Specifications

ShoreTel Architecture Overview
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ShoreTel 14 Maintenance Guide 13
Overview
The ShoreTel system is a highly distributed, highly reliable voice communication system. A complete
ShoreTel system is composed of the following fundamental components:
 ShoreTel servers
 ShoreTel voice switches
 IP endpoints, such as IP phones
 Client applications
The system may also include:
 ShoreTel Conferencing and Instant Messaging Services
 ShoreTel Contact Center Solution
The ShoreTel system’s components interact with each other in a distributed environment. The heart of
the architecture is the Telephony Management Service (TMS), which provides overall control for the
entire ShoreTel system.
The administrative client, ShoreTel Director, is used to configure and manage the whole system.
Figure 1 on page 14 shows the various components of a ShoreTel system and how they interact with
the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and IP-based networks.