Inflow Communications Deploys ShoreTel Business Phone System to Help Ski Resort Solve Communication Challenges

An industry expert in UC communications with special focus on VoIP business phone systems, Inflow Communications recently completed the deployment of a ShoreTel (News - Alert) Unified Communication, business phone system at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort.

In a press release, Inflow clarified that the project involved replacing the outdated Toshiba (News - Alert) phone system with an advanced communication system with cutting-edge features. The current deployment of ShoreTel Unified Communication system is expected to solve many communication problems that the resort has been facing, while improving cost savings and implementing a better routing system.

The main phone system of Mt. Hood Meadow was needed to be linked from their Portland, Oregon, sales office to the resort on Mt. Hood. .

The resort also needed a system that allowed staff to transfer calls between the sales office and mountain.

The location of the resort made the task more challenging for the service providers and 20th-century phone services like PRI, direct number dialing and caller ID were not available and the voice mail system had many shortcomings.

It was three years back that Inflow Communications reportedly started working with Mt. Hood Meadows to help overcome these communication challenges.

They pointed out that the Toshiba system in the sales office was complicated to administer and not at all versatile. So it was replaced with a ShoreTel business phone system and connected to the existing with a PRI connection on the mountain. This provided a station-to-station dialing system between the Toshiba and ShoreTel systems and locations using an Internet VPN connection.

With the deployment of new ShoreTel VoIP phones, Inflow was able to upgrade the failing voice mail system and provide UC tools to remaining Toshiba users. The ShoreTel voice mail system provided features like find-me, follow-me and voice mail-to-email.

By spring 2011, the Mt. Hood Meadows IT staff finished replacing the Toshiba system with the ShoreTel VoIP phone system on the mountain. All Toshiba users are now provided with ShoreTel telephones and ShoreTel's desktop VoIP productivity tool, Call Communicator, adding services like unified messaging, presence management and call control.

A standard Internet T1 connection was installed through the Local Exchange Carrie (LEC) and Inflow Communications deployed Broadvox (News - Alert) SIP trunks across it. All users are provided with caller ID and direct inward dial.

The SIP trunking system now allows Mt. Hood Meadows to add more trunks as needed during a busy season and reduce their trunks during the spring and summer, creating a cost savings strategy. With SIP trunking technology, the resort is also able to make unlimited long distance calls within the US and to Canada, which means a big cost savings since the majority of their calls are long distance.

As a net result, Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort has achieved high level of customer satisfaction.

In March 2010, California’s city of Lakewood revamped its existing phone system with Brocade (News - Alert) IP-based infrastructure and has deployed a ShoreTel Unified Communications solution to help improve communication and collaboration for its 1,200 employees.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

Madhubanti Rudra is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell