ShoreTel vs Avaya

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Unified Communications: Comparing Avaya and ShoreTel Solutions

Unified Communications: Comparing Avaya and ShoreTel Solutions PAGE 2

Table of Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2. Platform comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3. Deployment comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4. Management and administration comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

5. Redundancy and remote site comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

6. Scalability comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

7. Upgrade comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8. Unified Communication comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

9. Total cost of ownership comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

10. Customer satisfaction comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

11. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11


1. Introduction

Organizations of all sizes are implementing unified communications (UC) solutions to increase worker productivity, facilitate increased mobility, and reduce the costs of business communications. But selecting the right solution can determine whether companies realize those benefits, or needlessly add cost and complexity.

The ShoreTel UC system provides a comprehensive, integrated solution that is easy to deploy, easy to use, simple to manage and cost effective to operate. Compared with Avaya products, ShoreTel’s UC solution offers numerous advantages, including streamlined deployment and management, easier scalability, and a significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Conducting a thorough, side-by-side comparison of ShoreTel and Avaya offerings can help organizations make informed decisions, whether they need to build a business case for a UC system or are ready to select a new solution.

2. Platform comparison

A UC solution should be truly unified—not a loose collection of distinct products, but a single platform with integrated capabilities. It should offer an integrated user interface that allows workers to move seamlessly among multiple modes of communication and provide a straightforward architecture with an easy-to-use management console to streamline administration. A UC solution should also be easy to scale so organizations can expand the solution as business grows without having to “rip and replace” existing systems.

Avaya offers multiple UC platforms: Avaya IP Office for small to medium sized businesses (up to 1,000 users), Avaya Aura for Midsize Enterprise, Avaya Aura Communication Manager , and the Avaya Communication Server platform. Migrating from one platform to the other can be difficult and costly so organizations need to gauge wisely both their current and future needs when setting out to select a platform.

The Avaya platforms have been adapted from legacy technology and assembled piecemeal. The flagship Avaya Aura solution for example is a series of multiple products assembled in part with technology accumulated through corporate acquisitions, and by adding IP technology on top of existing digital and analog systems. The results are complex solutions that can require extensive time and resources to manage.

In contrast, beginning in 1996, the ShoreTel UC system was designed from the ground up to provide a single, all-in-one solution that integrates a full range of communications capabilities including voice, video, and instant messaging, as well as advanced tools


for mobility, presence detection, and collaboration. The ShoreTel UC system is a single platform that can scale easily from 10 to 20,000 users to accommodate employee growth, the addition of new sites and expansion to new geographic regions, all within the same environment. It provides a seamless, integrated environment for users and a unified, easy-to-manage solution for IT administrators.

3. Deployment comparison

A UC solution should be designed for rapid implementation so organizations can reduce deployment costs and accelerate the time to value. Administrators should be able to install and configure the solution without months of planning, in-depth technical expertise, or excessive training.

Avaya products require more time and a higher skill level to deploy than the ShoreTel UC system. Administrators must conduct more extensive hardware installation than with the ShoreTel UC system, including installation of multiple servers and PC clients that are unnecessary with ShoreTel. For example, a typical Avaya Aura deployment can require the installation of up to 15 servers.

1. Avaya Aura Communication Manager Server

2. Avaya Aura Session Manager Server

3. Avaya one-X Mobile Server

4. Avaya one-X Portal Server

5. Avaya Presence Server

6. Avaya Aura Application Enablement Services (AES) Server

7. Avaya Web Portal Server

8. Avaya Client Registration Server (CRS) Server

9. Avaya Web Conferencing (AWC) Server

10. Avaya Meeting Exchange (MX) Server

11. Web Client Services Server

12. Avaya Messaging Application Servers (MAS)

13. Avaya Message Storage Server (MSS)

14. Avaya Agile Communication Environment (ACE) Server

15. Avaya ACE Integration Engine (AIE) Server


Furthermore, a multisite Avaya environment requires administrators to install and independently configure gateways or survivable systems at each site.

The ShoreTel UC system can be deployed much more quickly. ShoreTel UC requires only a single headquarters server and can be deployed through a simple, browser-based console. Furthermore, drop-in switches at any site are easy to configure from the headquarters location.

4. Management and administration comparison

Solution complexity can easily offset the cost benefits of UC. If an organization needs to assign high-level IT staff to UC management, hire additional staff with in-depth technical expertise, or provide extensive training to existing personnel, the added management expenses will substantially offset savings.

Avaya solutions can be significantly more complex to manage and maintain than the ShoreTel UC system. Once the Avaya solution is up and running, administrators must navigate several interfaces to provision and manage all of the distinct applications. In many cases, administrators will need to take multiple expensive training courses to fully understand how to operate and manage the solution.

The ShoreTel UC solution uses a single-image architecture that encompasses all functions. As a result, organizations have fewer servers to buy and maintain and administrators can take advantage of seamlessly integrated management functions. Administrators can use the browser-based ShoreTel Director to manage multiple sites within a single interface. ShoreTel Director runs on the headquarters server—no additional management systems are required. To help administrators make the most of the ShoreTel UC system, ShoreTel offers simple, inexpensive training courses.


5. Redundancy and remote site survivability comparison

A UC solution should deliver high availability to support mission-critical business communications. Downtime can significantly damage a company’s reputation and have a direct impact on revenue. The loss of a dial tone can mean a missed opportunity or the loss of a customer.

ShoreTel has eliminated many of the components notorious for causing system and communications failures. Unlike Avaya servers, ShoreTel voice appliances have no disc drives, data connectors, or multiple boards that can turn into points of failure. With its single-image system, ShoreTel’s distributed architecture is less vulnerable to the kind of glitches that sometimes occur in centralized architectures such as Avaya’s—the kind that cause costly outages, such as lack of access to voicemail, or worse, lost messages. These features add up to “five-nines” reliability for 99.999 percent uptime for ShoreTel — or less than a few minutes of unplanned outage in a year.


In addition, Avaya products can struggle to provide the availability many organizations require. With Avaya IP Office, for example, the failure of a control unit can render phones inoperable at a remote site. Meanwhile, Avaya Aura’s centralized architecture relies heavily on the WAN, which typically delivers only three-nines (99.9 percent) availability. As a result, a connectivity failure could easily result in outages. Additionally, implementing Avaya redundancy and remote site survivability options are costly and add to architectural complexity.

The ShoreTel UC solution offers cost-effective, n+1 redundancy with only one additional switch needed to provide redundancy for the entire system. If a switch fails, its load is automatically distributed to the other switches, protecting the system from an outage. In the event of a network outage, the phone system can continue to place and receive calls on the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The system’s distributed architecture and applications, and its n+1 redundancy, help deliver mission-critical business communications with five-nines availability.

6. Scalability comparison

A UC solution should provide the scalability to accommodate growth resulting from the addition of new employees, opening of new office locations, expansion into new geographic territories and acquisition of other businesses. Rapid and cost-effective scaling can help an organization stay agile while controlling costs.

With Avaya products, organizations are often forced to upgrade to a new hardware platform when they reach the capacity limit of their existing system. For example, if a single Avaya IP Office deployment exceeds 1,000 users, administrators must either upgrade to Avaya Aura Communication Manager or Avaya Communication Server Platform, or deploy an additional completely separate instance of IP Office.

By comparison, the ShoreTel UC system provides scalability for up to 20,000 users and 500 sites, all within the same, single image. ShoreTel’s modular architecture enables organizations to simply add switches where needed.

7. Upgrade comparison

A UC solution should help streamline component upgrades so organizations can take advantage of new capabilities and lengthen the solution’s lifespan, without having to invest excessive time and effort in administration. When UC solutions have multiple upgrade cycles and processes for different solution elements, administrators must manage upgrades almost continuously.


With Avaya products, upgrading is time consuming and costly. Each server and gateway must be upgraded, and there is a different process for each product. For some systems, upgrades can require new hardware due to compatibility issues. Additionally, on site technician support is needed to upgrade the platform, which can add significant costs in a multi-site environment.

ShoreTel upgrades are faster, simpler, and less expensive. Because there is a single, scalable ShoreTel UC system, there is only one process for upgrades. Administrators upgrade the headquarters server and reboot gateways and phones. Upgrades are distributed automatically throughout the entire system and are at no cost to the end user through the ShoreTel support program.

8. Unified communications comparison

To maximize the benefits of unified communications, a solution must make it easy for employees to adopt UC applications. Employees should be able to learn how to use applications quickly and have access to capabilities without juggling numerous interfaces. New applications should offer integration with existing communications solutions to reduce the learning curve.

Avaya IP Office has multiple, distinct, end user clients, adding complexity and difficulty for users and administrators alike. For example, IP Office clients include the one-X Portal (which offers browser-based access although not all users can use this portal), the video softphone client, and the receptionist client.

In contrast, the ShoreTel UC system has a single user interface—ShoreTel Communicator, which provides simple access to voice, video, and instant messaging. Employees can learn the interface quickly and avoid having to shuttle between interfaces for different tasks. Additionally, with ShoreTel you can change the client type on the fly without reloading the new client on the desktop.

