ShoreTel: Government Agencies Vote for ShoreTel's Unified Communications Solutions

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - August 25, 2009) - [ ShoreTel® ] (NASDAQ: [ SHOR ]), the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems with fully integrated Unified Communications (UC), has been selected by an increasing number of government agencies that need to purchase an advanced, feature-rich IP communication system with a rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership.

Government IT managers and directors from agencies across the United States have discovered that ShoreTel's easy to use and manage solutions, coupled with the company's award-winning customer service, provide a substantial productivity boost, while dramatically lowering overall communications costs. A growing number of government organizations have recently deployed ShoreTel, including the City of Lakewood, Colo.; the City of Richmond, Calif.; Hidalgo County, Texas; and Butler County, Ohio, in addition to many more state/local/federal and education agencies.

The current economic climate is driving government IT managers to do more with less, while maintaining and upgrading their vital technology infrastructures. Agency officials attest to the outstanding functionality of the fully distributed ShoreTel UC system, while constituents benefit from improved responsiveness and cost-effective use of their tax dollars.

SELECT GOVERNMENT DEPLOYMENTS

City of Lakewood, Colo.: The city of Lakewood is Colorado's fourth largest city with nearly 150,000 residents. The ShoreTel UC system allowed the city to create a single phone system for City Hall, multiple remote facilities and field personnel, boosting productivity by ensuring calls are quickly forwarded to the right person. ShoreTel's ease of management has reduced staff support costs while helping to satisfy the accessibility needs of employees and city residents.

City of Richmond, Calif.: As a major suburb of San Francisco, the city of Richmond boasts more than 100,000 residents, and covers more than 56 square miles -- mostly San Francisco Bay waterfront. During a retrofit of the Civic Center Campus, the city conducted a seven-year analysis and chose a ShoreTel UC system to replace its aging infrastructure. ShoreTel's brilliant simplicity proved a reliable and cost-effective solution for deployment across the city's many libraries, recreation centers and other departments.

Hidalgo County, Texas: Hidalgo County relies on more than 2,800 government workers to support the activities of 20 cities and nearly 750,000 residents. The ShoreTel deployment saves the county about $500,000 annually, while offering all the modern features of a UC platform such as auto-attendant and user-managed call handling modes.

Butler County, Ohio: Butler County is at the heart of a population center of 2.8 million people. Thanks to ShoreTel's ease of management, the county now maintains its phone system in-house, eliminating the costs of outside contractors. Employees can manage their e-mail and voicemail from a single location, while Follow Me, Find Me helps minimize unanswered calls.

Portland Water District, Maine: The Portland Water District provides water, wastewater, and environmental services to 11 Greater Portland communities. The distributed ShoreTel UC system helps the district maintain communications even during natural disasters. The ShoreWare Enterprise Contact Center has improved customer service and employee productivity, while simplified management lets the district perform its own moves, adds and changes in-house, helping to increase responsiveness and reduce costs.

QUOTES

Boris Naschansky, CIO, city of Lakewood, Colo.: "ShoreTel's simple Web-based system management console has made life significantly easier, and we're much more productive compared to the old system. Now we can use a PC from any desk at the city to make changes in a matter of minutes. We no longer have to call out contractors, or need to invest in specialized phone system certification training."

Sue Hartman, Information Technology Director, city of Richmond, Calif.: "We conducted a thorough seven-year TCO analysis and determined that ShoreTel offered all the features and capabilities we needed in the most cost-effective and easy-to-manage solution. We have been able to integrate the ShoreTel UC system with our previous Siemens system to support a phased approach that will eventually extend to more than 800 phones across libraries, parks, recreation facilities, public works and other departments throughout the city. And as the deployment rolls out, ShoreTel is rapidly becoming the communications solution of choice for all our users."

Renán Ramirez, Chief Information Officer, Hidalgo County, Texas: "During the demonstration, the ShoreTel UC system came up very quickly and was obviously simple to manage. Having full control of the phone system was vital for our ability to quickly expand, and we were confident the simplified management of the ShoreTel system would help to reduce our skyrocketing phone costs."

Mike Felerski, Network Architect, Butler County, Ohio: "ShoreTel has allowed us to transition from our old phone system in phases, which is imperative since funding for the county is controlled by so many disparate sources."

Chad Davis, IT Director, Portland Water District: "The ease of use and administration of the ShoreTel system is one of the most exciting things about it. It's easy and intuitive to complete moves, adds and changes, without an extensive phone system background. We've saved thousands of dollars by taking the management of the system in-house."

Troy Parish, director of government programs, ShoreTel: "ShoreTel is proud to count a growing number of government agencies among its raving fans who are using our distributed UC solution to help them improve their operational efficiency and customer service, while providing a good return on taxpayer dollars. Any agency seeking additional cost-savings, improved productivity, and communications reliability and scalability should consider a ShoreTel solution."

Learn more about [ ShoreTel products ].

N@N

ShoreTel: Government Agencies Vote for ShoreTel's Unified Communications Solutions