Mitel Closes Atos Deal To Buy Unify To Become A ‘Serious’ Cisco Webex Contender

‘There was business that as a standalone entity, neither Unify nor Mitel could touch. It went to the likes of Cisco by default just for sheer size and capability. This will put us in a better position to compete with those major vendors,’ Martin Bitzinger, SVP of product management for Mitel told CRN of the deal.

Unified communications specialist Mitel has officially closed on its previously announced planned acquisition of Unify, the unified communications (UC) and collaboration business of Atos, the two companies revealed on Monday.

The deal will strengthen Mitel’s position across multiple geographies and expand the provider’s reach, giving the company a number two position in the global enterprise UC market and a number one position in EMEA and in more than 10 individual countries, executives from both companies told CRN.

Once combined, Mitel will become a more formidable competitor to the likes of UC and collaboration market leaders such as Cisco Systems, said Martin Bitzinger, senior vice president of product management for Mitel.

“Were we a serious contender for some of the business that we threw our hat into the ring for? Not so much because there was business that as a standalone entity, neither Unify nor Mitel could touch. It went to the likes of Cisco by default just for sheer size and capability,” he said. “This will put us in a better position to compete with those major vendors.”

[Related: Mitel Launches Two New Partner Programs Targeting MSPs, Agents: Exclusive]

Mitel in January first announced it has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Unify from France-based system integrator Atos.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Unify brings its large enterprise business that Mitel, a SMB and midmarket player, hasn’t had, Bitzinger said. Unify also brings its managed services and professional services organizations, something that channel partners reaching larger customers will be able to take advantage of that Mitel partners haven’t had access to previously, he added.

“We think that with this expansion into large enterprises, services, and going deeper into some of our key verticals much better positions us to compete and win in the market,” Bitzinger said. “A lot of Mitel’s channel partners were limited in terms of going after larger enterprise deals … now, [for] partners running into major big deals, we can actually be right behind them to support them with those services.”

The deal will also boost Mitel’s ability to address the evolving communication needs of global businesses through on-premises, hybrid, and private cloud solutions, according to the two companies.

The transaction will increase the customer base of Mitel, a historically North American-focused company, to more than 75 million users across more than 100 countries, or about 19-20 percent of the global UC market — a very “sticky” market, said Simon Skellon, senior vice president and head of international for Unify.

The deal will expand Mitel’s global channel community to more than 5,500 partners between the two companies, according to Skellon.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Mitel said that it expects to share its vision for an integrated product portfolio and partner programs in early 2024.

Together, the company now has more than 5,000 employees worldwide, Mitel said.

Mitel is no stranger to large acquisitions. The company in 2017 struck a deal to acquire UC competitor ShoreTel for $530 million in an all-cash transaction.