Windstream Enters Into Agreement With Mitel for Managed UC Service Offerings

Windstream

, a leading provider of advanced network communications, announced today during the Mitel Business Partner Conference in Hollywood, Fla., that it has entered into an agreement with Mitel to offer their leading edge MiVoice and MiCollab solutions in a fully managed, cloud-based Unified Communications as a Service (UcaaS) solution, powered by Mitel's MiCloud for Service Providers. By doing so, businesses will have access to features and functionality from advanced UC, mobile and desktop collaboration, to messaging and other applications – available in a scalable, subscription-based service. "Today's business environment is constantly evolving – and with that, so is the way businesses communicate with their customers," said Tim Whelehan, vice president of business development for Windstream. "By offering industry leading, cloud-based UC solutions such as Mitel's MiCloud for Service Providers, we can provide the technology and expertise that helps these businesses ease into this new environment – all without the upfront capital costs of a traditional UC solution." The Windstream UCaaS offering, currently in customer trials, bundles the Mitel MiVoice and MiCollab solutions with Windstream's enterprise-class cloud solutions powered by VMware in a way that can offer both geo-redundancy and local survivability. General availability is targeted for fall 2013. The solution also leverages Windstream's award-winning SIP and data solutions in order to provide a full, turn-key solution for businesses both large and small. By doing so, customers can more easily implement unified communications and include services such as analog or VoIP lines, unified messaging, desktop video, and a variety of other mobility solutions. "Mitel's unique single stream of software provides the ease of use and flexibility that service providers like Windstream need to provide powerful solutions to their customers for premise, cloud or hybrid deployments," said Joe Vitalone, Mitel's executive vice president for the Americas. "Windstream is a leading service provider in the U.S. and with this new cloud offering, their business customers will have even greater choice and opportunity to select the services best suited to their needs." As with many of Windstream's managed services offerings, this collaborative product will provide customers with 24x7 remote and onsite monitoring and support – all of which operate within its nationwide network of enterprise-class data centers.