TalkingPointz Research Report for Mitel Featuring MCD 5.0

A 48 page look at the UC solutions from Mitel Networks. Although the entire portfolio is discussed, emphasis is given to Mitel MCD Release 5.0. While the majority of the industry kills and launches news products, Mitel has been evolving MCD for a decade. The solution is the centerpiece of Mitel’s Freedom Architecture. This report takes a look at exactly how much freedom comes with this platform, where it fits, and to make the most of it.

Mitel is an engineering driven company, which makes for interesting products that no one knows about. The company his highly innovative and can claim many industry firsts. Most recently, Mitel and VMware jointly announced the first softphone solution supported for VMware’s View VDI. The company has legitimate competitive strength around its virtualization and mobility offerings. For customers that don’t find MCD a good fit, Mitel actually offers three other platforms briefly covered in this report.

In 2007, Mitel thought it was a good idea to acquire Inter-Tel, which at the time was about the same size in revenue. It was a farily aggressive move and meant the introduction of private equity. Unfortunately, 2008 brought a major recession impacting the entire industry. Mitel was stuck paying off a 2007 valuation with 2008 and 2009 precious dollars. The financial pressure was significant – enough to lead to an IPO in 2010. Also during that period, Mitel changed is distribution strategy and senior management. If your understanding of Mitel is a few years old, you don’t know the current Mitel.

Despite all that change, Mitel kept its R&D engine humming and continued to announced new products and innovations. The company is optimistic now. New products, new management, the merger behind it, and relatively out of debt. Now what?

Included in the report a description of the entire Mitel portfolio, but emphasis is given to MCD. Mitel refers to MCD as a single stream solution as the core solution is sold in several manifestations (appliance, software only, virtual optimized, service provider optimized, and as a service). MCD is also used in as the base of some Mitel applications. A look at Mitel’s five strategic partnerships as well as the validity of those relationships. The sections on sales objections and the SWOT include a frank discussion of where Mitel excels and where its need to improve.  Keys to success includes observations and recommendations on where needs to focus is efforts, and how customers can maximize their investment in MCD.  The purchasing section offers advice on how to navigate Mitel’s distribution strategy as well as recommendations on how to save money on the purchase. Reference accounts are organized by product, and includes both publicly profiled as less public customers. The final sections include reference information including major company milestones, Mitel’s business unit structure, a profile on current key managers, and information about Mitel ownership.

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary. 2
• Mitel Networks Overview and Recent Performance. 4
• Current Portfolio. 6
• Mitel MCD Features at a Glance, Mitel Communications Director (MCD), Selected Mitel Applications, Mitel 5000 Communications Platform (CP), Other Communications Platforms, Mitel Endpoints
• Key Partnerships. 14
• Common Sales Objections. 17
• SWOT Analysis. 20
• Keys to Success – for Mitel; for Customers. 28
• Purchasing. 33
• Reference Accounts. 37
• Appendix A: Mitel Company Information. 38
  • Timeline. 38
  • Organization. 38
  • Current Management. 40
  • Ownership. 41
• Appendix B: UC Market Overview.. 42
  • The TalkingPointz UC Web. 42
  • Market Share. 45
  • UC Vendor Landscape. 47

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