Management of UC applications is also much easier with ShoreTel. The browser based ShoreTel Director not only manages the phone system, but manages UC applications as well. That means that IT personnel can fine-tune and adjust performance remotely, whenever necessary. System dministrators who need immediate information or control to troubleshoot Avaya systems must first obtain access to a PC already running Avaya IP Office management applications, which could mean additional downtime and lost productivity during an outage.


9. Total cost of ownership comparison

UC solutions have tremendous potential for reducing the cost of business communications. But maximizing savings requires a solution designed to address all aspects of total cost of ownership (TCO). Organizations must consider not only upfront capital costs but also the costs of deployment, management, upgrades, support, and energy consumption.

The complexity of the Avaya platforms adds to the TCO of these solutions. First, as explained above, they are more difficult and more costly to deploy. Because these platforms require the use of more hardware than the ShoreTel UC system, they also incur significantly higher operating expenses, including the costs of powering, cooling, and managing multiple servers and applications. Furthermore, all Avaya UC products require extensive, costly training.

The ShoreTel UC system has the industry’s lowest TCO. In addition to significantly reducing communication costs, ShoreTel UC keeps hardware acquisition, software licensing, and management costs low. Compared with the multiple-server requirements of Avaya Aura platforms, the ShoreTel UC system requires only one headquarters server and one SA-100 unified communications appliance—so organizations have fewer servers to buy and operate. Streamlined management also means that administrators can spend less time and money deploying the solution and keeping it running.

Taking into account the full range of costs associated with unified communications solutions—from capital costs and implementation to training costs and electricity— the ShoreTel solution can deliver a TCO that is up to 60 percent lower than the Avaya Aura solution.

ShoreTel provides businesses seeking a UC solution an easy-to-use online TCO tool so organizations can gain a clear and accurate understanding of costs before making an investment. ShoreTel guarantees that its solution will provide a lower TCO than any other solution. If the ShoreTel TCO tool or independent data determines that the ShoreTel TCO is higher than a competing solution, ShoreTel will lower its price to beat the competition. Below are the results of an example 10-year TCO analysis for a 500 user, 3 site deployment.


10. Customer satisfaction comparison

Given the ease of use, simple management, and low TCO of the comprehensive ShoreTel solution, it is not surprising that customers have consistently rated ShoreTel highly. ShoreTel uses the Net Promoter Score metric to measure customer satisfaction.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is determined by asking users a simple question: “Would you recommend ShoreTel to a friend or colleague?” with respondents rating their conviction on a scale of 1-10. These ratings are divided into three categories based on the number. A rating of 9 or 10 is considered a “promoter,” 7 or 8 is considered a “passive,” and any response six or lower is considered a “detractor.” After all the ratings are tallied, the percentage of “detractors” is subtracted from the percentage of “promoters” to come up with an NPS. So for example, if everyone gives a rating of 6 or lower, the NPS would be -100. If everyone gives a rating of 9 or 10, the NPS is 100. A more common example is if 50% are “promoters,” 30% are “passives,” and 20% are “detractors,” then the NPS would be 30 (i.e., 50-20)

Capital costs for telephony system

Capital costs for network upgrade

Implementation and training

Support services

System management, MACs, downtime

Electricity consumption

Network costs

Long distance charges

Avaya ACM Avaya IPO

Vendor/Technology

ShoreTel

$M

5

4

3

2

1

0

3.93

3.48

2.66

Total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison500 users, 2 sites (10-year pre-tax cash outlay)

Source data: Ferris Research, Inc.,Wainhouse Research, Nemertes Research,Alinean Research, The Tolly Group


Companies like Apple, Google, and Harley Davidson have received Net Promoter Scores of 50 and higher and are considered “world class” according to the creator of the NPS system, Fred Reichheld, author of The Ultimate Question. ShoreTel has consistently received scores in the 50’s and 60’s from its end customers. Avaya, on the other hand, doesn’t publicly publish customer satisfaction metrics.

11. Summary

To realize the full benefits of UC, organizations must select complete, integrated solutions that are simple to use, easy to manage, and deliver a low TCO. The ShoreTel UC system meets those requirements, delivering a comprehensive solution with numerous advantages over Avaya UC products. By selecting ShoreTel UC, businesses can capitalize on the benefits of UC without adding costs or complexity.

Visit shoretel.com to learn more about ShoreTel UC, find a local sales contact or request a product demo.

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

+1 (800) 425-9385 Toll Free +1 (408) 331-3300 Tel. +1 (408) 331-3333 Fax for ShoreTel

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Copyright © 2013 ShoreTel. All rights reserved. The ShoreTel logo and ShoreTel are registered trademarks of ShoreTel, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other copyrights and trademarks herein are the property of their respective owners. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Part #850-1304-01/09.13

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

ShoreTel vs Avaya

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