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Mitel and Inter-Tel Announce Merger
[June 11, 2007]

Mitel and Inter-Tel Announce Merger


Analyst, Access Intelligence LLC
 
In April 2007, Mitel (News - Alert) Networks Corporation announced the planned acquisition of Inter-Tel Inc. for $723 million, combining two market leaders in IP communications, each with well-respected product portfolios that target small to large businesses. Mitel’s international presence and Inter-Tel’s successful managed service offerings in North America also lend strength to the union. Per the announcement, the transaction is expected to become final in the third quarter of 2007.


 
“The combination of Mitel and Inter-Tel has the potential to be a major force in the SMB market for IP Telephony.  In 2006, Mitel ranked fourth with a 10.6 percent share of that market, and Inter-Tel ranked seventh with an 8.9 percent share.  The combined share of 19.5 percent will rank the company first by a wide margin, ahead of Cisco (13.5 percent) and Nortel (13.1 percent),” according to Terry White, vice president of InfoTrack for Unified Communications (News - Alert) (a TelecomWeb and TelecomTactics sister division, www.telecomweb.com).
 
Though there is some overlap in the product lines of the two companies, both offer solid and forward-looking communications solutions for small, mid-size and larger businesses. For a time, the combined company is likely to continue to sell and support both product lines, but like other telecommunications corporate mergers, eventually the products will evolve into new offerings that reflect the best of each manufacturer, while ensuring investment protection for existing customers.
 
Mitel offers a portfolio of unified communications products to improve communications and efficiency in any business environment. Among the offerings is the Mitel Customer Interaction Solutions portfolio for contact centers that utilizes SIP and Microsoft (News - Alert) Office Live Communications Server for “presence-everywhere” so that contact center agents can set up collaborative conversations among subject experts and customers. Additional productivity tools include Mitel Mobile Extension (LCS integration), Mitel Quick Conference (LCS integration), Mitel NuPoint Messenger IP (LCS integration), and Mitel Your Assistant. Mitel’s broad portfolio of IP phones benefits all business types with single line IP phones (LCS presence with Active Directory), a full-featured IP Appliance, phones with built-in HTML, as well as dual-mode models that support both SIP and MiNET protocols.
 
Current telephony systems include Mitel’s SX-200 IP Communications Platform for small to medium-sized businesses with up to 600 users. And, for larger businesses, Mitel sells its flagship 3300 IP Communications Platform (5,000 users per controller or 65,000 per cluster)* worldwide, with a presence in over 90 countries and selling through a distribution network of over 1,200 channel partners. Recently Mitel announced the Mitel PARTNERprogram, a new channel program that offers rewards for revenue performance, sales and service certifications and varying levels of service that provide top tier partners with additional benefits, tools and Mitel support.
 
Inter-Tel also has a comprehensive portfolio of business telephony products, including communications solutions sold in North America, as well as international offers via its subsidiaries Inter-Tel Europe, Swan Solutions and Lake Communications. Swan Solutions of the UK sells Callview contact center software for small and mid-sized businesses that integrates with PBX and IP PBX (News - Alert) systems from leading vendors in the European region and is sold by Inter-Tel in North America as the Contact Center Suite. Ireland-based Lake designs communications products for the “under 40 user” market, including the OfficeLink modular telephone system that Lake develops for Inter-Tel in the U.S. (EncoreCX) and for other customers in Europe, including BT, KPN, Telecom Italia (News - Alert) and Commander Communications PTY in Australia.
 
Inter-Tel has recently upgraded its Inter-Tel 5000 Network Communications Solution, a modular system that incorporates a Linux operating system and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways and scales to 75 IP endpoints (CS-5200) or 175 IP endpoints (CS-5400) or 250 IP endpoints (CS-5600). In the fall of 2006, Inter-Tel introduced the Inter-Tel 7000 IP-based system with server platforms that support from 100 to 2,500 stations. Inter-Tel customers can select from a wide array of forward-looking applications that include Inter-Tel’s Unified Communicator, Call Center Suite, Enterprise Messaging and Enterprise Conferencing/Instant Messaging and a variety of IP, digital and wireless telephones.
Below is a snapshot of currently available telephony platforms from Mitel and Inter-Tel. Visit www.telecomtactics.com for full details on each system.
 
 
Platform
Introduction
Application
Maximum Stations
Inter-Tel EncoreCX
2003
Key
40
Inter-Tel Axxess
1993
PBX
1,700
Inter-Tel CS-5000
2005/2006
IP-PBX
350
Inter-Tel 7000
2006
SIP Softswitch
2,500 (users) or 20,000 (devices)
 
 
 
 
Mitel SX-200 ICP CX/CXi
2004/2006
Converged IP-PBX 
150
Mitel SX-200 ICP MX
2003
Converged IP-PBX 
672
Mitel 3300 ICP
2001
Converged IP-PBX 
5,000 per controller (65,000 per cluster)* 
 
* Mitel’s 3300 ICP Release 8.0 will support 5,000 users per controller (June 2007) up from 1,400 users in earlier releases.
 
For more information, contact:
 
Sandra M. Gustavsen, Analyst/TelecomTactics
Access Intelligence LLC
1111 Marlkress Road, Suite 203
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
856-424-1100 x11


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