CITY GOVERNMENT SUCCESS STORY

City of Oakland Replaces PBX-Based Telephone System with IP Unified Communications Solution from ShoreTel

CHALLENGE:

• Oakland’soutdatedPBX-basedphonesystemwasfailingandalotofitsnetworkequipmentwasnearingend-of-life.Itwastimetoreplaceboththenetworkandthetelephonesystem.

SOLUTION:

• ShoreTelprovidedtheIPUnifiedCommunicationssystem,includingShoreGearvoiceswitchesandShorePhoneIPtelephones,whilenetworkpartnerEnterasysprovidedthenetworkinfrastructureequipment.

BENEFITS:

• DistributedarchitectureoftheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemgivestheCityofOaklandasoliddisasterrecoveryplanfornaturaldisasterssuchasearthquakesandmudslides,socallscanstillgetthroughduringsuchanoccurrence.

• TheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemiseasytoscaleandmanage,sotheCityisabletomakeitsownchangesandadditions,ratherthanoutsourcingtheseactivities,savingtheCitytimeandmoney.

• Richfeaturesetenhancesemployeeproductivityandcallresponsiveness.

• ShoreTelandEnterasysworkcloselytogetherandrespondquicklytotheCity’sneedsandrequests.

RatedbyForbesin2002asthe8thbestcityforbusinessinthenation,OaklandisoneofCalifornia’smoststrategiclocationsforcompaniesseekingtomovegoodsandideasquicklyandseamlesslyoverair,water,landorcyberspace.Oaklandhasasolid,diversemixoftraditionalandneweconomycompanies.Thesecompaniesareattractedtoitsexcellentqualityoflife,comparativelylowerbusinesscosts,extensivefiber-opticinfrastructure,world-classseaport,vastinter-modalnetwork,andhighlyskilledlaborpool—whichisrankedthe8thmosteducatedinthenationaccordingtoa2000U.S.census.TheCityemploysmorethan5,000peopleacross114cityfacilities.

Time for an UpgradeIn2003,theCityhadaMeridianPBX-basedphonesystem,withapproximately1,700analogtelephones.Thesystemhadbeeninstalledstartingin1989andwasbecomingoutdated—attimes,thesystemwasundergoingsomesignificantfailures.Atthesametime,muchoftheCabletronandCisconetworkequipmentwasalso

nearingend-of-life.TheCity’stechnologyteam,ledbyChiefTechnologyOfficerRobertGlaze,determineditwastimetoreplacethephonesystemandupgradethenetwork.

TheCityissuedaRequestforInformation(RFI)andreceivedinformationfrommorethan25vendorsforVoiceoverIP(VoIP)solutions.Ateamwasassembledtobegintheevaluation,includingemployeesfromthetelecommunicationsteam,thePCteam,andthenetworkteam.Thatteameventuallynarrowedthechoicedowntothreevendorsthatmettheorganization’stoppriorities,whichincludedfeaturerobustness,customerserviceandsupport,disasterrecoverycapabilitiesandeaseofmaintenance.Costeffectivenesswasalsoafactor,accordingtoGlaze.“Aswithmostcitybudgets,oursgetsstretchedverythin,soourmoneyhadtogoalongwaywiththistelephonesystem.”

ThethreevendorsincludedAlcatel,CiscoandShoreTel®.TheCitythenissueditsRequestforProposal(RFP),atwhichstageeachsolutionwasbroughtinfora

OaklandstartsmigrationtoIPUnifiedCommunicationswithsomeofitscityofficesandplanstobringmoreonlineovertheyears.

ShoreTel and City of Oakland PAGE 2

demonstrationandanactualpilotinstallationwiththeexistingnetwork.TheCityCouncilmemberslookedverycarefullyateachpilottestbecauseVoIPwasverynewtothemandpoorvoicequalitywasaconcern.

Alcateldidnotoperateverywellontheexistingcitysystem.CiscorequestedthattheCityevaluateanexistingsmallsysteminstalledatalocalpoliceprecinct,andShoreTelinstalleda25phonepilotrequestedbytheCity.ShoreTeldidwellinthisinitialpilot;however,sincetheCityCouncilhadneverheardofShoreTel,alargerdemonstrationwith500IPphoneswasrequested.ShoreTelcompliedanddeployedalargerpilotwith500phonesandkeptitrunningfor30daysasrequested.Itransmoothlyandin2004,attheendofthepilottestphase,ShoreTelwaschosenastheCity’sIPUnifiedCommunicationsvendor.

