[March 21, 2000]

Mitel Delivers The Ipera 2000, Voice Over IP Solution Offering Full PBX Values

Mitel Communications Systems, a division of Mitel Corporation set a new standard for enterprise IP telephony with the introduction of Ipera 2000, the industry's first IP solution offering 99.999 percent reliable call control. The Ipera 2000 delivers the same extensive functionality as Mitel's SX-2000 PBX family - capabilities available for the first time on an IP platform. By combining reliability and functionality, Mitel's Ipera 2000 is the first Voice-over-IP (VoIP) product to make voice and data network convergence a viable alternative for enterprise communications.

Ipera 2000 builds on Mitel's 25 years' experience meeting the real-time voice communications needs of enterprise customers. Mitel's unmatched call control expertise enables the Ipera 2000 to deliver superior voice capabilities with more than 500 features, a milestone in enterprise VoIP communications. The Ipera 2000 is designed for use in small and medium businesses and the extended enterprise, including branch offices and corporate workgroup environments.

"Ipera 2000 is the industry's most reliable and functional IP communications solution," said Paul Butcher, senior vice president, Mitel Communications Systems. "We are also delivering the components necessary to make Voice-over-IP communications a success, including IP-based applications and management tools, as well as service and support networks specializing in convergence. This is in stark contrast to data-focused start-ups and incumbents who are still struggling to address real-time voice."

Mitel is also introducing two new IP telephones: the SUPERSET 4015 IP and the SUPERSET 4025 IP. Both provide quick and easy "softkey" access to a wide range of voice functions, and are based on Mitel's acclaimed handset design.

The Ipera 2000 provides a level of networking capability and seamless feature transparency unmatched in the industry. An organization can deploy Ipera 2000 in a branch office or as an adjunct system and easily integrate it to their legacy network. The ability to seamlessly integrate IP users with the existing telecommunications infrastructure provides Ipera 2000 customers with significant value and investment protection. To facilitate networking, Ipera 2000 includes QSIG networking capabilities and the full-featured DPNSS protocol extensively deployed in Mitel's SX-2000 portfolio.

The Ipera 2000 is based on Mitel's Data Integrated Voice Applications architecture. This is an open architecture that ensures a seamless transition for legacy platforms and provides the foundation for next-generation IP telephony applications. Mitel's IP architecture eliminates the forklift upgrades currently required to implement IP telephony systems, allowing customers to adopt converged solutions in timeframes dictated by their business needs.

Michigan Technological University (MTU), which runs its voice communications network on Mitel SX-2000 LIGHT PBXs and Centrex, is testing Mitel's new IP-based solution. The University's 40-person IT department is utilizing the Ipera 2000, and MTU plans to converge its entire campus-wide voice and data communications network in 2001.

"MTU selected the Ipera 2000 because it is an IP solution offering 99.999 percent reliable and comprehensive call control, making it as dependable as legacy PBXs," said Dr. James Cross, MTU's vice provost for information technology. "IP telephony can deliver infrastructure savings, staff productivity gains, and ultimately new value-added functionality - but not at the expense of reliability "

"The Ipera 2000 also delivers full SX-2000 LIGHT functionality, a requirement for MTU to move to IP telephony," said Cross. "Furthermore, it offers complete feature transparency when networked to our legacy equipment. This preserves the significant investment Michigan Tech has made in building its integrated voice, data and video campus network."

"Enterprise VoIP is quickly becoming a major focus for us," said Doug King, president of DataVoice, a Mitel Platinum Elite VAR based in Atlanta, Georgia. "Our customers want IP solutions offering the same quality, reliability and functionality as their existing systems. Furthermore, any new platform must seamlessly integrate with their legacy equipment, protecting investments made in PBX technology. Those capabilities haven't been available from the data communications companies trying their hand at telephony."

"The Ipera 2000 delivers the same reliability and functionality as Mitel's SX-2000 PBX, the exact solution set our customers ask for," said King. "And for my company, the new Mitel platform allows us to capitalize on the years we have invested in supporting the SX-2000."

The 384-port Ipera 2000 is an integrated, single-server Windows NT-based telecom solution. It provides standard and advanced PBX features and interfaces; full featured call control, analog and digital trunking, including T1/E1 and ISDN; call center routing; management including SNMP and LDAP support; and unified messaging functionality - all pre-packaged on one server. The server supports redundant power and disk drives (RAID5). Ipera 2000 supports up to 240 IP users.

The Ipera 2000 is now available from Mitel Communications Solutions and Mitel Platinum Elite VARs. Pricing starts at US $22,000 for a standard 20-port configuration.

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