mnw industry telecommunications founded ottawa ontario 1973 headquarters ottawa ontario canada key people terry matthews chairman rich mcbee ceo steve spooner cfo wes durow cmo thomas lokar chief human resources officer pardeep kohli president mobile business unit ronald wellard evp and gm mitel products & solutions jon brinton evp and gm mitel cloud services graham bevington evp and chief sales officer products see 1 revenue 1.2 billion c 2015 1 number of employees 4 500 2015 1 website www.mitel.com mitel networks is a telecommunications company providing unified communications solutions for business . the company previously produced tdm pbx systems and applications but after a change in ownership in 2001 now focuses almost entirely on voice over ip voip products . mitel is headquartered in ottawa ontario the capital city of canada with offices partners and resellers worldwide . contents 1 corporate history 1.1 founding 1.2 splits 1.3 new ipo 1.4 acquisition 1.5 divestiture 2 litigation 3 product lineup 17 4 references 5 external links corporate history edit founding edit cover of the 1981 mitel annual report michael cowpland and terry matthews founded mitel in 1972 officially on june 8 1972 . conventionally its name is regarded as a combination of the founders first names and their first product mike and terry s lawnmowers . cowpland is quoted as stating that it stands for mike and terry s electronics whereas matthews confirmed the lawnmower acronym during an interview on bbc radio 4 s the bottom line in may 2011 . citation needed the pair formed the corporation with the blessing of their employer bell northern research based on the original premise it stood for mike and terry lawn mowers and in order to protect their intellectual property rights of tone to pulse converter design from their employer who otherwise would have legal ownership rights . their first shipment of three lawn mowers was lost in shipping so they quickly adjusted to produce a telephony tone receiver product a tone to pulse converter for central office use based on cowpland s ph.d. thesis . cowpland has also stated that the lawnmowers were not suited to canadian lawns . citation needed following the success of the tone receiver the founders extended their interest in the telecommunications industry . early on the pair realized the significance of the then new microprocessor and software technology 2 to the design of telecom switches . in 1975 they introduced the sx200 pbx . 2 the company grew at a rate of over 100 % per year for several years . they reached the 100 million annual revenue mark by 1981 . 3 in 1976 the company expanded into the semiconductor field with the acquisition of siltex a bankrupt iso cmos foundry in bromont quebec . this evolved into a semiconductor division that specialized 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 . it was conceived as moving beyond the pbx to become an office controller which would handle both voice and data applications within an organization . in 1985 due to a financial crisis in the company the board of directors created enough new shares to sell a controlling interest 51 % to british telecom . british telecom left the equipment business a few years later and sold its controlling interest in mitel to an investment company called schroder ventures . schroeder ventures installed new management which revitalized the company . citation needed in the meantime mitel continued to diversify its product line introducing the successful superset line of phone terminals the gx5000 central office and the smart 1 call controller among others . additionally mitel developed and marketed a line of telecom focussed semiconductor products . splits edit 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 semiconductor to reflect its interest in networking . 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 was split into three companies zarlink which though renamed is the original corporate entity mitel networks and breconridge . 4 new ipo edit on may 10 2006 the new company announced its intention to launch an initial public offering ipo . no detailed information was released but the press indicated that the company hoped to raise 150 million . 5 in april 2007 mitel announced an agreement with inter tel to purchase that company . this purchase would amount to a merger of equals with the merged company being twice the size of the original mitel . this acquisition was completed in august 2007 . management had announced that the companies will carry on under the name mitel . as a result of the merger mitel withdrew from the ipo registration process . 6 mitel networks reverted to calling itself mitel in product branding and marketing materials in 2004 . citation needed the separate company known first as mitel knowledge and now as mkc networks was not 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 . on april 22 2010 mitel became a public company 7 listed on nasdaq with the symbol mitl and its initial offering stood at 14 per share . 8 within a year the stock price had dropped to 5.50 9 and was described by cnbc s jim cramer as one of the worst ipos of the year . 10 cramer blamed excessively optimistic pricing excessive debt and the fear that company insiders would sell dropping the stock value . 10 during the company s q1 conference call don smith ceo announced his retirement from the company once the board of directors is able to find a suitable replacement . smith said he would remain on the board after retirement . 11 acquisition edit in june 2013 mitel announced the completion of acquisition of one of its key suppliers prairiefyre software inc. a privately held global provider of contact center business analytics and workforce optimization software and services . the net cash cost to mitel for the acquisition of prairiefyre is approximately 20 million . prairiefyre is an original equipment manufacturer oem that has supplied mitel with its existing contact center solution . 12 in november 2013 mitel announced the purchase of aastra technologies . 13 on march 4 2014 mitel announced the acquisition of contact center supplier oaisys a leading developer of integrated call recording and quality management solutions . in march 2015 mitel announced to buy mavenir systems for 560 mln . 14 in april 2016 mitel announced to buy polycom for 1.96 billon . 15 the deal will supply existing polycom shareholders both cash and new mitel shares for their holdings . it will result in polycom former shareholders owning 60 % of the combined company . the acquisition however did not happen . citation needed divestiture edit on march 1 2013 mitel announced it has completed the sale of its datanet commsource business unit datanet in sioux falls to earthbend llc . citation needed litigation edit in 2011 mitel launched litigation against at least 2 australian businesses for infringing on mitel s trademark and the businesses for engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct under australian consumer law . the first case against melbourne telecommunications company mytel was resolved while the second case brought against a chain of mobile phone accessory and repair stores under the mytel and happytel name was still waiting to be heard . 16 product lineup 17 edit micollab tap to connect communications and collaboration tools for smartphones voice over wifi vowifi calling services micloud multi tenant multi instance cloud platforms micontact center customer service platform for contact centers which includes ability to connect mobile enterprises with the mobile consumer mobile capabilities for hospitality sector and customers references edit a b http investor.mitel.com proxy.cfm a b about us overview history . wesley clover . mitel annual report 1982 obj staff 2001 . mitel spins off division into breconridge . ottawa business journal . archived from the original on 2007 09 28 . retrieved 2006 11 20 . catherine mclean 2006 . mitel files for ipo eyes expansion plan . the globe and mail . retrieved 2006 11 20 . dead link mitel to acquire inter tel . tmcnet.com . 2007 04 27 . mitel makes second try at ipo . the globe and mail . 2010 04 22 . mitel becomes a public company again . ucstrategies.com . 2010 04 22 . johnathan chen july 1 2011 . j.p. morgan lowering price target on mitel networks . benzinga . retrieved february 21 2012 . a b jim cramer june 23 2010 . a how to guide for a successful gm ipo . cnbc . retrieved february 21 2012 . mitel ceo don smith to leave post . 2010 09 03 . retrieved 2015 07 21 . mitel acquires contact center supplier prairiefyre press release . june 17 2013 . retrieved june 17 2013 . mitel networks buys aastra technologies in friendly takeover deal to create bigger high tech player press release . november 11 2013 . retrieved november 11 2013 . canada s mitel networks to buy mavenir systems for 560 mln press release . march 2 2015 . retrieved march 2 2015 . mitel announces definitive agreement to acquire polycom . mitel.com . retrieved 2016 04 15 . mitel targets iphone repairer trademark . zdnet . 2011 12 02 . mitel announces mobile enterprise portfolio for today s mobile first world . yahoo finance . retrieved 2015 10 19 . external links edit official site mitel on twitter mitel facebook retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mitel & oldid 743059354 categories s & p tsx composite indexcompanies listed on the toronto stock exchangecompanies based in ottawatelecommunications companies of canadatelecommunications equipment vendorsvoip companieswesley clovercanadian brandshidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from august 2012all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from april 2013articles with unsourced statements from september 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