Troops rally against Cisco; recent Mitel announcements fortify partner strategy

New alliances between Mitel Networks, Foundry Networks Inc. and Sun Microsystems offer further proof that companies need to work together in order to compete against voice and data convergence behemoth Cisco Systems Inc. In fact, companies like Foundry, a switch and router manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, are building robust alliance strategies with the idea of beating Cisco at its own game. "The customer is looking for an end-to-end solution," says Amy Mollat-Medeiros, director of business development at Foundry, "and wants to make sure that equipment is working together, and that it addresses their needs. This is what allows us to compete against Cisco, because we can go to companies that want a one stop shop that can address both technology and business considerations." She sees Cisco as a fierce competitor for the initial sale, but argues that things get expensive later on. "Once Cisco gets in they can drive down costs," Mollat-Medeiros says. "But cradle-to-grave technology has to include infrastructure upgrades, and these can get very expensive. In this regard Cisco is not necessarily meeting the business criteria." Foundry's IronPowered technology alliance program is specific to technology, and doesn't have a channel focus. However, Mollat-Medeiros says that if all goes according to plan, Mitel's agreement to join the IronPower program will touch the channel and affect go-to-market strategies, with both companies' sales forces working together. The intention is to get the right technology to the customer, and from this view the two companies definitely have Cisco in their sights. Specifically, the program intends to build on Mitel and Foundry's shared commercial success by simplifying the deployment of converged data and Voice over IP (VoIP) networks, and then working on interoperability, auto-configuration, and security testing between Foundry's Power over Ethernet (PoE) switches and Mitel's VoIP handsets. Stephen Beamish, VP of business development and strategic alliances for Mitel, says the present alliance with Foundry formalizes what was already a solid relationship. "Now we have a roadmap with some focus - marketing, some joint research and development. We share the same visions and can deliver jointly to our customers," he tells Network Letter. Beamish says it was really Microsoft Corp., and not Cisco, that caused the sea change in terms of understanding the network relevance of voice and data in today's business environment. Microsoft, which is also moving aggressively in the unified communications space, has also seen the need to leverage its alliances in order to line up against Cisco, including partnerships with Mitel and Foundry. "When Microsoft started to move into this world the data people began to realize that voice was a critical component. Now, someone working in the data world knows they should be considering voice as well, and should be talking this way with the vendors." Clearly, Mitel sees Cisco as the new heavyweight when it comes to network infrastructure for both voice and data. "A big part of this story, and of our partner strategy, is Cisco," says Beamish. "They are an ‘all in one' company, and a threat to us. But we think they're beatable." Mitel is also strengthening its OEM alliances with Sun Microsystems. Announced last month at the VoiceCon conference in Orlando, Mitel will begin distributing the Sun Ray Unified IP Client in Q208. Earlier in March, Mitel announced the Q208 availability of the Mitel Communications Suite on the Sun Fire X4150, which introduces the ability to consolidate voice applications such as messaging, mobility, conferencing and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. In this world, Microsoft is seen by many as more the underdog than a monopolistic ogre. "When there is a bid between Microsoft and Cisco, a lot of our guns get behind Microsoft, and if we are in a bid against Cisco, Microsoft will get behind us," says Beamish. This is true for Mitel with Sun, as well, with Beamish seeing more and more evidence of the divide. "For example, we are doing a lot more with Sun, and engaging more with Sun channels. When Cisco signed a partnership with Microsoft people thought the world had ended, but it was the best thing. Now people have woken up to the fact that Cisco is both a voice and a data player." Beamish gives a specific example of the traction these partnerships are getting. "I was on a call yesterday. The solution we were discussing had a Foundry switch, Mitel call control, a Sun Ray thin client, with a Vista operating system and Office Communication Server."

Troops rally against Cisco; recent Mitel announcements fortify partner strategy

News | 04/09/2008 4:02 pm EDT

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