sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General Telecom News Shoretel

But wasn't there also a lawsuit from a large phone system manufacturer?

Justin

I think it was Mitel.

Yes, it was Mitel; there were issues with some patent infringement, according to Mitel anyway. I am not sure what ended up happening with that though.

Steve

Lawsuit still going on, and those things take years. Shoretel has a decent product, but I wouldn't read too much into the stock price. With the economy the way it is, why would investors put themselves potentially in harm's way?

We've looked extensively at the shoretel product. Not a bad system. I bet they bounce back. That is a pretty good sales number.

We have also looked, I just wonder how viable
Shoretel will remain. I don't want to get involved in a product that won't be around long.

In my area, ShoreTel seems to be beating out Avaya's IP Office all to often. That's kinda scary for us true blue Avaya guys.

What I'm hearing from former customers is that they prefer ShoreTel's Personal Call Manager over the competition...usually Cisco CallManager or Avaya Phone Manager Pro. It's very easy and intuitive and apparently works better than Avaya's solution in the way it handles remote queues and extensions in a multisite installation.

ShoreTel phones are among the ugliest I've ever seen. But that doesn't appear to play much of a role in the customer's decision-making process, which is a complete surprise to me.

It's funny you say they have ugly phones. They are quite unique, but they say that tons of research went into them.

They do sell quite well, so I would imagine that if they continue to experience problems that they will be bought up by someone.

"Unique" is not the antithesis of ugly. Björk is unique, yet unconventionally pretty. ShoreTel phones are ugly and unique.

And I would think that prettiness counts! Many people care about the looks of the car they drive, the watch they wear and the professional appearance of their desk (and often things as mundane as their personal computer or business telephones). Lots of companies even use their well-groomed data room as a showpiece for their clients. Certainly the folks at Apple computer count on elegance to help sell their hardware.

But my opinion is just that...and it won't change anybody's design. I'm certainly not picking on ShoreTel. To be sure, Avaya's 4600 IP telephones are only slightly more attractive. To me, they are the lovechild of a swimmer's kickboard and an old-fashioned bicycle seat.

You have a great website, Steve. The diversification of the products you sell make you a valuable contributor to this forum. I hope to see more of your posts in the future.