ShoreTel updates mobility platform to address BYOD trend

Add ShoreTel (Nasdaq: SHOR) to the enterprise communications companies looking to ride the mobility wave and the increasing trend of companies allowing employees to connect their own devices to their communications networks.

The IP phone systems specialist today announced it has updated its ShoreTel Mobility platform to enable corporate communication applications on employee-owned smartphones and tablets, while at the same time separating the personal and business identities on a single mobile device. The bring-your-own device (BYOD) solution helps reduce costs and IT department load, while allowing employees and contractors a greater range of device selections.

New to this iteration of ShoreTel Mobility, which is set to ship in November, is native telephony interface integration on Android-based devices, including the Motorola (NYSE: MMI) Atrix 4G, Samsung Galaxy S, Motorola Droid X2, HTC Droid Incredible 2 and the earlier-generation Motorola Droid. ShoreTel Mobility will continue to support all Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS devices and several Research In Motion devices that run BlackBerry OS 6.0.

Steve Blood, VP of research at Gartner, said BYOD is increasingly becoming an issue for companies.

"We see this as a big issue for enterprises, in addition to the efficiency and productivity benefits that mobile devices bring," he said. "Enterprises should look to a solution that supports a broad range of leading smartphones and tablets, as the devices being used at work are not always company owned. Enterprises will prefer a solution that is part of their existing IP PBX and UC system or works with the existing system therefore avoiding upgrades or replacement of their existing infrastructure."

And, ShoreTel said its platform allows the IT group to manage the security risk of enterprise communication in a BYOD environment in a way that doesn't hinder productivity. Unlike some solutions, ShoreTel Mobility automatically recognizes when users are outside the enterprise firewall and initiates the application-layer SSL VPN.

For more:
- see this release
- see the CRN article

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