Switching To An IP Unified Communications SystemInMarchof2005,ShoreTelprovidedtheCityofOaklandwith14ofitsShoreGear®T1voiceswitchesand37ofitsShoreGear120voiceswitches,alongwithmorethan1,500ShorePhone™IPtelephones,mostofthemmodel560s.Sincetheinitialdeployment,severalmoreswitcheshavebeeninstalled,andtheCitynowhasapproximately2,000IPtelephonesdeployedineightofthecity’sbuildings.Theeightlocationsincludecityhall,twoadministrativeannexes,themuseum,municipalservicecenter,emergencyoperationscenter,animalshelter,andfamilycriminaljusticecenter.

DuringtheShoreTelimplementationphase,theCitywasalsodeployingitsnewnetworkingequipmentfromEnterasys,aShoreTelpartner.Whilethismadeforabusytime,theentiredeploymentwentverysmoothly.ThefactthatEnterasyswasaShoreTelpartnerwasimportanttotheCitybecauseitwouldminimizeanyissueresolutionhavingtodowitheitherthenetworkorthephonesystem.

Disaster Recovery and ReliabilityAkeyfeatureoftheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemisitsdistributed

architecturedesign,whichmakesitidealformulti-siteorganizationsthatspanmultiplelocationsandisalsomorereliablethanserver-centricsolutions.ThisappealedtotheCitybecausedisasterrecoveryissuchapriority.Inaddition,ShoreTel’scallcontrolsoftwareisdistributedtoeveryShoreGearvoiceswitch,whicheliminatesanysinglepointoffailure.InthehighlyunlikelyeventaShoreGearvoiceswitchfails,theotherswitchesonthenetworkautomaticallytakeonthecall-processingload.ThiswasespeciallyappealingtotheCitybecauseofitspastdisasters,suchasearthquakesandmudslides.Inthecaseofthesenaturaldisasters,oftenworkershavetoberelocated.WiththedistributednatureoftheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystem,itiseasytoreroutecallsandcontinuebusinessasusual.

“Withourpasthistoryofnaturaldisasters,disasterrecoveryisanimportantfactorinourtechnologysolutions,”saidGlaze.“ThefailoveroftheShoreTelsystemisaperfectfitforusandwillbebeneficialwhetherwehavetorelocateonebuildingtoanothercitybuildingorafewbuildingstotemporarybuildings.Wecankeepourcommunicationssystemupandrunning.”

Tools for ProductivityShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemsareeasytouse,simpletomanage,flexible,andreliable.WiththeShoreTelsysteminplace,allCityemployeesarenowonthesamephoneandvoicemailsystem,using4-digitdialingtoreachco-workersanddialingco-workersbyname.IntegrateddirectlywithMicrosoftOutlook®,theShoreTelsystemprovidesemployeeswithintegratedmessaging,suchasdirectorydialing,contactscreenpop,andcalendarintegration.ShoreWare®PersonalCallManagerenablesemployeestomanagealloftheircommunications—voicemail,e-mail,faxes—centrallyontheirdesktop.WithPersonalCallManager,employeescanquicklybrowsecontactsandmakecallsfromlocaldirectoriesorMicrosoftOutlook.

“TheintegrationoftheShoreTelsystemwithOutlookisgreat,”saidGlaze.“AllofourusersareintegratedwithOutlook—it’satremendousfeatureandeverything

“The integration of the

ShoreTel system with

Outlook is great. Everything

I’ve heard is positive about

it. People just love it.”

Robert Glaze CTO,CityofOakland

ShoreTel and City of Oakland PAGE 3

I’veheardaboutitispositive.It’sthenumberonefeature,allowingemployeestopullupcontactsanddialwithoutknowingthenumber.Peoplejustloveit.”

WithPersonalCallManager,voicemailmessagesarealsostoredintheindustry-standardWAVAudioforWindowsformat,allowinguserstoplaythemonmultimediaPCs,attachthemtoe-mailmessagesandforwardthemtocolleagues,orembedtheminotherdocumentsaswellaskeeppermanentrecordsonfile.TheabilityoftheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemtotrackphonecallsandexportanddistributevoicemailsasWAVfileshelpscontinuallymonitorandimproveresponsiveness.Inaddition,Cityattorneysappreciatetheabilitytoattachthesevoicemailmessagestofoldersforlaterreference.

Mobileworkersarealsoabletogettheirmessages,bothvoicemailande-mailmessages,ontheirBlackberryhandhelddevicesinthefield.Theyseethattheyhaveamessageandonlythendotheyneedtodialinfortheirmessageorreadtheire-mail.

Finally,ShoreTel’sWorkgroupcapabilityenablestheCityofOaklandtodedicateaspecifictelephonenumbertoaworkgroup(therearecurrentlyworkgroupssetupfordepartmentssuchasIThelpdesk,publicworks,developmentservices,OaklandersAssistanceCenter,etc.).Callstoaspecificworkgroupareroutedtothenextavailableagent.Productivityisenhanced,andcallersgetmoreconsistentandthoroughcare.

