Canadian telecommunications provider Mitel has entered exclusive negotiations with Atos, the French multinational IT service and consulting company, to acquire Unify, the business division within Atos offering unified communications (UC) solutions.
Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed, but the deal will boost Mitel’s position in multiple geographies and segments while still reinforcing the company’s commitment to delivering choice and flexibility for business communications customers.
By joining forces in a newly expanded organization, Mitel and Unify could become a more prominent player in the UC space in the Americas and Europe, bolstered by a collective base of more than 75 million users and a channel community exceeding 5,500 global partners. The proposed transaction would also greatly expand Mitel’s reach and organizational scale, leading to increased global revenues and profitability.
Tarun Loomba, president and CEO of Mitel, says the addition of Unify’s portfolio, partners, and talent would significantly expand Mitel’s scale and offerings, providing customers even greater choice and flexibility throughout the lifecycle of their business communications. The combined company would have the operational scale, portfolio, geographic reach, go-to-market resources, and financial profile to modernize the UC experience for customers faster and more effectively than either company could do alone.
With the proposed transaction, Mitel would acquire Unify’s voice platforms, collaboration and contact center products, device and endpoint portfolio, and related intellectual property. Munich, Germany-based Unify would also bring a Managed Services business with a proven track record of helping enterprise organizations digitally transform their communications environment, an addition that would further strengthen Mitel’s ability to deliver choice for UC customers.
Mitel and Unify would similarly be well-positioned to address the needs of customers in core verticals such as healthcare, the public sector, hospitality, and financial services with complementary vertical experience, integrations, and products.
The deal is subject to regulatory review, with the planned acquisition expected to close sometime in the second half of this year.
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Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
