Mitel And VMware Announce First Customers To Leverage Voice Virtualization
Mitel, the trusted provider of unified communications solutions, and VMware, the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop through the datacenter and to the cloud, recently announced Virtual Mitel Communications Director (Virtual MCD), part of the new Mitel Virtual Solutions software portfolio as well as the first customers to deploy Virtual MCD. Virtual MCD is the first real-time voice application designed for the VMware vSphere 4 platform. As a virtual appliance, Virtual MCD is a software package download that runs on VMware vSphere 4, enabling customers to seamlessly access and install Mitel's call control software. The solution leverages VMware vSphere 4 to enable customers to consolidate Mitel's leading voice applications alongside non-voice business applications in the datacenter. This results in the potential for: capital savings due to the significant reduction in server hardware and real estate; operational savings with the reduction in power and server provisioning costs; as well as productivity improvements and resource efficiencies in datacenter management and risk mitigation for business continuity and disaster recovery plans. Mitel and VMware already have a number of joint customers that have deployed Virtual MCD including Gallagher, Flynn & Company LLP, an accounting firm based in the US; Ideal Integrations, a technology integrator based in the US; Spalding University, a university in Louisville, KY; and Ashford Borough Council in the UK. These customer sites consist of users ranging from 30 to more than 2,000. Virtual MCD is the latest application Mitel has introduced in the Mitel Virtual Solutions software portfolio. The next phase will include Mitel Applications Suite (MAS) and Mitel Border Gateway (MBG) as virtual appliances built using VMware Studio to be released 60 days after Virtual MCD.
In addition to MCD, Mitel Unified Communicator (UC) Advanced, Mitel Contact Center Solutions and Mitel Enterprise Manager are VMware Ready applications. The VMware Ready Program is a VMware co-branding program for qualified partner products. VMware Ready products have passed a detailed evaluation and testing process and are ready for deployment in production environments. With the VMware Ready logo, customers can quickly identify VMware partner products and solutions that are optimized for the VMware platform.
"For some time now businesses have been moving toward datacenter virtualization and unified communications deployments on two separate planes," said Stephen Beamish, vice-president business development, Mitel. "Up until today, businesses around the world and of all sizes have wished these two worlds would connect as the cost savings, consolidation and significant improvement in efficiencies would be extremely consequential to business operations. That is why Mitel and VMware spent more than 18 months cracking the code on making the deployment of real-time voice a virtualized application deployable like any other application in the datacenter. Our successes are now being experienced and applauded around the world as customers start executing and benefiting from the deployment of Mitel Virtual Solutions in their datacenters."
"Virtualizing voice applications is a natural next step as customers work to consolidate more and more of their critical datacenter workloads," said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances, VMware. "We're excited to partner with Mitel in order to help advance the benefits of virtualization to a broader set of business applications."
About VMware
VMware delivers solutions for business infrastructure virtualization that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2B, more than 170,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.
About Mitel
Mitel delivers flexibility and simplicity in smart unified communications solutions and applications for organizations of all sizes. Combined with a full range of managed services that include voice and data network design and traffic provisioning, custom application development, and attractive financing options, Mitel is reinventing how successful organizations gain competitive advantage by easily collaborating and communicating over distance and time with customers, colleagues and partners. Mitel's (www.mitel.com/) US headquarters are in Phoenix, Arizona. Global headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners, and resellers worldwide.
SOURCE: Mitel And VMware