploy a combination of switches to match user density at various locations.

The ShoreGear Voice Switch is the physical platform for the PBX; ShoreWare Director provides the management component, running on a Windows platform and communicating with the voice switch through the network. The optional but recommended ShoreTel Call Manager software allows users to manage their own phones within parameters that the system administrator sets.

A Logical Set of Setup Steps

ShoreTel is very easy to manage and operate. There is still a vast number of steps to take and many options to be set and managed before the ShoreTel PBX is fully functional, but with the exception of making adds, moves, and changes, you only do these tasks at the beginning.

Initial setup progresses logically, and the configuration steps in the Director software are intuitive. For example, one fairly complex task with any phone system is setting up the Auto Attendant: You must decide who gets which calls, where calls should go if they’re not answered, and what to say at each prompt, generally without much help from the system itself. ShoreTel, however, leads you through the process step-by-step with clear choices, and the script for each prompt can be kept in case it needs to be recorded again in the future.

The only problem I had during setup was when the server ShoreTel provided for the test showed signs of one too many air freight experiences, and quietly croaked. Fortunately, any up-to-date Windows server will support the ShoreWare Director, so I installed it on an HP DL380. Because the server platform requires no special hardware or software beyond the Director software, the change took just minutes.

Beyond setting up Director, most of the implementation process consists of plugging phones into the network. If you have switches that support PoE (Power over Ethernet), the phones will boot and run when you plug them in. If you don’t, ShoreTel can provide external power supplies for phones that don’t have access to PoE. Phones can be set with fixed IP addresses, or they can use DHCP.

ShoreTel makes several types of MGCP (Media Gateway Control Protocol) phones, ranging from simple to complex, and they will work with most third-party MGCP phones. The ShoreTel phones are easy to use and are easily configured by the administrator. More important, I found the voice quality to be very high, and there was no detectable latency. You can also get an expansion unit (called a Button Box) to increase a phone’s capabilities by adding more programmable buttons that can be loaded with phone numbers or other functions.

While it does not support SIP phones, the ShoreTel 6 system supports SIP for trunking, and will support some third-party SIP products (full SIP support is on the future road map). SIP trunking allows you to connect easily to other ShoreTel 6 systems on your corporate network, including a lot of phones. This makes ShoreTel 6 reasonably scalable, but you’ll still face the standard connection work.

ShoreTel says that ShoreTel 6 is limited to 200 voice switches and 10,000 users “per image.” This means that each installation of Director will support that many users, but you can trunk to other ShoreWare Directors to increase the number. So, if your company has over 10,000 total users, as long as your individual locations have fewer than 10,000 users, you can place one Director installation at each location and link them to cover all users. The ShoreGear voice switches can also be set up to perform load sharing automatically, and they support automatic fail-over.

Answering the Call

While I wasn’t able to test a connection to a legacy system, I was able to connect the ShoreTel 6 system to the legacy PSTN, allowing me to make VoIP calls to InfoWorld’s San Francisco office.

Analog connections to the ShoreTel 6 system will eat up the equivalent of five digital ports, so it’s better to use one of ShoreTel’s media gateways and a T1 or PRI (Primary Rate Interface) connection for all but the smallest installations. It is worth noting that the analog connections work well for outgoing and incoming calls, and have excellent voice quality.

Setup is still tedious, but at least ShoreTel has dispensed with the configuration-process mystery that inflicts some of the competition, so you’ll be up and running sooner and at less cost. Likewise, routine management changes are intuitive, and ShoreTel’s call manager lets users do a lot of the setup work themselves.

Aside from the lack of support for SIP phones, ShoreTel’s feature set is at least as good as any of the other high-scoring PBXs reviewed in our previous tests; for example, voice mail is a standard feature on this system, but is an add-on with some other PBXs.

However, it’s the ease of use and modularity that are ShoreTel 6’s real benefits: You can buy the system and add on as necessary, rather than buying a large PBX and hoping your company will grow into it. It’s a product worth considering when contemplating a move to VoIP.