File Access

Ottawa, Canada-based Mitel, a company that was once known for their traditional PBX (News - Alert) systems, has done well with meeting the demands of today's businesses and now offers an array of VoIP products.

 

The company made a smooth transition into this market and has leveraged their acquisition of Inter-Tel to offer customers new messaging, mobility and conferencing features for increased collaboration and reduced costs.

 

The company began integrating their products following the 2007, $723 million merger, and announced the availability of the Mitel 5000 Network Communications Solutions (formerly Inter-Tel 5000) designed for the Small and Mid-size Business (SMB) market.

 

The company also recently announced a new software release (R1.1) for the company’s Mitel Applications Suite. This unified communications solution combines five Mitel applications (Mitel NuPoint Messenger IP, Mitel Speech Auto Attendant, Mitel Teleworker, Mitel Mobile Extension and Audio and Web Conferencing) on a single server. This provides messaging, audio and Web conferencing and mobility for up to 300 users and is available for Mitel’s 3300 IP Communications Platform for larger businesses and according to analyst Sandra M. Gustavsen, will become available later for the Mitel 5000 SMB platform (planned for the end of 2008 with R1.2). 

 

I had a chance to talk with Doug Michaelides, Vice President, Global Marketing at Mitel about the company's achievements and future goals as well as find out more about what they'll be exhibiting at the upcoming ITEXPO show happening September 16-18 2008.

 

 

 

Delivering on the promise of our industry shaping acquisition of Inter-Tel. 

 

Proof points include:

 

--Investment in Inter-Tel portfolio to strengthen Mitel’s SMB offer. 

--Addition of 5300 series Mitel phones, accessories and applications to the Mitel 5000 (formerly Inter-Tel 5000)

-- Incorporation of AWC in MAS

-- Expansion of Exclusive Business Partner program to over 100 members, many of whom have dropped competitive products to focus exclusively on Mitel

--Growth of TotalSolution managed service program to extend to Mitel 3300 customers

 

 

A “third way” in Unified Communications that doesn’t require a business to sell their IT soul to a single vendor. The recent announcements of the Mitel Unified IP Client for Sun Ray by Scott McNealy and Terry Matthews (News - Alert) is a good example. Our upcoming announcements in the area of pre-integrated UC application on Mitel Applications Suite, presence proxy servers and enhanced UC clients (desktop and mobile) all are designed to provide SMBs and Enterprises with Choice and Flexibility as they evolve towards UC.

 

 

The combination of VoIP, with a proven cost reduction business case, and UC, with a compelling productivity improvement value proposition, provides businesses with a rare opportunity to make IT investments that will provide sustained return. With the promise of UC productivity returns, enterprises that have been slow to deploy VoIP can now make the investment with confidence, so I expect an acceleration of IPT/VoIP deployment plans. There will also be a growing demand for openness and simplicity as IT departments struggle with the best way to evolve to UC. IT departments that initially were tempted by single-vendor solutions will evolve/come to realize the fact that UC is a strategic technology investment and be unwilling to get locked in. UC will continue to drive the trend towards standards and open architectures that VoIP has started.

 

 

Microsoft (News - Alert) because they’ve really provided some of the initial vision around integrating business productivity software, messaging infrastructures and telephony. They’ve prompted the rest of the industry to step up its game. And despite the confusion they’ve sown, they’ve also strengthened the case for deploying VoIP as a foundation for UC. It has been a shot in the arm for the industry. 

 

 

Not yet from a product perspective but the time may come. Google has been much more relevant in terms of marketing strategy and tactics however.

 

 

The iPhone (News - Alert) has reminded us of the value of integration and the importance of user simplicity to successful solutions. It is an important lesson as we work to design effective UC solutions. Mitel has a philosophy of “Natural Communications” that we also apply to our UC solutions which is very much inspired by Apple’s (News - Alert) own philosophy. They’ve also made the smartphone a truly consumer item which, invariably, will accelerate penetration in the enterprise. This means that the pace of mobile UC will certainly accelerate.

 

 

Blackberry. It is an incredible device for mobile email and I value not having to also carry a separate cell phone for voice. I’m looking forward to using it with the BlackBerry Mobile Voice Solution integrated with Mitel’s 3300 IP Communications Platform to take full advantage the rich UC features of the 3300 ICP.

 

 

The consumer! Apple and RIM are starting from different places and will continue to challenge each other to get better going forward. Mitel UC solutions will work with whatever smartphone devices become widely accepted.

 

 

Despite short term concerns regarding the economy, the future looks bright. Increasing costs for fuel (and consequently commuting and business travel) will continue to strengthen the case for teleworking, remote working and the collaborative solutions delivered by UC. There are also demographic trends that bode well for the future of VoIP and UC. Older workers on their way towards retirement have valuable skills that are in short supply in our tight labor markets. Unified Communications will enable these people to continue to be tapped by progressive companies because it enables flexible work arrangements. On the other end of the demographic scale, younger workers who were raised on texting, IM and social networks will demand that these collaborative tools be available in the workplace to enable them to work effectively. I think the industry is well positioned for substantial growth as it addresses these trends. The successful vendors will be those that can address the requirements of the wide range of user expectations with tailored solutions. Fortunately, this is what Mitel does best.

 

 

Attendees will see how VoIP can be deployed as the foundation of an effective UC strategy. The trick is to implement an infrastructure that doesn’t limit your options in the face of evolving UC technologies and architectures. Because we’re in the early stages of UC product lifecycles, prudent IT departments need to avoid making deployment decisions that limit their choices in the future.

 

 

Anyone who is thinking about starting or accelerating their IPT rollout as well as those who are intrigued by the opportunity presented by UC but aren’t entirely sure where to start.

 

 

Mitel has been in the business of communications for the real world since 1975. We were among the innovators in the IP telephony revolution and we are at the forefront of the introduction of unified communications. We take a pragmatic approach to unified communications that focuses on solving real world business issues with tailored solutions that deliver better communications outcomes. Since business communications is our only business, we are entirely focused on delivering superior products to SMB and enterprise clients, not promoting architectures that protect or promote other elements of our portfolio. We respect the IT investment decisions our customers make and offer products that add value to existing infrastructures, whether it is evolving an existing digital PBX to IP telephony or integrating an IP telephony solution with an existing IM/presence infrastructure. 

 

 

There will be a revolt by IT departments against the “UC taxes” being levied by some major vendors in the form of software subscription fees. While most IT professionals accept that software maintenance charges are necessary, I think they will see the annual subscription fees being positioned by some major vendors as unsupportable because they provide little concrete value. Businesses that truly see advantage in shifting to a pay-for-service model for IPT and UC solutions will instead continue to migrate to managed solutions offers such as Mitel’s TotalSolution program.