Specifications

System Overview
2 – 2 ShoreTel, Inc.
ShoreTel Distributed IP Voice Architecture
The ShoreTel 6.1 system is a completely distributed voice communication solution with
no single point of failure, which is layered on top of your IP network. At the heart of
the system is the standards-based Distributed IP Voice Architecture (Figure 2-1), which
uniquely distributes call control intelligence to voice switches connected anywhere on
the IP network. In addition, the Distributed IP Voice Architecture distributes voice
applications, including voice mail systems and automated attendants, to servers across
locations, rather than centralizing applications at the network core.
Figure 2-1 The Distributed IP Voice Architecture of the ShoreTel 6.1 System
The resulting solution provides a single image system for all locations and all voice
applications. Multiple PBXs, voice mail systems, automated attendants, or ACD
systems—each with their own dedicated management interface—are phone systems of
the past. The ShoreTel 6.1 system is distributed, the voice applications are bundled, and
the management interface is integrated.
Distributed Call Control
The heart of the ShoreTel 6.1 system is the distributed call control software, which runs
on the ShoreGear voice switches on top of VxWorks,
TM
a real-time operating system.
Each call control element manages the call setup and call teardown, including features
such as transfer, conference, forward, call permissions, and call routing. The voice
switches communicate on a peer-to-peer basis, eliminating any single point of failure.
For instance, if one ShoreGear voice switch goes offline, all other ShoreGear voice
switches continue operating. When the voice switch comes back online, it rejoins the
voice network with no impact on system operation. There is no server involved with
the basic telephony, so the system delivers levels of availability unmatched by even
legacy vendors.
Distributed Routing Service
Distributed Routing Service (DRS) allows larger systems to scale beyond 60 switches
up to a total of 200 switches (including SoftSwitches). The Distributed Routing Service
Open API Layer
Open
Applications
Voice Endpoints
Integrated
Applications
Open Third-Part
Applications
Open Protocol Layer
Distributed Applications Platform
Single System
Management
Distributed Call Control