Mitel

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Mitel

Type of Company	Private
Founded	Ottawa, Ontario (1973)
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Key people	• Terry Matthews, Chairman • Don Smith, CEO and director • Paul Butcher, president and COO
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	See [1]
Revenue	$387.1 million (13.1%) FY 2006
Employees	approx. 1,600 (2006)
Website	www.mitel.com

Mitel is a high-tech company providing voice-centric IP-based communications solutions for business. The company originally produced traditional PBX systems but after a change in ownership in 2001 now focuses almost entirely on Voice-over-IP (VoIP) products. Those products include but are not limited to:

Voice-over-IP IP-PBX systems
IP business telephones
Contact center/call center applications
Messaging and voicemail applications* Conferencing and collaboration (voice/video/data) applications
Enterprise management applications
Mobility and wireless solutions

Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide.

[edit] Corporate history

Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews founded Mitel in 1973 (officially on June 8, 1973). Its name is a combination of the founders’ first names and their first product - MIke and TErry's Lawnmowers. They originally intended to sell Russian-made cordless electric lawnmowers. Their first shipment of lawnmowers was lost in shipping by the railway so they quickly adjusted to produce a telephony tone receiver product based on Cowpland's Ph. D. thesis. ^{[citation needed]}

Following the great success of the tone receiver, the founders extended their interest in the telecommunications industry. Early on they realized the possibilities of the then new technology of microprocessors to change how office telephone equipment was built. With this insight, they introduced the SX200 PBX to an astonishing success. The company grew exponentially at a rate of over 100% per year for several years. They reached the $100 million dollar annual revenue mark by 1981.^{[citation needed]}

In 1976, the company expanded into the semiconductor field with the acquisition of Siltex an ISO-CMOS foundry in Bromont Québec. This evolved into a semiconductor division that specialised in mixed signal and thick film hybrid devices.

The next major product was a large digital PBX called the SX2000. This was an early attempt to integrate the voice and data functions of office systems.

In 1985, Cowpland and Matthews sold the company to British Telecom. British Telecom left the equipment business a few years later and sold Mitel to an investment company called Schroeder Ventures. Schroeder Ventures installed new management which revitalized the company.

In 2001, Mitel was split into two parts. The PBX division and the company name were sold to co-founder Matthews, who took it private. Matthews purchased 90% of the PBX division for $300 million Canadian with the original company retaining 10%.^{[citation needed]} The PBX division then began a new chapter, under the name Mitel Networks, by developing a family of PBXs based on Internet standards for Voice over IP (VoIP).

The original company retained the semiconductor division. It was renamed Zarlink (Tsar of Links) to reflect its interest in networking.

On May 10, 2006, the new company announced its intention to IPO. No detailed information was released but the press indicated that the company hoped to raise $150 million.^[1]

The intellectual property of Mitel Networks was spun out in 2001 and placed in a company called Mitel Knowledge Corporation.^{[citation needed]} This company evolved into MKC Networks which makes a family of SIP-based IP PBX systems.

An additional split took place in 2002 when the manufacturing arm was spun off out of Mitel Networks to become a contract manufacturer called Breconridge. With these developments, the original Mitel Corporation has been split into the three companies: Zarlink (which though renamed is the original corporate entity), Mitel Networks, and Breconridge.^[2]

Mitel Networks reverted to calling itself Mitel in product branding and marketing materials in 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Note that the separate company known first as "Mitel Knowledge" and now as MKC Networks was never actually a part of Mitel Networks but was rather a company producing a product intended for sale through Mitel Networks.^{[citation needed]} Both companies were and are ultimately controlled by Terry Matthews.