As teachers, parents and students demand higher quality communications services, school boards are under pressure to modernize classrooms and infrastructures at the same time education budgets are shrinking. As a result of pressures to do more with less, many schools are looking for more cost-effective phone systems that provide reliable communications with support for next-generation mobile smartphones and devices, while saving money and IT resources. In 2012, more schools than ever before – ranging from elementary and high schools to community colleges and universities – have turned to ShoreTel for brilliantly simple solutions that fit their communication needs – either on-premise or in the cloud.

“At a time when schools need to squeeze more from every dollar in their budget, ShoreTel has the answer,” said Troy Parish, vice president, GOV Programs, ShoreTel. “These are make or break times for the educational system, and schools that communicate better with all of their stakeholders will be in a stronger position to survive and thrive in the years ahead. ShoreTel is proud to bring efficiency, security and reliability.”

There are more than 1,400 ShoreTel education customers across the globe, including more than 1,150 K-12 schools and over 225 colleges and universities. The ShoreTel solution provides improved communication capabilities and enhanced security, safety and economic efficiency with easily incorporated third-party applications thanks to open integration – all alongside the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry.

“Critical communication, in its simplest form, is ensuring the right message reaches the right audience on the right device,” said Steve Horton, CEO of Syn-Apps. “Emergency alerts and operational functions such as intercom, bell schedules and announcements can all be integrated with the ShoreTel system allowing centralized management and reduced infrastructure costs.”

Schools across the country are choosing ShoreTel and deploying either their on-premise or in the cloud phone system with integrated unified communications to improve the connection between teachers, staff and students – and saving money in the process.

For example:

• “In this economy, no one can afford to take a chance on big complicated systems, even from brand name vendors. We wanted a complete, straightforward, easy-to-use reliable solution, and ShoreTel demonstrated how it was possible—brilliantly simple became very evident.”
• - Allen Behnke, Director of Safety, Security and Telecom, Green Bay Area Public School District
• “Not only are we happy here in Information Technology, but campus-wide, the ShoreTel system has been received very positively. Everybody who’s attended training has given positive feedback about the ShoreTel UC system, and as people begin working with the phones, we’re hearing more and more great things.”
• - Michael Chahino, Director of Network Operations and Information Security, Elgin Community College.
• "When our existing vendor was purchased by another company, their maintenance model tripled our maintenance costs and they said they couldn’t honor the prices we had under contract. We rebid our maintenance, and left the door open to do a complete system replacement. We also had a new location coming on line that needed a new system. We chose ShoreTel because of the simplicity in rolling out the system, and their ongoing maintenance model seemed more affordable than their competition."
• - Virginia Schorle, Director-Networking & Telecommunications, St. Louis Community College.
• “We gained this state-of-the-art technology that’s simple to manage, for roughly the same price we were paying to maintain the old system. ShoreTel has given us so much more for our dollar. And we really like ShoreTel’s resiliency factor. If a switch goes down in the building, the ShoreTel system readily finds another switch to service the building. We didn’t have to pay extra for that, because failover is built into ShoreTel’s distributed architecture.”
• - Grover Hibberd, Associate VP of IT Services, Georgetown College.
• “We wanted a system that would make lecturers more accessible to students. ShoreTel offered us a scalable and cost effective solution that could extend to over 1,000 lecturers scattered across our many campuses.”
• - Deryck Jones, Systems and Communications Manager at University of Wales Cardiff.
• “Our Alcatel system would have required a hefty investment, even to get basic features such as voicemail and conferencing,” said Carlos Alberto Franco Reboreda, technology education coordinator for the University of Guadalajara, Arts, Architecture and Design Campus. “ShoreTel offered these features plus many more at an affordable price. It was simply much more cost effective to switch to ShoreTel.”

ShoreTel the providers of Brilliantly Simple Unified Communication solutions have a host of online demonstrations to show the effectivness of the ShoreTel solutions available.

ShoreTel's IP phone systems are turning satisfied customers into raving fans because of their easy deployment, rapid flexibility, and world class quality. See the ShoreTel UC system in action for yourself, and learn why ShoreTel is a leading provider of IP telephony solutions worldwide.

Simply follow the link below to see for yourself how a solution from ShoreTel could unify your business communications and help you reduce total cost of ownership whilst increasing user productivity.

http://www.shoretel.com/resource_center/product_demos

Alternatively if you would prefer an onsite demonstration please feel free to contact us at Nexsis Comms providing the preferred time to meet your busy schedule sales@nexsiscomms.com

With Interop 2012 in full swing, networking and UC vendors are unlocking the floodgates and letting new products pour out. Case in point: ShoreTel. The rapidly growing UC company has introduced three new product offerings, covering traditional UC needs, cloud flexibility and remote management and automation.

