Enterasys completed certification for VoIP vendor ShoreTel Technology Partner Program.

As expected, Enterasys Networks Inc. last week said it completed certification for voice-over-IP (VoIP) vendor ShoreTel Inc.'s Technology Partner Program.

Company executives recently disclosed that Enterasys is looking to establish a few deeper partnerships with leading VoIP vendors in an effort to expand its market presence. The ShoreTel arrangement is the first to fulfill those intentions.

The ShoreTel Technology Partner Program provides partners with access to ShoreTel's channel partners and customers. The linkage is intended to enable Enterasys' security-enabled switches to detect unauthorized use of ShoreTel VoIP systems, prevent service disruptions and eavesdropping, monitor for threats against the voice infrastructure, and ensure reliability and quality of service.

The switch/VoIP infrastructure integration will also help enterprises comply with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and E911 regulations in the U.S., Enterasys said.

Specifically, Enterasys switches are now able to automatically discover, classify and prioritize ShoreTel unified communications systems and traffic. Security, priority and bandwidth control is provided for every user, device and application, said Enterasys. (Compare VoIP security products.)

Enterasys has written a set of ShoreTel-specific policies that can restrict the type and amount of network traffic directed at specific VoIP servers, the company said. Policies can also be enforced to ensure that services are not "spoofed" to cause service disruption or theft of communications, said Enterasys.

Events occurring on the network that can compromise voice service can also be detected and mitigated by Enterasys applications that decode VoIP attack signatures for H.323, H.245, Session Initiation Protocol and Media Gateway Control Protocol, the company said. Other security management applications can then locate the source of the threat and resolve the issue, Enterasys said.

By Jim Duffy