Mitel

In its continuing efforts to be the communications industry’s environmental leader, Mitel  has reached agreement with Global Investment Recovery (Global), a full-service recycler and processor of electronic equipment, to fully recycle phones and hardware in selected areas where new Mitel equipment is installed.

“Global applauds Mitel for creating an innovative program that ensures electronic material is properly recycled, recovering reusable commodities, not dumped into landfill sites,” said Lisa Collins, Global sales and marketing manager. “We are pleased to have been selected to manage the Mitel program and we know this program will inspire other businesses to emulate Mitel’s environmentally friendly total product lifecycle management.”

Mitel PARTNERprogram channel partner members will be on the front lines of this important assault on electronic equipment pollution, which will be supported and endorsed by Mitel in various commercial programs. Using a login page on the Global Web site, Mitel channel partners can notify Global about equipment ready for pickup after a new Mitel deployment. Global’s logistics team will provide packing and shipping instructions to safely transport it to one of processing facilities, where the equipment will be shredded, sorted and reused, thus eliminating up to 100 percent of the e-scrap. The resulting shredded commodities will be sold in the commodities markets, and ultimately used again in another manufacturing process, effectively closing the entire loop for the recycling process.

“Mitel unified communications products enable our customers to improve business processes while reducing their carbon footprint,” said Paul Butcher, Mitel president and chief operating officer. “As a demonstration of our own commitment to environmental responsibility, in addition to our ISO 14001 certification, we are pleased to launch this relationship with Global to strengthen our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint with the support of our authorizedPARTNERS.”

An ISO 14001-certified company since 1999, the Mitel end-of-life equipment-recycling program ensures that all e-waste designated telephony equipment is decommissioned at local area facilities; that equipment decommissioning and destruction is carried out in such a manner as to not be harmful to the environment; and that scrap metal and precious metal components are recovered and recycled for re-use.

Click here for more information on Mitel’s green solutions.

About Global Investment Recovery
Global Investment Recovery, Inc. provides environmentally sound electronics recycling and destruction services to a wide variety of government authorities and Fortune 500 companies.  Services include recycling end-of-life electronics, proper disposition of hazardous and universal waste arising from electronics, asset management, recovery of electronic components for reuse, and certified destruction of proprietary materials and electronically stored data. Global owns and operates process facilities in Tucson, AZ; Tampa, FL; Reno, NV; Aiken County, SC and Shreveport, LA.  Their operations are supported by four shredding systems for the destruction of proprietary technology, hard drives, and brand protection services. For more information, visit www.girpm.com.

About Mitel
Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide, Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Following its merger with Inter-Tel, Inc. Mitel offers customers greater flexibility and choice of solutions, from basic business communications to sophisticated unified communications, from pre-packaged to tailored applications, and from an outright capital purchase to a managed service. For more information, please visit www.mitel.com.

Mitel, the trusted provider of unified communications solutions, today joined other industry leaders at the worldwide Microsoft Unified Communications Launch 2007 in San Francisco. Mitel announced it will use the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 platform including its call management capabilities for a future generation of solutions. Mitel optimizes Office Communications Server 2007 today to deliver a rich unified communications experience to businesses. Mitel is building solutions today on Office Communications Server 2007 to focus both on specific vertical markets and small and medium businesses, a historical stronghold for Mitel.

Mitel has a long-standing commitment to build on the Microsoft platform and is extending that with Office Communications Server 2007. Microsoft and Mitel share a long-term vision of software-powered communications. With the announced availability of Office Communications Server 2007, Mitel will feature its unified communications solutions with Microsoft to provide new and existing customers, including over 100,000 users already addressed by the Mitel unified communications solution that integrates with the Microsoft software, a paced, easy and rewarding migration roadmap with a seamless software upgrade.

Mitel’s vision that mission critical voice communications-based applications must seamlessly integrate with other business solutions to enhance the user experience and the effectiveness of “in the moment” interactions has underpinned its relationship with Microsoft. Together, the companies are facilitating the rapid integration of solutions that enable customers to evolve their communications environment and solve common business challenges such as dispersed teams, disjointed communications, and complicated collaboration efforts in a global environment. 

“Mitel was early to the unified communications table, first with real-time collaboration and continues as one of Microsoft’s partners with Office Communications Server 2007,” said Gurdeep Singh Pal, corporate vice president, Unified Communications Group, at Microsoft. “Together, we will continue to demonstrate the value of Mitel’s solutions that integrate with Microsoft’s solutions to help customers streamline communications between people and organizations, regardless of medium, modality, platform, device or location.”

Multimate (www.multimate.nl), one of the fastest growing home improvement specialty retailer in the Netherlands, and Bowman and Brooke (www.bowmanandbrooke.com), a large multi-state law firm in the U.S., are two of the many Mitel customers who have benefited from the easy integration of the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP), Mitel Live Business Gateway and Microsoft to unify their communications and improve employee productivity.

