The Need:
Fluidigm had an antiquated Nortel business phone system installed in California. The system was not supported, inflexible, and failing. In addition to the need to replace this failing phone system, Fluidigm’s business was changing drastically and they needed the appropriate Unified Communications technology to meet those needs. Their workforce was becoming increasing mobile and the current system didn’t support seamless smart phone integration. Additionally, Fluidigm recently rolled out Salesforece.com CRM.? Fluidigm desired the ability to leverage the investment in the CRM system by tracking inbound / outbound calls to their service center, pop client records when they call in, and give their sales force the ability to easily dial clients via the clients records. Last, Fluidigm needed to extend all of this functionality to their International offices, starting with Singapore.
The Solution:
Working with Fluidigm’s IT vendor, Inflow assisted in the design and deployment of a new Adtran POE network architecture. On that VoIP-capable architecture, Inflow added ShoreTel ShoreGear voice appliances, application servers (for desktop call control, voicemail, reporting, etc), and IP phones. ShoreGear T1K appliances were installed to terminate two (2) PRI circuits from the Public Switched Telephone Network. Furthermore, ShoreTel’s native Salesforce.com integration software was added to facilitate the CRM integration. Last, a ShoreTel Converged Conference bridge was installed to accommodate audio conferencing, secure Instant Messaging, and desktop sharing.
A 45 MB MPLS connection to Singapore was provisioned with the appropriate Quality of Service (QOS) to support video and Voice-over-IP data transmissions between the offices. The Inflow engineering and professional training team traveled to Singapore to install the appropriate ShoreGear switches to accommodate an additional 80 IP phones and an E1 ISDN circuit.? This provided station-to-station dialing, presence management, and intelligent call routing with their US facilities.
Fluidigm plans on working with Inflow Communications to deploy ShoreTel to their Paris office next.
