OTTAWA, May 17, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (NGN), a leader in the rapid commercialization of NGN products in Canada, announced that Mitel, a global leader in enterprise communications, has joined as the consortium’s newest member.

The partnership between the two companies will see the collaboration of CENGN’s lab infrastructure and SDN/NFV engineering prowess with Mitel’s expertise in global, cloud-based communications solutions. Mitel’s added resources to CENGN will support further advancements in the research and development for Canada’s ICT sector. Additionally, Mitel’s membership will benefit any small to medium enterprise (SME) submitting a project to CENGN allowing them to leverage the company’s portfolio as a test bed. With access to Mitel’s REST application programming interfaces (APIs), SMEs can create new services on top of Mitel’s solutions and potentially expand their sales opportunities with Mitel’s large base, which includes 60 million customers and endpoints.

As the fastest-growing provider of cloud business communications, Mitel gives customers a path to the future no matter their starting point or speed of journey. The company’s mission is to provide seamless communications and collaboration that enable customers to securely communicate and collaborate anywhere, over any medium, using the devices and applications of their choice.

“Mitel will be a great addition to our collection of members and partners,” says Ritch Dusome, CENGN President and CEO. “CENGN strives to provide small Canadian companies with significant market advantage and Mitel will support this objective by providing significant value through its wealth of experience in NFV, NGN, and cloud communication services. Through our new-found relationship with Mitel, CENGN is one-step closer to ensuring the growth and sustainability of the ICT sector in Canada.”

CENGN’s members are responsible for over $11 Billion in R&D worldwide and have a proven track record in commercialization and innovation. Mitel will join as CENGN’s thirteenth member of industry leaders, including; Cisco, EXFO, GENBAND, Fujitsu, Invest Ottawa, