ShoreTel Mobility and Ruckus Speed Enterprise Migration from Desk Phones to Smartphones

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruckus Wireless™ and ShoreTel® (NASDAQ: SHOR), the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems, today announced plans to deliver a Mobile Unified Communications (UC) Starter Kit, combining Wi-Fi and voice over IP (VoIP) products, which is specifically designed for the small and medium-sized business (SMB) sector.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart Wireless LAN (WLAN) offering is a verified system within the ShoreTel Innovation Network, ensuring tight coordination between the two platforms for end-to-end interoperability. For mid-size enterprises looking to test mobile unified communications over Wi-Fi, Ruckus and ShoreTel have also created custom, discounted product bundles for their respective channel partners. 

The ShoreTel/Ruckus bundle delivers advanced UC and wireless networking capabilities necessary to support corporate voice and data requirements all in an affordable and easy-to-use package. The Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi system extends ShoreTel's VoIP reach beyond the wired environment – allowing customers to use smartphones, tablets and Voice over Wi-Fi phones over the existing enterprise IP voice system, while maintaining superb voice quality.

"With the growth of mobile devices and consumerization of IT, there is now huge demand by enterprises for the use of diverse smartphones using advanced Wi-Fi and VoIP technology," said Denis Maynard, vice president of worldwide sales for Ruckus Wireless. "ShoreTel and Ruckus now give organizations a complete turnkey system that takes advantage of the best VoIP and Wi-Fi technologies to easily and securely integrate employee smartphones into their existing network framework."

Helping the Mid-Market Capitalize on the 'Bring Your Own Device' Trend

As the corporate workforce becomes increasingly mobile, desk phones are giving way to smartphones, while powerful tablet devices marginalize PCs. As these smart devices pop up everywhere within companies, more Wi-Fi will be needed to achieve the same performance as traditional laptops, according to a recent report by Gartner.(1)

Combined, the ShoreTel Mobility and Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi systems are ideally suited to address these growing concerns. IT professionals can now empower their users with enterprise unified communications on their personal smartphones while leveraging the IP PBX platform already in place – all while reducing costs and securing enterprise communications.

"Research reveals that half of enterprise knowledge workers are using smartphones as their primary communications device – a number that continues to grow, particularly as younger generations enter the workforce," said Mark Arman, vice president of business development for ShoreTel. "There have been limited options available to support enterprise mobility for the mid-market sector. Ruckus shares our dedication to ease of use and implementation, and we are pleased to partner to bring about a much-needed affordable Wi-Fi-integrated VoIP solution to market." 

Availability

The ShoreTel/Ruckus bundle includes:

• ShoreTel Mobility Router 2000 appliance (supporting up to 100 users; upgradable versions available) bundled with 10 user licenses
• Ruckus ZoneDirector 1100 (supporting up to six APs and is license upgradable to 50 APs)
• Ruckus Premium Partner Support
• Ruckus ZoneFlex 7363 802.11N APs (includes three APs to start, and license can extend to additional APs if needed)
• Ruckus ZonePlanner Software

The ShoreTel/Ruckus product promotion is being offered for a limited time through ScanSource, which distributes both ShoreTel and Ruckus products throughout North America.

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About ShoreTel

ShoreTel, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOR) is the provider of brilliantly simple Unified Communication (UC) solutions based on its award-winning IP business phone system. We offer organizations of all sizes integrated, voice, video, data, and mobile communications on an open, distributed IP architecture that helps significantly reduce the complexity and costs typically associated with other solutions. The feature-rich ShoreTel UC system offers the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and the highest customer satisfaction in the industry, in part because it is easy to deploy, manage, scale and use. Increasingly, companies around the world are finding a competitive edge by replacing business-as-usual with new thinking, and choosing ShoreTel to handle their integrated business communication. ShoreTel is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has regional offices in Austin, Texas; United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; and Singapore. For more information, visit www.shoretel.com.

About Ruckus Wireless, Inc.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Ruckus Wireless is a supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile networking market. The company markets and manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor "Smart Wi-Fi" products for mobile operators, broadband service providers and corporate enterprises. Ranked as the top telecom company in the 2009 Inc. Magazine 500 list and named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Ruckus Wireless has realized dramatic growth. With nearly 50 patents granted to date, Ruckus invented state-of-the-art wireless technology that focuses and directs signals over the best performing paths, automatically adapting them to changing environmental conditions. This unique capability extends signal range and ensures consistent reliable distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. The company has raised $51 million in funding from premier investors such as Sequoia Capital, Focus Ventures, Sutter Hill, Motorola, T–Ventures, Telus Ventures and Firelake Capital. The company is led by Ms. Selina Lo, president and chief executive officer. For more information, visit Ruckus Wireless at http://www.ruckuswireless.com.

Media Contacts

Nancy MacGregor Hill
RealTime Communications
[email protected]
+1-510-733-6228 office
+1-415-309-5185 mobile

Tricia Stream
ShoreTel
[email protected]
408-962-2763

(1) "Without Proper Planning, Enterprises Deploying iPads Will Need 300% More Wi-Fi" – Gartner, Oct. 2011
http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=219007&ref=g_sitelink

SOURCE Ruckus Wireless