ShoreTel enlists ASI in Aussie UC war

ShoreTel says it takes market share from Cisco, Avaya.

National reseller ASI Solutions will sell unified communications and internet-protocol telephony solutions from ShoreTel under the terms of a deal announced today. 

ASI general manager Nathan Lowe said US communications specialist ShoreTel distinguished itself by offering an IP telephony solution built from the ground up to be easy to install, use and manage.

“ShoreTel creates tangible value for customers by eliminating high cost involved in expensive and complex bolted-together solutions offered by competitors," Lowe said. 

ASI said it had serviced the technology needs of Australian government, education and commercial organisations for 26 years.

While doing well in the mid-market, ShoreTel reported progress in the enterprise because its products were more flexible than competitors, it said. ShoreTel said it could now handle 20,000 users on an image.

ShoreTel Australia managing director Vasili Triant said there was “tremendous growth” in the Australian market over the past 18 months and ShoreTel was growing its market share.

He told CRN it was taking business from Cisco and Avaya, whose customers he said complained about technology being too complex and hard to integrate with existing infrastructure. Triant was a formerly a Cisco reseller.

ShoreTel also claimed its solutions were much cheaper than its rivals.

National systems integrator NSC Group last week launched its Breeze managed unified communications service, developed in collaboration with ShoreTel, which it said had a starting cost of around the price of a coffee a week a user.