Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Mitel for Pioneering the Virtualization of Real-time Voice and Video Applications

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the enterprise telephony platform and endpoints markets, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Mitel® with the 2010 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. In February 2010, Mitel made a ground-breaking announcement of the support of Mitel Communications Director, the company's core voice infrastructure, on VMware servers, becoming the first real-time voice application designed for the VMware vSphere 4 platform.

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Until Mitel's breakthrough product, no vendor had virtualized an expansive range of real-time applications on a single generic server, and placed it in the virtualized data-center environment, instead of maintaining a separate set of hardware, processes, and tools for voice communications.

Mitel's strategic move to partner with a virtualization leader such as VMware is likely to have a far-reaching effect on Mitel's ability to offer competitive solutions for a larger customer base. Mitel chose VMware over others for its core capabilities in server, desktop and applications virtualization. This strategic relationship will equip businesses with the necessary tools to deploy a complete virtualized UC solution.

"While other enterprise telephony vendors are also attempting to virtualize their call control and applications, Mitel has leapfrogged the competition by becoming the first voice applications vendor that has enabled its call-processing server to run on VMware vSphere 4," says Elka Popova, Program Director, Frost & Sullivan. "Virtual MCD can co-reside and co-exist with any other business application in a virtualized environment on the same server without any limitations."

Mitel virtual solutions allow businesses to optimally use their resources, from reduction of infrastructure operating costs, server consolidation, simplified business continuity, and disaster recovery plans, to centralized management of business resources. For small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), it offers all of its communications solutions on a single server, designed to lower cost and ease management. For its larger customers, it offers a service-oriented infrastructure model for corporate data centers, promising infrastructure optimization and cost reduction.

Additionally, the solution allows businesses that have just invested in more standard telephony infrastructure to move to a virtualized set-up, when they are in a position to do so. Mitel's offering aims to increase customer satisfaction by enabling simplified alternatives that add value and provide superior benefits to organizations of all sizes.

Virtualized data centers can reduce infrastructure operating costs by up to 60 percent. Fewer enterprise hardware components also means a smaller footprint, reduced power and cooling costs, and less time spent on server and application management. As enterprises work toward streamlining business processes through their IT and communications infrastructure, technologies such as virtualization are promising to dramatically change the way communications networks operate in the future.

While the market for server virtualization is fast approaching maturity, real-time and non real-time communications application streaming is still evolving. These technologies address a major enterprise challenge – delivering communication solutions irrespective of location, device, and time. Frost & Sullivan expects these factors to accelerate the adoption of Mitel's products in the next few years.

"By 2012, we expect at least 10 percent to 15 percent of large enterprises to implement application virtualization in one form or another," notes Popova. "Furthermore, SMBs that have a growing need for affordable IP telephony and UC suites will find communications virtualization an attractive alternative to accelerate deployment without having to make excessive investments."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated innovation in developing a product. The recipient has leveraged leading-edge technologies to offer value-added features while increasing the ROI for customers. In turn, the innovation has enabled the company to acquire new customers and increase their market penetration.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Mitel

Mitel Networks (Nasdaq: MITL) is a global provider of business communications solutions and services. Mitel delivers flexibility and simplicity through its comprehensive portfolio of IP and open standards-based communications software and systems, consisting of unified communications and collaboration applications, IP telephony platforms, mobility applications and managed and network services. Mitel is a leader in the unified communications market enabling customers to move beyond basic fixed telephony tools toward integrated multi-media collaboration solutions, accessible from anywhere and from any device. By integrating voice, video and data communications with business applications and within data centers, Mitel can enable businesses of all sizes to improve performance, gain competitive advantage, and reduce costs. Mitel's global headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada. The company's US headquarters are in Chandler, Arizona and EMEA headquarters are in Caldicot, UK with offices, partners, and resellers worldwide.

About Frost & Sullivan

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan