Bevington says that in November over 150 resellers in the UK attended workshops to hear about Mitel’s newly combined portfolio strategy and channel engagement which he expects will ‘open up significant opportunities for resellers to engage with the “new Mitel”.
As reported previously by Comms Business Magazine, Bevington confirms that the backbone of their product portfolio moving forward will be Inter-Tel’s 5000 and the Mitel 3300 ICP platforms and that this level of choice is further enhanced via the ability of channel partners to offer hosted IP services through Mitel’s hosted service providers leveraging the Mitel 3600 ICP platform. Mitel’s IP phones will be supported across both 5000 and 3300 products.
Applications too will be integrated, with Mitel’s NuPoint messaging, Teleworker and Mobile Extension moving on to the Inter-Tel 5000 and Swan Solutions Callview coming back the other way on to the 3300 ICP.
In terms of organisational changes affecting the UK Bevington has announced that both Chris Harris, MD of Inter-Tel Europe, and Bart Delgado, MD of Swan Solutions, will be leaving the company.
“Chris and Bart have both built outstandingly successful businesses with a real commitment to and understanding the needs of their customers and channels. Quite rightly, they are highly respected in the UK channel community for the level of support and professionalism they have provided over the years. Chris and Bart have been hugely supportive to me on a personal level and to the Mitel team during the merger and integration process. I’d like to acknowledge that and thank them sincerely for their support. As they both move on to new challenges I wish them every success.”
Mitel is also taking the opportunity to achieve application synergies which will see R&D for the Swan Solutions Callview application suite, currently based in Crawley Sussex, being consolidated in to Mitel’s global centre for SME R&D excellence in Chandler Arizona.
Bevington concludes, “2007 was an exciting year for Mitel, driven by continued business growth, a continued ‘top tier’ position in the IP communications market, and a very positive merger with Inter-Tel.”