The Shoreline5 system is a completely distributed, modular voice communication solution with no single point of failure that is layered on top of your IP network. At the heart of the system is the standards-based Distributed IP Voice Architecture, which uniquely distributes call control intelligence to voice switches connected anywhere on the IP network. In addition, the Shoreline architecture distributes voice applications – including voicemail and automated attendant - to servers across locations, rather than centralizing applications at the network core.

The resultant solution provides a single image system for all locations and all voice applications. Gone are the days of multiple PBXs, multiple voice mail systems, multiple automated attendants, multiple ACD systems—all with their unique management interfaces. The Shoreline system is distributed, the voice applications are bundled, and the management interface is integrated—finally, somebody got it right.

ShoreWare Software
The ShoreWare software is composed of Distributed Call Control Software, Voice Application Software, Desktop Application Software, and Management Software.

Distributed Call Control
The heart of the Shoreline3 system is the Distributed Call Control software that runs on the ShoreGear voice switches on top of VxWorks, a real-time operating system. Each call control element does the call setup and call tear down including features such as transfer, conference, forward, etc. The voice switches communicate on a peer-to-peer basis eliminating any single point of failure. For instance, if one ShoreGear voice switch goes off-line, all other ShoreGear voice switches continue operating. When the voice switch comes back on-line, the switch rejoins the voice network without impacting system operation. There is no server involved with the basic telephony, thus the system delivers levels of availability unmatched by even legacy vendors.

Distributed Voice Applications
In addition to the distributed call control software, the Shoreline3 system provides a distributed voice application platform with open telephony application interfaces of TAPI for call control and TAPI Wave for media play and record.

Voice application servers can be distributed across the enterprise to optimize system availability and network resources. Even though there are multiple servers, the Shoreline3 system is still managed as a single image system.

In addition, the Shoreline3 system includes TAPI compliant voice applications that are bundled with the system at no additional charge, these include:

Voice Mail
Automated Attendant
Automatic Call Distribution
Call Detail Recording
Unified Messaging
Desktop Call Control

Instead of voice applications from multiple vendors with multiple management interfaces, the Shoreline3 system eliminates complexity with a complete suite of bundled voice applications. This is unmatched in the industry by either new or legacy communications vendors.

Desktop Applications
The Personal Call Manager software includes personal productivity software that integrates voice mail, calendar and database contacts with Microsoft Outlook, and provides each user with a simple, yet powerful Windows interface to all call handling functions.

The Operator Call Manager software delivers the information and control features that enable businesses to cost effectively give callers a “high touch” level of personalized attention. Company operators, executive administrators and departmental receptionists can all use this flexible call administration software to provide optimum service to callers.

The Agent and Supervisor Call Manager enable Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and brings affordable and easy-to-use call agent applications for workgroups and informal call centers within any organization. Since leading CRM applications vendors including Apropos Technology, Interactive Intelligence, Lightning Rod, Eclipse, Nsoft, Sonant, Rockwell and Cellit support the Shoreline platform, the Shoreline system is ideal for full service CRM environments such as formal call centers.

Management
ShoreWare Director is a browsed-based network management tool that provides a single management interface for all voice applications across all locations. When you add a new user on the Shoreline system, the user gets an extension, gets a mailbox, gets an auto-attendant profile, can be added to an ACD group, and even gets an E-mail to download their desktop software - all from a single management screen. Gone are the days of multiple PBXs, multiple voice mail systems, multiple automated attendants, multiple ACD systems—all with their multiple management interfaces!

ShoreGear Hardware
The ShoreGear voice switches provide a highly reliable, highly scaleable platform for the distributed call control software. Each ShoreGear voice switch connects to the IP network using a 10/100M ethernet port.

The ShoreGear-24 supports 24 analog ports - 8 universal telephone / trunk ports and 16 telephone ports. The ShoreGear-24 interfaces to standard analog trunks using loop start or wink start signaling as well as to standard analog telephones including CLASS feature phones with Caller ID Name and Number and Message Waiting.

The ShoreGear-T1 provides higher density trunking to the central office using T1 or PRI signaling. The ShoreGear-T1 can also be used as a gateway to legacy PBX systems. The ShoreGear-E1 provides higher density trunking using E1 PRI signaling for international locations.

The ShoreGear-Teleworker provides four analog ports for remote Teleworkers.

If more sites or more ports are required, you simply connect additional ShoreGear voice switches to your IP network. The system is inherently scaleable unlike legacy PBX systems that have hardware breakpoints with line cards, shelves, cabinets and systems.