“In the competitive ‘Do It Yourself’ retail market, being innovative and reliable in automation sets us apart from competition towards our franchisers,” said Jerry Otto, IT and communications infrastructure manager, Multimate Head Office. “The combined Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Mitel IP communications with Mitel Mobile Extension not only adds value to our centralized IT and communications services offering, it enables co-workers from the head office to work and communicate in a standardized way in any of our 75 franchise outlets.”

The 3300 ICP, operating as a gateway and using industry-standard protocols, allows for a customers’ legacy voice infrastructure to benefit from the integrated unified communications solutions of Mitel and Microsoft. Mitel’s Live Business Gateway currently allows for the full benefits of the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to be extended to such Mitel applications as Mobile Extension, Contact Center, Attendant Console, Mitel 5300 Intelligent Directory and Mitel IP Phones. These solutions are available today and are featured at Microsoft Technology Centers (MTC).

“Mitel has been unwavering in its commitment to providing customers with the ability to lever their Microsoft infrastructure as a platform for enhanced office collaboration,” said Paul Butcher, president and chief operating officer, Mitel. “We add value to Microsoft’s core applications and collaboration suite by providing a comprehensive unified communications solution to knowledge workers, office workgroups, and beyond, while reaching to the specialized communications needs of employees in vertical markets who operate away from the PC.”

Mitel will be joining Microsoft for the Office Communications 2007 launch events in various locations throughout the world.

Additional information about the Mitel and Microsoft partnership can be found at (www.mitel.com/uclaunch2007).

About Mitel
Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide, Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Following its merger with Inter-Tel, Inc., Mitel offers customers greater flexibility and choice of solutions, from basic business communications to sophisticated unified communications, from pre-packaged to tailored applications, and from an outright capital purchase to a managed service. For more information, please visit www.mitel.com.

Satisfying the communication needs of a 450-plus employee, multi-state law firm can be challenging, especially when you factor the extensive travel schedules of trial lawyers and the importance of constant accessibility. But that is not something that keeps Bowman and Brooke LLP’s (www.bowmanandbrooke.com) chief information officer, Michael Cammack up at night.

As an early adopter of Mitel® IP communications solutions, Bowman and Brooke benefited from the cost savings of IP trunking between office locations. “By using the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) as an IP gateway we could leverage the cabling structure and Mitel TDM phones in our existing offices but still provide the same functionality as the IP phones we installed in our new facilities,” said Cammack.

Once Cammack had a taste of IP he wanted to create a rich converged IP communications environment. Mitel responded by enhancing Bowman and Brooke’s existing IP communications and delivering integration into Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. With the recent arrival of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, aimed to enhance inter-office communications and collaboration, Cammack was keen to migrate from his current Live Communications Server deployment.

“We reviewed proposals from Cisco® and ShoreTel®, but they required a rip and replacement scenario whereas Mitel provided investment protection and seamless integration into the Microsoft Office Communications Server environment,” said Cammack.

Using the Mitel Live Business Gateway integrated into Office Communications Server 2007 and the 3300 ICP allows users to obtain better access to information and people right from the desktop. Users will benefit from click-to-call capabilities within Microsoft Office documents and enables attorneys to restrict visibility of their presence status from select users.

Because of busy schedules and frequent travel Bowman and Brooke believes it is important to allow employees the opportunity to work from where they want to work. To do this, they implemented the Mitel Teleworker Solution that can securely extend the features and functionality of the office phone to any location with a broadband connection such as a home office, hotel room, or other remote site.

Additionally, to ensure clients have access to their attorney anytime, anywhere, Bowman and Brooke have provided key attorneys with a single phone number and single mailbox for multiple devices via Mitel Mobile Extension. Calls coming into their office can be simultaneously routed to any business, mobile, home phone, teleworker, or wireless device ensuring the call is received regardless of where the attorney is. The presence status of the user is updated no matter which device they are using.

The firm is also deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to unify its messaging environment.  The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging uses a direct Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) connection to the 3300 ICP. Mitel is one of only three vendors that do not require a separate SIP gateway connection to an Exchange Server 2007 to support multiple forms of unified communications including voice, email, and fax.

“The nature of Bowman and Brooke’s business means it is imperative employees are accessible when a client or colleague needs to reach them,” said Paul Butcher, president and chief operating officer, Mitel. “Using Mitel’s mobility solution integrated with Microsoft’s presence application will ensure Bowman and Brooke attorneys can be reached in the moment they are needed resulting in quicker decision making and more satisfied clients.”

The relationship between Mitel and Convergent was pivotal in deploying the Bowman and Brooke solution. Convergent provides systems integration and review services for Mitel and its channel partners deploying unified communications.

“Companies invest in technology to make employees more productive,” said Doug Splinter, chief technology officer, Convergent. “But a productivity tool that isn’t there when you need it isn’t useful at all. Working with Mitel we can ensure a smooth transition for customers to a unified communications platform that will provide them with the tools they need to increase productivity, drive revenue streams, and streamline business processes.”

