Mitel

Mitel Networks Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications company. The company previously produced TDM PBX systems and applications, but after a change in ownership in 2001, now focuses almost entirely on Voice-over-IP (VoIP), unified communications, collaboration and contact center products. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide. In April 2018, the company announced it had been bought by an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners. Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews founded Mitel in 1973 (officially on June 8, 1973). Conventionally, its name is regarded as a combination of the founders’ first names and their first product – "MIke and TErry Lawnmowers". Michael Cowpland is quoted as stating that it stands for "MIke and Terry ELectronics", whereas Terry Matthews confirmed the lawnmower acronym during an interview on BBC Radio 4's The Bottom Line in May 2011. The pair formed the corporation with the blessing of their employer, Bell Northern Research (based on the original premise that it stood for "Mike and Terry Lawnmowers"), in order to protect their intellectual property rights of tone to pulse converter design from their employer, who otherwise would have legal ownership rights. Their first shipment of three lawnmowers was lost in shipping, so they quickly adjusted to produce a telephony tone receiver product (a tone-to-pulse converter for central office use based on Cowpland's Ph.D. thesis). Michael Cowpland has also stated that the lawnmowers were not suited to Canadian lawns. Following the success of the tone receiver, the founders extended their interest in the telecommunications industry. Early on, the pair realized the significance of the then-new microprocessor and software technology to the design of telecom switches. In 1975, they introduced the SX200 PBX. The company grew at a rate of over 100% per year for several years. They reached the $100 million annual revenue mark by 1981.