ShoreTel is not the biggest of the VoIP/unified communications system vendors. It is a player, however. The company, which introduced a major platform revision last week, is working to increase its profile. Site Editor Carl Weinschenk with ShorTel Vice President of Marketing Kevin Gavin about a wide range of issues, including ShoreTel 11, the company's recent partners' conference, perhaps most significantly, the success it is having when it competes with other vendors for deals. 
It is easy to over-simplify and make no distinction between UC activities in Europe and the United States. That would be a mistake, despite the deep similarities between businesses in the two areas -- and the fact that many companies are active in both.
Other companies in the news this week include AudioCodes, Microsoft, Avaya, Talari, ShoreTel, Nortel, Zultys, Apple, Quarta Mobile, Verizon, Cisco, Frost & Sullivan, Juniper Research, Broadvox and the Pew Research Center.
During the recession, UC’s main task was improving efficiencies to save money. The slow and steady improvement in the economy is facilitating the next phase, which IntelePeer's Charles Studt says focuses on using UC to proactively generate revenue by connecting with prospects more easily. 
In most cases, the telecommunications and IT industries have drawn the lines between various types of off-premise support -- from hosted to managed services and beyond -- by focusing on the technology the provider used. Perhaps the best idea, however, is to differentiate between services by concentrating on whether the customer primarily is interested in voice or UC-type services.
Carl Weinschenk
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