First up is the point-release of ShoreTel’s UC coloration platform, now at version 12.3. ShoreTel 12.3 comes with a renewed focus on large enterprise, thanks to the brand new SA-400 appliance. Together, the SA-400 and ShoreTel 12.3 have been developed to take on massive user capacity. ShoreTel boasts that the SA-400 can support 10,000 instant messaging sessions, 1,000 simultaneous audio calls and up to 500 web/video/desktop sharing conferences, all at the same time. Version 12.3 also comes with it the ability for end users to more quickly start video and desktop sharing as ShoreTel looks to make UC collaboration as simple as it is ubiquitous.

And speaking of ubiquity, there’s the cloud. ShoreTel has unleashed the aptly named  ”M5 Portal.” You may remember M5 Networks was recently acquired by ShoreTel, and ShoreTel has wasted no time integrating M5 into its solution portfolio. The M5 Portal provides a single pane of glass for either channel partners or IT admins to look at call metrics, manage UC ports and switches, control voicemail settings and adjust user preferences. The M5 Portal also includes “business intelligence data,” which provides a granular look into all calls that come into a company. This allows a user to track the path of a phone call within the UC system. Thanks to the “Live Answer Server Metric tool,” users can even discover if a caller ever spoke to a live person, hung up the phone in frustration, or successfully used an automated system.

Last, but certainly not least is ShoreTel’s remote monitoring service. Mainly self explanatory, the technology exists solely to patrol ShoreTel IP PBX systems, automatically detecting and alerting users to potential problems. This system also aggregates and collects data that can be rolled into a singular file format that both ShoreTel channel partners and ShoreTel technical staff can quickly analyze and diagnose. Ideally, the new monitoring system will help fix even the most complex issues in a much shorter amount of time.

With UC needs frequently attaching themselves to mobile devices, cloud and virtualized desktop, ShoreTel has a well round portfolio that put ShoreTel and its partners in a perfect position to continue to add new customers and expand existing customers with additional technologies Factor in the recent shakeup of ShoreTel’s channel leadership, and this new UC trifecta is surely ShoreTel’s way to stand out and and compete with the likes of Microsoft, Cisco and Polycom.

Shoretel has recently announced the release of a brand new 365 day “around-the-clock” monitoring service.

The service has been designed to avidly monitor all ShoreTel IP PBX products set up on a particular site.

Providing such a pro-active monitoring service, ShoreTel Remote Monitoring is able to detect any performance abnormalities such as threshold violation, events and abnormalities in almost real-time. Any issues that may affect a customer’s ability to do business can be picked up almost immediately. Without remote monitoring clients must first notify their ShoreTel reseller of the problem, before a resolution can be found, lengthening the process as a whole. Of course, the faster the problem can be picked up, the faster it can be resolved.

Users will have access to ShoreTel’s ‘monitoring portal’. This means that the customer always has access to the relevant overviews of their systems performance statistics, giving them the ability to monitor performance and create reports on the systems.

This is just another way that ShoreTel can minimise down-time and increase productivity.

For the full article and more comprehensive product details please follow the link below.

Crestron has recently announced the launch of its latest edition to their range of fully integrated lighting control systems.

The new Crestron ‘DALI ballasts’ boasts even easier configurations for architects and home owners, and much greater building-wide control for facility managers, alongside even better energy efficiency than any other product in the range.

"The ability to measure, monitor, and manage power to each light fixture, while enabling daylight harvesting and load shedding, makes it easy to implement a fully-integrated system that combines architectural lighting control and energy management all on one platform," says Crestron VP of Commercial Lighting Controls, Mike Malone.

Follow the link below to read the full article.

http://www.crestron.com/about/press_room/press_releases/show_release.asp?press_release_id=1723

A Home Automation system from Nexsis Automation can connect all your electrical devices to a single central control unit, allowing you to effortlessly control your home, even when you’re not there!

Imagine controlling your new smart home with just the touch of a button.

With a Nexsis Automation system you can control your home wirelessly via a smart phone or tablet. Be in complete control of your home before you have even left work. Turn up the heating? Close the curtains? Run yourself a hot bubble bath? Even turn on your outside light ready for your safe arrival.

