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ShoreTel (News - Alert), a provider of IP phone systems with integrated unified communications, has announced that the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society will employ ShoreTel UC system across 200 offices in the United States, supporting more than 17,000 end users.

 

With an 88-year history of creating communities where people can find meaningful lives and fulfilling work, the Society has become the nation’s largest not-for-profit long-term care provider.

 

The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society when thought of upgrading its communications system, it carefully evaluated several IP system vendors to determine the one that would best serve its patients, residents, staff and other constituents. The ShoreTel UC system got selected by the Society on the basis of its simplified management, ease of use and highly reliable distributed architecture.

 

“Because of the mission-critical nature of our services, it was very important to find a solution that could meet our needs and enhance our ability to provide long-term medical care and support to our thousands of residents and patients. The ShoreTel system does exactly that, and the flexibility of the solution opens up new opportunities for us to customize our own applications and use the communication system in creative ways in the future, such as doing point-to-point video between a resident or patient in one of our nursing homes with a caregiver working in a different location,” Rusty Williams, vice president for information services and technology, the Good Samaritan Society, said.

 

With the new ShoreTel UC system, the Society can:

 

Preserve its investments in wireless

Focus on WAN resiliency and bandwidth utilization

Provide for virtual administration

Enable mobile workers to answer calls on their desk or mobile phones

Reduce costs, increase productivity and enhance service

 

The key applications include:

 

Wireless applications with SocketMobile 650 PC WIFI WM6 phone running SIP Softphone to assist staff-to-staff communications

Centralized receptionist

Virtual receptionist

Remote voicemail and automated attendant

Desktop applications

Centralized corporate directory via Active Directory, with internal phone book integration and single sign-on

 

“ShoreTel is proud that we’re able to support and contribute to the Good Samaritan Society’s long history of doing charitable works for the community. Our UC system delivers the ease of use and reliability that are crucial in the healthcare industry where fast, high-quality communications and quick response times are critical. Medical personnel’s time is better spent on patient care, not on trying to figure out a complicated phone system,” John W. Combs, chief executive officer, ShoreTel, said.

 

In related news, ShoreTel is exhibiting its award-winning system at the upcoming 2010 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference.