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Mitel
Mitel Networks Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications company. 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), unified communications, collaboration and contact center products. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide.
In April 2018, the company announced it had been bought by an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners.
Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews founded Mitel in 1973 (officially on June 8, 1973). Conventionally, its name is regarded as a combination of the founders’ first names and their first product, Mike and Terry Lawnmowers. Michael Cowpland stated that the name stands for Mike and Terry Lawnmowers, whereas Terry Matthews confirmed the lawnmower acronym during an interview on BBC Radio 4's The Bottom Line in May 2011.[citation needed]
Cowpland and Matthews formed the corporation with the blessing of their employer, Bell Northern Research, in order to protect their intellectual property rights of the converter design from their employer, who otherwise would have legal ownership rights.
Their first shipment of three lawnmowers 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). Michael Cowpland has also stated that the lawnmowers were not suited to Canadian lawns.
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 to the design of telecom switches. In 1975, they introduced the SX200 PBX. 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.[citation needed] The company grew at a rate of over 100% per year for several years. They reached the $100 million annual revenue mark by 1981.
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.[citation needed]
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]
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Mitel
Mitel Networks Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications company. 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), unified communications, collaboration and contact center products. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide.
In April 2018, the company announced it had been bought by an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners.
Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews founded Mitel in 1973 (officially on June 8, 1973). Conventionally, its name is regarded as a combination of the founders’ first names and their first product, Mike and Terry Lawnmowers. Michael Cowpland stated that the name stands for Mike and Terry Lawnmowers, whereas Terry Matthews confirmed the lawnmower acronym during an interview on BBC Radio 4's The Bottom Line in May 2011.[citation needed]
Cowpland and Matthews formed the corporation with the blessing of their employer, Bell Northern Research, in order to protect their intellectual property rights of the converter design from their employer, who otherwise would have legal ownership rights.
Their first shipment of three lawnmowers 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). Michael Cowpland has also stated that the lawnmowers were not suited to Canadian lawns.
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 to the design of telecom switches. In 1975, they introduced the SX200 PBX. 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.[citation needed] The company grew at a rate of over 100% per year for several years. They reached the $100 million annual revenue mark by 1981.
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.[citation needed]
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]