ShoreTel (News - Alert), the provider of simple IP phone systems with fully integrated unified communications (UC), released ShoreTel 12, the latest version of its UC software. Through a single hardware appliance and distributed software architecture, ShoreTel 12 provides a full-featured collaborative UC solution with plug-and-play set-up and simplified management capabilities to streamline and enhance business communications for companies of all sizes.

ShoreTel 12 is designed to take advantage of the uptick in enterprise spending on audio conferencing, Web conferencing and Instant Messaging (IM); it gives end users easy access to several new collaborative and productivity-enhancing features including High Definition (HD) audio conferencing, zero-download desktop sharing, XMPP-based Instant Messaging, presence, Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook scheduling and multimedia recording. All features are integrated in the ShoreTel core platform.

IT and system administrators can enable collaboration for an enterprise in less than 10 minutes. New users can be added to the system with just one click through the ShoreTel 12 simplified initial set-up and configuration process. With ShoreTel Director, an intuitive browser-based administrative interface, the system can be distributed across an organization of up to 20,000 local or remote users. It provides a seamless experience to the end user.

With the new solution, users are empowered to increase collaboration with integrated audio conferencing, Web conferencing and IM incorporated into its core architecture. This has simplified deployment and management of the system.

ShoreTel 12 doubles the capacity from its latest software release while supporting enterprise customers of up to 20,000 users with a single image.

Users can schedule and join audio conferences with one-click directly on the Microsoft Outlook feature menu. Presence indications are also available within Microsoft Outlook. With it, users can initiate a call or IM conversation and flag for presence changes.

Microsoft Exchange 2010 is added as an option to act as Unified Messaging Server, allowing customers to leverage any existing investment in Microsoft Exchange deployments.

In support of the rapidly growing number of Apple (News - Alert) Macintosh users in the enterprise, ShoreTel 12 now features a native Mac application called ShoreTel Communicator for Mac. ShoreTel Communicator now also extends UC features to support mobile users on the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry (News - Alert) and other popular mobile devices.

ShoreTel 12 is now available for new customer orders and will ship before the end of the second quarter. It will work with value-added distributor ScanSource (News - Alert) to provide certified ShoreTel resellers and partners with the ShoreTel 12 solution.

Organizations of all sizes are offered with integrated, voice, video, data, and mobile communications on an open, distributed IP architecture. The feature-rich ShoreTel UC system is easy to deploy, manage, scale and use. ShoreTel is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has regional offices in Austin, Texas, United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia.

In related news, ShoreTel has opened new avenues for innovation with the expansion of its technology partner program.