About Bowman and Brooke
Bowman and Brooke LLP has 140 lawyers coast to coast in Minneapolis, Phoenix, Detroit, San Jose, Los Angeles and Richmond – together defending many of the world’s largest corporations in high exposure, complex and high profile product liability, toxic tort, commercial and other high stakes claims in all 50 states.  http://www.bowmanandbrooke.com

About Convergent Solutions Group
Convergent Solutions Group is an innovative technology services firm dedicated to improving IT environments by making them more productive, resilient and secure. We apply our expertise in messaging and network resiliency to design and implement a unified communications infrastructure that works and can be supported by your existing IT staff. More information is available at http://www.convergent-solutions.com.

About Mitel
Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide, Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Following its merger with Inter-Tel, Inc., Mitel offers customers greater flexibility and choice of solutions, from basic business communications to sophisticated unified communications, from pre-packaged to tailored applications, and from an outright capital purchase to a managed service. For more information, please visit www.mitel.com.

When Pennsylvania-based World Travel, Inc., one of the largest corporate travel management companies in the United States, determined it needed the ability to control call flow to meet demand while still providing dedicated agents to their customers, they turned to Mitel® for a contact center solution that is not only highly scalable, but which allows for a single “virtual” contact center enabling agents to work from remote locations.

“The decision to go with the award-winning Mitel Customer Interaction Solution over competition from industry heavyweights was based upon its robust features and ease of use,” said George Gadebusch, chief information officer, World Travel. “We needed to spread out our work force and provide flexible solutions. Our business has grown so rapidly that we did not the have physical space available in our contact centers so we needed to explore the Mitel Teleworker Solution allowing agents to work remotely. With a limited pool of experienced travel agents in this immediate area, the virtual contact center, combined with the Teleworker Solution, successfully addressed our need to look beyond traditional boundaries to recruit from other regions.”

With 450 employees working in five main reservation centers as well as over five dozen remote locations, World Travel required the ability to control call flow to meet demand while seamlessly providing dedicated agents to its customers.

“Mitel’s solution provides excellent customer service allowing us to attract and retain customers,” Gadebusch added. “Though currently there are other methods of making travel arrangements, such as self-service online booking, at least 80 percent of bookings are still made via traditional phone contact with our dedicated agents. Additionally, the ability to utilize four-digit dialing between our sites adds to our configuration options by eliminating the need for co-located agent teams.”

The Mitel Contact Center Management solution provides World Travel with advanced, browser-based capabilities for reporting on all agents and queues over any date and time horizon by viewing historical events for a particular date, in simulated real time as well as real-time monitoring of all contact center activities for queues and agents.

This allows for effective contact center management to accurately forecast workload at the desired level of service. Supervisors can also respond instantly to changing traffic volumes and ensure service levels are maintained by deploying calls to idle agents wherever they are, a feature that World Travel has used extensively with its dispersed agents.

“World Travel is a great example of how Mitel solutions allow a company to hire not just remote contact center workers, but also the best agents regardless of their geographical location,” said Mitel chief executive officer Don Smith. “Mitel’s Customer Interaction Solutions makes it possible for agents to work from remote locations and have access to all the features and functions of the corporate office. This gives the agents a virtual presence in the office even as they worked from home.”

Together with Mitel, VoIP Networks was instrumental in illustrating the many benefits of Mitel IP communications to World Travel and assisting in the installation. “World Travel presented VoIP Networks with many challenging opportunities to better improve the overall customer experience,” said Chuck Reagan, chief executive officer, VoIP Networks. “Partnering with Mitel’s proven Teleworker and Mitel Contact Centre Management Solution enabled VoIP Networks to deploy a best-in-breed solution that is scalable, feature rich and a perfect fit for World Travel’s distributed business model.”

About World Travel, Inc.
World Travel, Inc. is a professional travel management company focusing upon mid-market volume clientele and recognized within the top 1 percent nationally of Business TMC’s in the United States. World Travel, Inc.’s total sales for 2006 exceeds $450 Million. Corporate office is based in Pennsylvania with six reservation centers and numerous client onsite locations nationwide servicing customers on a national and global basis.  Further information is available about World Travel at www.worldtravelinc.com. 

About VoIP Networks
VoIP Networks (formerly Worldwide Telecom) is the leading provider of Mitel VoIP solutions in the United States. Our commitment to excellence in customer service and technical innovation are the reasons that VoIP Networks was selected as Platinum VAR of the Year for 2006. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, VoIP Networks has been providing state of the art communications and data solutions since 1982.

About Mitel
Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide, Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Following its merger with Inter-Tel, Inc., Mitel offers customers greater flexibility and choice of solutions, from basic business communications to sophisticated unified communications, from pre-packaged to tailored applications, and from an outright capital purchase to a managed service. For more information, please visit www.mitel.com.