Using Crestron’s Green Light technology your smart home will be as energy efficient as possible. Using technology such as auto-dimming and daylight harvesting you can be sure that it’s not just you enjoying your new smart home, but the environment will be too! Using the latest in LED lighting technology Nexsis Automation can help cut your energy costs with the most energy efficient lighting available. Not only is it energy efficient, but it can be programmed to create the perfect ambience to suit any mood, with the ability to dim from full power right down to 0%; and of course this is all in your control!

Return home in total comfort every day. Settle down and relax for the evening knowing that everything in your new smart home is completely in your control, no matter where you are! Then go to bed safe in the knowledge that you’re saving money and securing your home. No more worrying whether you turned off the bathroom lights, or locked the back door, because with a home automation system from Nexsis Automation everything can be taken care of from the comfort of your bed.

Make this your reality with a Smart Home from Nexsis Automation!

If you would like to know anymore and our home automation systems, please contact us at Nexsis to discuss your options with a technical advisor.

Allow your guests to relax in modern comfort and contemporary style with the convenience of a Crestron room automation system from Nexsis Automation. Put total room control in your guests’ hands, enabling them to easily adjust the lighting style, shades and full audio visual system, either from the on screen TV menu or from a stylish designer keypad.

Crestron allows guests to select their preferred room scene with one-touch ease, delivering ideal entertainment and the perfect ambience.

Web based controls enable managers to monitor room configurations, select pre-set scenes, or create custom configurations with ease.

Centrally manage all of the technology throughout the premises. Use any internet connected computer to view room availability, schedule meetings and manage all room resources remotely.

Crestron’s Green Light technology provides total environmental control that conserves energy by utilizing and combining the latest advancements in LED technology together with auto-dimming and daylight harvesting technology. Reduce energy costs and be kind to the environment without compromising on your guests comfort.

Using the latest occupancy sensors the Crestron system can be programmed to automatically turn off lights and turn down thermostats in unoccupied rooms, whether they are guest rooms, meeting rooms, or public spaces, providing further cost savings and reducing your business’ carbon footprint. Lighting can be automatically dimmed in restaurants at night and in lobbies and atriums during the day, creating the perfect ambience to suit any situation.

Advanced automation solutions such as vacancy sensing, delivers significant energy savings, and of course lowers your energy bills.

Lower costs for you-more comfort for your guests!

For more information on how a Crestron system will benefit your business please call us at Nexsis to discuss your options with a member or our technical team.

Did you know that electric lighting burns up to 25% of the home energy budget?

Over the lifetime of a single incandescent bulb, it costs between 5-10 times the original purchase price of the bulb in electricity to light it!

LED's are small, incredibly efficient lightbulbs that can save up to 85% on electricity consumption, with a significantly longer lifespan than traditional bulbs of up to 50000 hours.

Built inside solid cases, often in clusters of bulbs, LED lights are incredibly durable, emitting minimal amounts of heat, reducing heat damage whilst also making bulbs more efficient as less energy is wasted.

LED's produce more light per Watt than standard bulbs and can emit light in the chosen colour without the need for colours filters that would usually be required reducing the initial outlay.

When dimming is required, unlike traditional bulbs LED's do not change to a yellowed colour. When the currency is lowered to dim an LED bulb it will hold its desired colour, maintaining the perfect ambiance. Whether you wish to dim your lighting for further energy savings, or simply to enhance the lighting effect, LED bulbs from Nexsis are ideal. Unlike some LED lighting solutions that often only dim down to roughly 40%, our lighting can be dimmed right from 100% down to 0% giving a much wider range of lighting options for your space.

Unlike traditional lighting methods, LED's achieve full brightness in just microseconds, making them ideal for occupancy sensors. They are also unaffected by regular on/off switching meaning they do not burn out like your traditional bulb may do in these circumstances.

With no damaging UV (ultraviolet) or IR (infrared) rays, and no toxic mercury unlike conventional bulbs, LED's are also better for the environment. And, when they finally do need replacing, can be disposed of with normal household waste.

Technology is rapidly advancing, with many new bulb styles becoming available. The initial cost of LED lighting is reducing all the time as this technology moves forward.

LED lighting is energy efficient, easy to use, and better for the environment all the while saving you money.You can also gain low cost leasing through Nexsis in partnership with the Carbon Trust to ensure that any move to LED's within your business doesn't cost you any initial outlay.

If you would like to know more about how LED's can help you reduce your energy costs whilst also also reducing your carbon footprint, please contact us at Nexsis to discuss the options open to you.