If you have ever installed a ShoreTel solution in an environment with other than Windows desktops, you know you lose some of the Sizzle! The Personal Call Manager could not be installed on Mac computers for example! Well known to those who know it well, however, was the fact that there was a functional web interface to the ShoreTel system. This web interface made it possible for Users who did not have a Windows desktop, to make use of many of the configuration options available to Users with a full blown "fat" Personal Call Manager. Just point your browser at your ShoreTel server with a slash "ShorewareWebClient" and you would be presented with a Log in screen. Enter your User credentials and you would be able to manipulate your Call Handling mode, Voice Mail and Find Me options.
With the introduction of Version 11, ShoreTel has eliminated this barrier to non Windows base Users! Using nothing more than an Internet Browser you could now have full access to all the real time call management functionality of a full blow Personal Call Manager, now renamed Communicator. This means that hosted Users and Mac Users could now enjoy all the beneifts that ShoreTel real time call management has to offer! Just browse to your ShoreTel server with the slash Communicator option, provide your log in credentials and a full blown Personal Communicator populates your Exporer! If you prefer you can use Safari or Firefox as you are no longer limited to IE! The broswer based Communicator enables the User to manipulate a real time phone call, access Voice Messages and configure call handling modes. You can even record your call handling mode Greetings, something you could not do using the ealier Browser implementations!
ShoreTel 11 marks a significant step into the future of Unified Communications and sets the stage for a variety of cloud based solutions. Mobility, virtualization and browser based applications are becoming the minimum daily adult requirement for communications funtionality! IMHO the business landscape will be littered with the bleaching bones of those companies who fail to incoporate this key requirements into their business communications model. The film clip shows both the pre-release 11 browser options and the real time call management options of ShoreTel 11. Comments welcome!