ShoreTel plans to expand the availability of reliable, cost-effective IP technologies to businesses in Australia by joining the Telstra Business System customer program through its relationship with Aria Technologies, a national distributor for ShoreTel in Australia.

With the addition of ShoreTel to its portfolio, the Telstra Business System program offers customers of all sizes a scalable and reliable IP telephony solution that offers the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. The Telstra Business System program is unique in providing a convenient single point of contact and accountability for every aspect of communications management, including local expert support, single billing and flexible payment options.

This new relationship combines Telstra's strength as the leading telecommunications and IT services provider in Australia with ShoreTel's proven technology leadership and award-winning customer satisfaction. ShoreTel recently achieved the No.1 market-share position worldwide for small and midsize enterprises using its UC desktop application, ShoreWare Call Manager, according to a study by the Synergy Research Group, entitled 'Q4 2008 Collaborative Applications Market Shares.' The study also ranked ShoreTel sixth in market share for UC desktop units in large enterprises worldwide.

Under the Telstra agreement and through the distribution relationship with Aria Technologies, ShoreTel has access to over 780,000 small and midsize business customers. Furthermore, there are another 1500 potential customers in the large Enterprise and Government sectors for whom ShoreTel would also present an attractive solution. ShoreTel's ability to scale quickly and easily, and across multiple locations, makes it an ideal solution for businesses and organizations of all types and sizes.

ShoreTel joins the Telstra Business Systems program after Aria Technologies, a major supplier to Telstra Business Systems under the Telstra brand, recommended ShoreTel because of its high levels of customer satisfaction, system performance and cost-effectiveness. Aria's expertise and experience in delivering IP telephony products further extends ShoreTel's commitment to delivering proven business communications systems to the Australian market, and globally.

ShoreTel has been gaining increased international awareness as the monolithic communications giants falter, and it captures global market share -- becoming the UC solutions provider of choice for many forward-thinking organizations. ShoreTel has been recognized by research firm Nemertes as the 'Best VoIP Provider' for five years in a row, and recently appointed Vasili Triant as managing director for ShoreTel South East Asia to lead the company's expansion into the enterprise sector in Australia and the region.