This Wednesday, we had the unique opportunity to host a group of reporters and analysts at the Boston Celtic’s game. The Boston Celtics are a customer of our on-premise business phone solution. They took on the Brooklyn Nets, a customer of ShoreTel Sky’s cloud-based solution. We were joined by IT executives from both teams and despite the intense cloud vs. premise rivalry, all of the violence remained on the court. (Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was suspended by the league for two games for his role in a shoving match with Nets forward Kris Humphries after a foul on Celtic’s Center Kevin Garnett.*)
We’d sincerely like to thank Jay Wessel, VP of Technology, Celtics and Mimi Viau Verna from the Brooklyn Nets for joining us and sharing a bit about their choice of ShoreTel’s UC solutions. Jay treated us to a tour of the Boston Celtic’s offices and an overview of their ShoreTel deployment prior to the game. Mimi shared details about how the ShoreTel Sky solution was deployed quicklyafter the decision to move the Nets from New Jersey to Brooklyn.
Everyone enjoyed the game and the chance to learn a bit more about what it takes to manage the technology of an NBA franchise.
So who emerged victorious? Obviously both teams – since both teams are winners for choosing ShoreTel/ShoreTel Sky. But the NBA record will reflect that the Nets took it 95-83. Back home, in our own little office pool (for major corporate bragging rights), ShoreTelian Sarah Smith came closest to calling the outcome, predicting a 96-87 Nets win. Thomas Simone on the Sky team was also very close, with his call of 93-87.
Here are a few recaps by our guests:
FierceEnterpriseCommunications – 11/29/2012 - Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets agree on one thing at least – ShoreTel UC by Fred Donovan
CRN – 11/30/2012 – Behind The Scenes: How ShoreTel Keeps The Boston Celtics Running By Kristin Bent
eWEEK – 11/30/2012 – ShoreTel in Win-Win Situation With Celtics-Nets Game By Jeffrey Burt
ComputerWorld – 12/3/2012 - Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics disagree … over the cloud By Colin Neagle
InformationWeek – 12/3/2012 – Celtics, Nets Score With Unified Communications By Eric Lundquist
IT Knowledge Exchange – 12/3/2012 – Boston Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets, or cloud-based vs. premise phone systems? By Gina Narcisi
*I’ve always wanted an excuse to mention Kevin Garnett in this blog. It’s my lucky day.