Mitel is looking to significantly expand its global UC footprint and customer base with the acquisition of Unify, the UC&C business of Atos.
The deal would expand Mitel’s global channel community to more than 5,500 partners and increase its customer base to more than 75m users in over 100 countries.
Tarun Loomba, President and CEO of Mitel, would serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company.
“The UC industry today holds significant opportunities to grow through M&A, aligning well with Mitel’s strategy and expertise,” he said.
“The acquisition accelerates our ability to address the evolving communication needs of global businesses with a broader range of on-premises, hybrid, private cloud, and soon, enterprise managed services.”
With the proposed transaction, Mitel would acquire Unify’s voice platforms, collaboration and contact center products, and device and endpoint portfolio.
Stephen McIntyre, Marketing Director, Nimans, stated: "Mitel's acquisition of Atos Unify creates an exciting opportunity in the UK market.
"The two companies combined will offer a full suite of unified communications products and services aimed at a broader market in terms of industry verticals and business sizes.
For Nimans, this acquisition presents an opportunity to expand our customer base as we will potentially be able to offer customers a wider variety of UC solutions and models.
"Now that the acquirer of Atos Unify has been decided we will be able to focus on the future and develop our business together."
Robert Nunn, MD of Unify distributor Viegli, commented: "While the mechanics of how it all fits together are unknown, I have had it confirmed that the Unify OpenScape Business portfolio promise of support and development until at least 2030 is absolutely unchanged.
"It will take at least a year for the deal to get done and for all the regulators to be happy. I don’t see anything much changing other than a lot more marketing being done during the next 12 months by Unify, so the future is bright for us and our Unify resellers."