Mitel

Mitel has risen to the top spot among the list of highest climbers in this year’s edition of the Financial Post 500 (FP500), the definitive ranking of Canada’s top companies by revenue.

Mitel, a leader in business communications since 1973, completed a $729 million acquisition of U.S.-based Inter-Tel Inc on August 16, 2007, creating a, market leader in the global IP communications industry, including leadership in the fast growing SMB sector of the market. [click to continue...]

The Mitel Communications Suite was selected by InformationWeek’s panel of expert judges and won against products from Cisco and Siemens. Each year, Best of Interop winners prove to be the key players in the continuing evolution of business technology.

Mitel Communications Suite delivers simplified system installation and management, business process improvement, and a reduction in operating costs by consolidating low-power consumption telephony and server hardware platforms for IT and unified communications applications. Mitel Communications Suite can be combined with the Sun Ray Unified IP Client powered by Mitel, which delivers a secure unified computing and communications environment fully integrated into the world-renowned Sun Ray solution. The combined solution is among the industry’s most energy efficient, providing ongoing capex and opex savings through the elimination of power-hungry desktop PCs and the reduced energy consumption of low power Mitel IP phones.

“With the increase in exhibitors this year, competition was especially tough for the Best of Interop Awards,” said Lenny Heymann, Interop general manager. “We congratulate Mitel for their contributions and demonstrating how Interop is the leading business technology event to see the exciting and latest advancements in the industry.”

The Mitel Communications Suite, a pre-integrated unified communications solution, allows Mitel’s flagship 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) software and other related unified communications applications (including mobility, unified messaging, teleworking, Mitel Live Business Gateway, and audio and web conferencing) to be integrated as a single seamless communications solution for business, resident on a standard Sun Fire X4150 server. This solution delivers the features and functionality of the advanced Mitel communications solution, while reducing deployment cost, improving the seamless integration of voice applications, and enabling organizations to roll out voice-based solutions on a Sun data infrastructure.

“The work between Sun Microsystems and Mitel blends proven technologies to create a unique value proposition for businesses looking to evolve to unified communications while reducing the number of servers; obtaining secure, centralized management; and lowering their total cost of ownership,” said Paul Butcher, president and chief operating officer, Mitel. “Sun and Mitel are planning a long and successful partnership, using unified communications applications to reshape business practices and to drive business process improvements in a collaborative, mobile world.”

About Mitel
Mitel delivers flexibility and simplicity in smart unified communications solutions and applications for organizations of all sizes. Combined with a full range of managed services that include voice and data network design and traffic provisioning, custom application development, and attractive financing options, Mitel is reinventing how successful organizations gain competitive advantage by easily collaborating and communicating over distance and time with customers, colleagues and partners. Mitel’s (www.mitel.com) US headquarters are in Phoenix, AZ. Global headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners, and resellers worldwide.

When The Weather Network felt the time had come to add to their unparalleled forecasting abilities with reliable and predictable IP communications solutions and applications, they turned to Ottawa-based Mitel® to do the job.Mitel, the trusted provider of IP communications and solutions, was given the task of unifying The Weather Network’s 225 employees through hot desking and four-digit dialing regardless of whether they were in either the Toronto or Montreal office at the time. To accomplish this task, the Mitel Teleworker Solution, Mitel IP phones, and the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) were used to allow The Weather Network employees to keep their usual four-digit extensions regardless of which office – or even which desk – they use.

“We’re the leading weather TV station in the country,” said facilities manager Jackie Adam, “so we need to be sure we’re using innovative technology in all facets of our business. Also, many of our staff travel between the two offices. It was very difficult to reach them quickly before, but hot desking has made it as easy as if they’re right here. They customize whichever phone they happen to be using and then people can still dial the usual four-digit extension. No matter where they are, they’re good to go.”

While Adam says The Weather Network plans to continue adding new solutions to the Mitel infrastructure, every journey begins with that first step. She said “things are working very well,” and that an added surprise was how easy it is to manage. “We’re sending someone to training so that we can handle the system ourselves. This saves time and money and gives us control over how we use the system.”

Speed and accuracy can be crucial when information on storms and how to report them is needed, said Mitel president chief operating officer Paul Butcher. “The Weather Network knows the value of sending and receiving important communications quickly and accurately. The combination of the Teleworker Solution, IP phones and the 3300 ICP work to allow enterprise of all sizes to communicate in real time, every time.” As for simplicity and features, Butcher said it couldn’t be easier or more robust. “It’s the same phone you use every day at work, so when you get to another location or your home office, features like voice mail and programmable keys follow you wherever you go.”

Mitel Solution Provider Introtel e.Networks enhanced the deal with unparalleled customer service, one reason why Adam has enjoyed such a seamless transition.

The Teleworker Solution enables businesses of all sizes to easily enjoy the benefits of teleworking through a low-cost, “plug-and-work” solution that extends the corporate network to virtually any location. Businesses can now benefit from reduced overhead and increased employee retention while users can be more flexible and productive in how they work.