SavingsShoreWareDirector,ShoreTel’sbrowser-basedmanagementinterface,allowstheCity’sITstafftogainaccesstothesystemfromanywhereonthenetwork,allowingthemtomanagetheentiresystemfromin-house.ThroughShoreWareDirector,everysiteandfeaturecanbemanaged,includingthevoicemail,automatedattendantanddesktopapplications.Whenanewuserisadded,anadministratorsimplyclicks“addnew”andenterstheuser’sname;this,inturn,automaticallyupdatesthecentralizeddatabaseandvoiceswitches,createsa

newmailbox,andupdatestheautomatedattendantdial-by-nameandnumberfeatureandonlinedirectories—allinamatterofseconds.

TheCityisalsosavingbysimplyusingIPtelephonyoveritsoldanalogsystem.AccordingtoGlaze,“WeleasedtheShoreTelphonesystemandtheEnterasysnetworkequipment,andthemoneywesavebyusinganIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemovertraditionaltelephoneservicesactuallypaysforthemonthlyleaseontheEnterasysandShoreTelequipment.Inotherwords,itcostsusnothingextraandwehaveamuchbetterphonesystemandnetworkinplace.”

TheCityofOaklandhasalsointegrateditsTapitCallAccountingSoftwarefromTrisyswiththeShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystem,whichallowstheITdepartmenttochargebacktelephonecostsandbillindividualdepartmentsfortollcharges.TheITdepartmentsimplyrunsamonth-endreportforbillingbydepartmentandaddsinthecostsforcalls.

“TheShoreTelsystemisflexibleenoughtointegratewithourcallaccountingsoftwareandcreateanykindofreportweneedwheneverweneedit,”saidGlaze.“Theintegrationpossibilitiesareinteresting,consideringhowflexibleShoreTelis.”

TheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemisalsoeasilyscalable,whichisimportanttotheCitysinceitplanstobringadditionaldepartmentsandsitesonlineincrementally.“Theothersystemswe’vehadinthepastwerenotscalable,”saidGlaze.“WiththeShoreTelsystem,it’seasywhetheryou’readdingaphoneoranentiresite.WeactuallymovedMayorJerryBrownoutofhisofficeandbackinagain,andalsomovedMayorRonDellums–bothmoveswereeachdonewithinaday.”

ShoreTel Lives Up to Its PromisesThedistributednatureoftheShoreTelIPUnifiedCommunicationssystemandtheabilitytorelocateemployeesquicklyandeasilyandkeepcommunicationsupiscrucialtotheCity.TheShoreTelsystemhasmetthoseneedsandmanymore.Employeesaremoreproductive,callerresponsivenessisimproved,andsavings

“The ShoreTel system

has improved our

communications and

productivity. We are also

now ready with a disaster

recovery plan in place

because of the distributed

nature of the system, and

ready to scale and add new

sites. ShoreTel has prepared

us for the future.”

Robert Glaze CTO,CityofOakland

WORLD HEADQUARTERS 960 Stewart Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94085 USA. shoretel.com and shoretelsky.com

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About ShoreTel

ShoreTel is a provider of business communication solutions whose brilliantly simple unified communications platforms, applications and mobile UC solutions promise a new rhythm of workforce engagement and collaboration. With costly complexity eliminated by design from its award winning, all-in-one IP phone system, UC and contact center solution, and its industry leading hosted business phone system, workers enjoy a freedom and self-reliance that other providers can’t match. Users have full control to engage and collaborate, no matter the time, place or device, for the lowest cost and demand on IT resources in the industry. ShoreTel is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has regional offices and partners worldwide. For more information, visit shoretel.com or shoretelsky.com

havebeenandcontinuetoberealized.TheCityofOaklandishappywithitschoiceofShoreTelforitsIPUnifiedCommunicationssystem.GlazealsonotesthatthenetworkpartnershipwithEnterasyshasbeenatremendousbenefitbecausethecompanieshaveworkedverycloselytogetheraspartnerstomeettheCity’sneeds.

“ShoreTelisalwaystherewhenweneedthemandtheproducthasliveduptowhatthecompanypromised,”saidGlaze.“ShoreTelalsoreallylistenstoitscustomersintermsofenhancementsitmakestothesystem.OurusersreallylikethenewShoreTelsystemandit’simprovedourcommunicationsandproductivity.Wearealsonowreadywithadisasterrecoveryplaninplacebecauseofthedistributednatureofthesystem,andreadytoscaleandaddnewsites.ShoreTelhaspreparedusforthefuture.”