The latest X-as-a-Service offering is…Unified Communications.
Yes, through a partnership between Kelowna, B.C.-based cloud provider RackForce Networks and Ottawa-based Mitel Networks, the two plan to offer cloud-based communications and collaboration services to address the requirements of private business and public sector organizations in Canada.
The Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) will be powered by Mitel and will offer RackForce customers a range of communications services on the cloud as well as a white label cloud solution for the solution provider channel.
RackForce is a VMware Service Provider Partner (VSPP) in Canada and is already working with several resellers to white label the communications solution. The RackForce Mitel cloud-based communications service is available September 1, 2013.
With strategically located data centres across Canada and a resilient high capacity 10Gbps private IP network, RackForce provides secure hybrid cloud services, or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). By teaming with Mitel, RackForce brings enterprise-class, cloud-based unified communications services to Canadian businesses, from 25 to 65,000 or more employees.
Tim Dufour, President and CEO of RackForce, said the company researched a number of unified communications products before selecting Mitel’s MiCollab and MiVoice Business platforms, fully leveraging the virtualization advantages for cloud solutions. MiCollab and MiVoice Business support up to 250 end users on a single VMware vApp, plus the solution will allow us to host large enterprise companies that have 65,000 or more end users with no change in the management systems or software code. That is a great value proposition for growing companies or public sector organizations that need advanced communication capabilities and the ability to grow or shrink communication services on demand.
Ron Wellard, EVP and GM of Mitel Communications Solutions, said RackForce is poised to greatly accelerate cloud-based communications and collaboration services in Canada both through an offering to its own customer base and by leveraging its data centre resources to help other service providers deliver their own white-labeled solution.