Shoreline's Name Is Now ShoreTel

The company wanted a new name that more clearly identified its core business, especially as the telephony vendor expands internationally, said Thomas van Overbeek, CEO of ShoreTel, Sunnyvale, Calif.

"If you tell a German that you're a California company with the name Shoreline, he thinks you're in the surfboard business," van Overbeek said.

ShoreTel is also launching its first line of IP handsets designed in-house. Until now, the company has offered one IP phone, OEMed from Polycom, for $359.

The new lineup includes three models, ShoreTel IP210, IP530 and IP560, which offer a range of features and are priced between $229 and $429.

"There are three different feature sets, so we can mix and match IP phones to fit a customer's specific situation," said Christopher Kelly, sales engineer at Computer Network Power, a network integrator in Charlotte, N.C.

The handsets utilize a wideband audio codec to deliver premium sound quality. Through their displays, the phones also provide access to telephone directories, presence information on other users and a one-click redial feature that, like a cell phone, displays a history of incoming and outgoing calls, including missed calls.

ShoreTel is also launching the next version of its system software, ShoreTel5, that doubles the scalability of its IP-PBX to 10,000 users. The new version also adds IP phone failover that enables IP phones to home to another switch on the network if the one they are connected to fails, as well as PSTN failover that routes calls through the public network if a WAN link goes down.

The company is also rolling out a new mid-range switch, ShoreGear-60/12, aimed at branch offices. It is priced at $2,995.

The new products will be available at the end of April.