Seven leading providers of Voice over IP (VOIP) services received 2008 PilotHouse Awards from Nemertes Research, based entirely on ratings from hundreds of IT executives.The annual Nemertes PilotHouse Awards for Unified Communications & Collaboration conferred for the fifth year running deemed ShoreTel to be the Best Overall VOIP Provider.

As part of the Unified Communications and Collaboration research project, Nemertes received 555 ratings of VOIP providers and conducted analysis on VOIP best practices. Providers with the highest average scores in each award category won PilotHouse Awards.

The results showed that ShoreTel had achieved the position of Best Overall VOIP Provider. They achieved this by amassing the most points or votes in an Olympic gymnastics style voting system, with a total score of 4.22 out of a possible maximum high score of 5.0

The breakdown of the scoring showed that their gymnastic-like abilities gave them the edge against the other VOIP athletes in:

• Technology – covering underlying software, platforms, intelligence and standards compliance.
• Product Features – focusing on handset and switch capabilities. Customers apparently like the architecture, built-in redundancy and ability to scale by stacking additional switches.
• Customer Service – focusing on response time, account service, RFP process, and warranty issues. Customers like that ShoreTel listens well to suggestions for upgrades and improvements.
• Value – focusing on “bang for the buck” – customers feel they received value for their expenditure. Customers like that the capital, implementation and operational costs are lower than competitors and that ShoreTel includes its Personal Call Manager desktop client with every license.
• Solution Experience – focusing on the ability to understand business requirements and craft solutions that meet customer needs.
• Ease of Installation and Troubleshooting.
• UC Vision – indicating the best plan and outlook for moving customers from VOIP to a full UC deployment.
• ShoreTel was also one of the top three rated vendors for integration capabilities, which tracks how well products integrate with third-party products and applications.

Robin Gareiss, executive vice president and senior founding partner, Nemertes Research, said, “This research is a must-have for companies evaluating a new VOIP strategy, or reassessing an existing one because it relies on real experiences from real customers.”

Nemertes Research 2008 PilotHouse Awards: VOIP Providers

Best Overall VOIP Providers (all rollout sizes combined)

• ShoreTel, Inc. – Winner
• Siemens Enterprise Communications – Finalist
• 3Com Corporation – Finalist

Top-Tier VOIP Providers – Small Rollouts (<500 Endpoints)

• ShoreTel, Inc.
• Siemens Enterprise Communications
• Cisco Systems, Inc.

Top-Tier VOIP Providers – Midsize Rollouts (500-2,000 Endpoints)

• Cisco Systems, Inc
• Avaya Inc.
• Nortel

Top-Tier VOIP Providers – Large Rollouts (>2,000 Endpoints)

• Nortel
• Alcatel-Lucent
• Cisco Systems, Inc.

Best Overall: VOIP Vertical Solutions

• Avaya Inc.

Best VOIP: Industry-Specific

• Education – Avaya Inc.
• Financial Services – Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Healthcare – Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Manufacturing – Avaya Inc.
• Professional Services – Avaya Inc.
• Retail – Cisco Systems, Inc.
• State/Local Government – Nortel
• Transportation – Siemens Enterprise Communications