Lynden, Inc

Based in Anchorage, AS, Lynden Inc. has moved billions of tons of freight over land and sea since its founding in 1954. Lynden’s 1,500 employees span a dozen operating companies and 70 sites, with any given facility serving anywhere from eight to 110 people. A big chunk of this workforce is in the technology-rich Seattle/Tacoma area. Other locations range from Russia and South America to towns in the relative wilds of Alaska. Reliable voice communications are critical to logistics, especially in remote locations, where traditional dial tone isn’t always available.

“The Lynden Transport president has been known to be conservative in adopting technologies.”
- Ed Johnson, Telecommunications Manager, Lynden Inc.  

Traditional voice platforms could not unify Lynden’s far-flung business under a single voice system and dialing plan, at least not in any cost-effective way. The ambitious list of requirements included network-wide call routing and four-digit dialing; a platform suitable for every size office, from the largest to the smallest; scalability for future expansion; incremental migration and legacy integration; and remote management.  

“ShoreTel offered all the features that made the SRX platform so special in its day, but delivered them in a much more user-friendly way, and exploited the IP data infrastructure into the bargain.”
- Ed Johnson, Telecommunications Manager, Lynden Inc.  

Lynden invested in an SRX (now Teltronics) system that met their requirements. However, because a dedicated T-1 between Seattle and Anchorage was just too expensive, the company’s headquarters could not be included in the deployment. The remaining 60-odd Lynden offices were served by a multi-vendor stew of PBXs and key systems. ShoreTel’s compatibility with legacy systems made it a natural fit. It also offered all the features that made the SRX platform so special. The first sites targeted for migration were an Alaska Marine Lines (AML) cluster in Seattle, housing some 100 employees. Benefits include:

• An incremental, and seamless migration enabled by ShoreTel’s open, distributed architecture, which makes it compatible with legacy systems. New sites were easily incorporated into the SRX-based four-digit dialing plan.
• Lynden’s highly distributed workforce is able to collaborate efficiently, regardless of their locations, thanks to rich media, advanced mobility, and presence features.
• Maximized use of internal resources are achieved with an easily configured auto-attendant that directs callers to the right person with greater accuracy, taking the load off of dispatchers who once had to field all incoming calls.
• The ShoreTel system is so easy to manage that IT staff can delegate responsibilities to non-technical office workers and truck drivers at the remote ShoreTel sites.

“They didn’t know they were using VoIP until I told them. Once a little training got them past the paradigm shift of seeing their phone on their computer screen, all they noticed was the wonderful new features.”
- Ed Johnson, Telecommunications Manager, Lynden Inc.