atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General Telecom News Mitel buys Inter-Tel!! Ba-bye Inter-Tel, it's been nice

Guys,

Does anyone have any more news on the above. There are people this side of the pond who would love to look into the crystal ball and know where they'll be in the next few months

I talked to a friend that was an Intertel Rep and they walked in a week ago Friday and layed them off. Of course he was told his job was secure, and I guess it was until they closed the deal.

I hear there's some layoffs coming.
Search Google for Mitel, Inter-tel then click on the news icon at the top.

I Met a bank today going with Inter-tel systems at two locations. They had not heard of the acquisition. Wish I had some friendly FUD to share with the client, but I don't see any.....

Any suggestions?

I'd like to get the :read: ,

but I'm not a fan of turning people off of other products for no reason. Is their support going to hit the toilet? Are they going to be understaffed and be unable to make guaranteed response times? Lots of questions, but no answers yet.

If all 200 of the lay offs are on the Intertel side, Intertel dealers better hang on because it might be a rough ride for a while

Hey, DN27 - nice to see another Portlander.

I've been working with Inter-Tel since my very first Hitec 824 installation in about '85. I am sure the Axxess will be going away in the next couple of years. A box with cards in it - - is so '90s'.

I am not a big fan of the 5000 and the 7000 takes a very qualified tech to install/service and we all know how hard it is to find techs that can even install a basic system correctly let alone a SIP server and such.

We are a small dealer and Inter-tel has always wanted to cater to the million-dollar a year+ sales outlets, not ones like us.

Luckily, we are also a Samsung house. Their products were 'not so good' for a long time, but their Officeserv line has lots of potential. Thankfully, we never put all our eggs in one basket.

The mid sized and smaller biz phone vendors must consolidate and reposition themselves to compete with the major players.

Mitel needed the US distribution, customer base, technology and credibility, in that order. InterTel needed new management and a buyout before they went thru another tailspin. Not that Mitel hasn't their own history of ups and downs, bad management and buyouts. That said, there's a lot of potential in the combined entity, provided it's executed well.

As an ex-Mitel dealer and tech, I sure like to see this succeed, but the outcome if most uncertain. Mitel has a history of treating smaller independent dealers poorly, Intertel seemed to manage their channel strategy only a bit better.

What will happen within the product lines? Mitel's finally got some respectable VoIP stuff in the pipeline, but some of the InterTel VoIP products are also decent. Dedicated phone systems ain't dead yet, but there's a lot of changes coming with Microsoft's entry into the biz.

I do expect this whole change process will be a bit messy for them, in both products and the dealer/direct channel.

I'd bet we'll see some other major changes by longstanding names in the telecom biz real soon now.

Rumor has it the 7000 is history. Most engineers/RD gone. The 5000 is not competitive with comparable IP/digital platforms (imo). No more CPU to CPC upgrades for the Axxess. All appearing that the Inter-Tel as I've known it for 23 years is gone.

Yes the 7000 is gone. Otherwise I'm not sure what else is going on.

No shipping as usual....ordered on 8 Nov...still has not gotten here...claim they are waiting for parts to ship.....