About The Weather Network
Pelmorex Media Inc, owner of The Weather Network, provides 24/7 weather-related information that affects everything from industry, recreation, agriculture and the environment, to the day-to-day lives of Canadians. With the most up-to-date weather information across all media including cable, satellite, Internet, wireless, and newspapers, The Weather Network is a highly accessible, reliable and frequently used weather source. The Weather Network is among the most widely distributed and frequently consulted television network in Canada. The website, theweathernetwork.com is ranked with Canada’s leading web services and is positioned as number one for News and Information sites. The Weather Network is the undisputed leader of weather information services in Canada.

About Introtel e.Networks
Introtel e.Networks is a leading business systems integrator. The company designs, installs, maintains and manages flexible, comprehensive communications infrastructures for their customers. Founded in 1981 as a voice company, Introtel has evolved into a full-service systems integrator with a focus on converged applications. Introtel has built a reputation for excellence through a combination of innovative solutions, flexible and easy-to-use technologies, and outstanding customer support. Introtel offers a diverse, vendor-independent portfolio of best-in-class data, voice, IP and multimedia products that can be modified to suit custom requirements. Their leading edge technology when combined with their application expertise and commitment to service excellence ensures that the company’s customers get business solutions that they can depend on.

About Mitel
Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Mitel’s voice-centric IP-based communications solutions consist of a combination of telephony hardware and software that integrate voice, video and data communications with business applications and processes. These solutions enable our customers to realize significant cost benefits and to conduct their business more efficiently and effectively by enabling enhanced communications, information sharing and collaboration within a business and with customers, partners and suppliers. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide. For more information, visit www.mitel.com.

Mitel has been awarded a six-year contract to supply 96 institutions of the Dutch government with future-proof IP communications solutions.

The large-scale IP deployment is part of OverheidsTelecom 2006 (OT2006), a Dutch government program whereby a number of telecom services are tendered in one master agreement by ministries and other government authorities and subdivided into clusters. The OT2006 cluster covered by this contract will, amongst others, see eight ministries, seven provincial authorities, 30 municipalities and 51 administrative bodies and advisory boards totalling more than 52,000 lines move to a Mitel platform over the next four years.

“We are very proud of the fact that almost a hundred government institutions in the Netherlands will soon be using Mitel IP telephony,” said Graham Bevington, executive vice president, Mitel Europe, Middle-East, and Africa. “We have demonstrated to previous customers such as PCM Publishers, ECT and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports in the Netherlands that we are very experienced at tackling large-scale projects of this kind. For us, the current project is a splendid opportunity to add to our list of successes.”

OT2006 selected Mitel based on several factors including the flexibility of the architecture that can operate in a centralized and a decentralized architecture, ease of management of the solutions, and open standards.

The Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) is a highly scalable, feature-rich communications system designed to support networks ranging from 10 to 65,000 users and provides standard IP-PBX capability plus a range of embedded unified communications applications including standard unified messaging, auto attendant, ACD and wireless. The 3300 ICP also supports a powerful suite of applications including multimedia collaboration, customer relationship management, and unified messaging.

The Mitel Enterprise Manager suite provides a single management interface to monitor and manage all of the activities of a single or a network of 3300 ICPs and performs day-to-day management tasks helping control costs by delivering simplified PC-based administration. At the user level the 3300 ICP supports the industry’s largest range of desktop devices including entry-level IP phones, Web-enabled IP devices, wireless handsets (WiFi or IP-DECT) and full-duplex IP audio conference units.

Mitel premierPARTNER Triple P will install and maintain the extensive deployment of IP technology. 

“Triple P has had years of experience supplying, implementing and managing IP solutions,” said Frans Hulshof, General Manager of Triple P. “So we are naturally thrilled to bring this experience to almost a hundred Dutch government institutions. Our broad expertise in the field of IT infrastructures is also an excellent foundation for creating the uniform workstation of the future the government is seeking.”

About OT2006
OT2006 is the 2006 government telecommunications project in which several telecom services are contracted out by the ministries and other government bodies collectively. The object is to set up an interlinked, standardised portfolio of telecommunication products and services, thus creating a future-proof business-telephony environment for the government to work in. For more information: www.ot2006.nl.

About Triple P
Triple P designs, builds, delivers and manages ICT solutions that make an efficient contribution to the results of an organisation. The three P’s – People, Performance and Partnership – are the cornerstones of an enduring, successful relationship with all of our customers. For more information: www.triple-p.nl

About Mitel
Mitel delivers flexibility and simplicity in smart unified communications solutions and applications for organizations of all sizes. Combined with a full range of managed services that include voice and data network design and traffic provisioning, custom application development, and financial solutions packages, Mitel is reinventing how successful organizations gain competitive advantage by easily collaborating and communicating over distance and time with customers, colleagues and partners. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners, and resellers worldwide.