Mitel's Intriguing Announcement
Mitel's Intriguing Announcement by Dave Michels
Mitel today announced a private branded wireless offering for voice and data. This is an intriguing development from what, at least most consider, is an equipment maker. Mitel is quietly building a strong service portfolio around its voice platforms. Mitel Mobile will join Mitel NetSolutions (wired services) and Mitel TotalSolutions (finance and services) in what appears to be a further transition from an equipment dominant to services based portfolio.
For decades, the voice equipment makers ignored the mobile phone. The shift began a few years ago with the simple feature known as Simultaneous Ring. Over the past few years, equipment makers delivered tighter and tighter integration with cellular phones — some even referring to them as extensions. It makes a lot of sense, mobility was the telecommunications growth area of 2009 — and is becoming an increasingly important component of a unified communications solution.
Mitel Mobile makes Mitel what is known generically as a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO. This means Mitel is purchasing wireless capacity at a wholesale level most likely from one of the four major carriers in the U.S. It will allow Mitel to package or bundle wireless services under their own terms. This is consistent with several other Mitel programs aimed at capturing a bigger piece of the overall telecom spend. The benefit to the customer will initially be cost savings. Mitel intends to offer customer's discounts with total spend incentives including wired services (Mitel NetSolutions) and/or Mitel equipment (TotalSolutions), as well as allow mobile minutes to be shared across an organization.
Mitel claims the service will be available in Q110, but has yet to announce device types or details on pricing. Presumably the service will be offered to anyone, but targeted to current Mitel customers.
The announcement is interesting, but likely just a prelude to something bigger. There are plenty of organizations that will likely benefit from Mitel Mobile today. Particularly since there are so few options that allow a customer to combine total wired and wireless spending to obtain better discounts. One (reduced) predictable invoice for all carrier services is the current key benefit as announced.
However, the current solution isn't offering any real technical benefits, at least not yet. Though it does add to an impressive arsenal of capabilities under Mitel's control. Mitel Dynamic Extension already makes a cell phone an extension of a wired phone system — complete with call transfer and support for real-time presence/status. Mitel NetSolutions offers a variety of networking services including MPLS and SIP. Mitel TotalSolutions combines equipment, software assurance, warranty, and services into a single bill. And then there is the Mitel product line that is rapidly embracing multi-user and virtualization capabilities. Perhaps it is just me, but these services all overlap just a enough to suggest a stronger technical strategy.
This is purely speculative, but consider what these pieces could accomplish in the future. For example, the Google Voice consumer application that redirects cell phone dialers to Google servers for added value. Google Voice requires a data phone to do this, and its servers are proprietary. Mitel could potentially accomplish a similar result on any cell phone at the network level. Plus the calls would redirect through its Mitel Call Director either on-premise or in a cloud. Or, perhaps Mitel is more interested in FMC and femtocell technologies. Mitel's strategy isn't being shared, but Mitel is effectively stacking its deck with numerous emerging UC technologies; including virtualization, SIP, and mobility in ways that its (traditional) competitors are not.
The concept of an MVNO is not new. There are many operating in the U.S. already, but I believe Mitel is the first major telecom equipment maker to do so. I believe there is a stronger angle here than simple cost savings and with mobile/VoIP integration becoming so central to unified communications it is indeed an intriguing move.