Over the past 18 months, Ottawa-based IP telecommunications vendor Mitel Networks Corp. executed a series of strategic moves that enabled the company to become a global player offering an expanded suite of videoconferencing, contact centre, business intelligence and unified communications-as-a-service products and services.
To reflect this evolution, Mitel announced today a branding change.
“Mitel has undergone a massive transformation. We have emerged as a truly global industry leader in market,” Rich McBee, CEO of Mitel, said in a statement. “The new Mitel is a company on the move and the rebranding is another major milestone in our journey.”
The old Mitel logo
Partners, customers and suppliers of the vendor have grown familiar with the all caps heavy block letters of the Mitel (NASDAQ: MITL) name accompanied by a blue badge with arrowheads meeting in the middle.
The new company logo now features a caps and lower case Mitel name rendered in a slimmer font and accompanied with a much simpler graphic element.
“Our original name is now supported by two interlocking connectors and a new tagline – ‘Powering connections’ – which together reflects the unprecedented nature of the world we live in and the global ecosystem of customers, partners and suppliers who have been central to our success since we founded the company more than four decades ago,” said Terry Matthews, chairman and co-founder of Mitel.
The brand was developed in close consultation with customers, partner and employees, according to Martyn Etherington, chief marketing officer of the company.
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“The communicated loud and clear that their success depends on making connections,” he said. “And they demand choice and flexibility to take advantage of the constantly evolving technology.
Mitel was founded in 1972 by Matthews and Michael Cowpland.
Cowpland has been quoted as saying the company name stands for Mike and Terry’s Electronics. However, Matthews maintains the name represented a combination of its founder’s names and their first product (Mike and Terry’s Lawnmowers).
The duo originally sold cordless electric lawnmowers but quickly shifted to producing telephony tone receivers and then other telecommunications products. They introduced the digital SX200 PBX.
By 1981 Mitel’s annual revenue was reported at $100 million. Mitel became a public company in 2010.
Today Mitel powers more than two billion connections each day. This includes more than 33 million cloud connections daily making the company one of the world’s fastest growing provider of cloud –based communications. Mitel serves more than 60 million users with over 2,500 channel partners in more than 100 countries. The company claims to have the largest market share in the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions.
In July this year, Mitel launched in Canada its MiCloud Enterprise UCaaS which bundles the company’s solutions as a cloud-based service.
Last year, Mitel snapped up one of its top suppliers contact centre and business analytics software vendor prairieFyre Software Inc., for $20 million. After that, Mitel expanded its videoconferencing line-up by partnering with Vidyo Inc., a firm specializing in software-based teleconferencing systems.
“We have the strongest market position we have ever had…We also have the broadest portfolio in the industry,” said McBee.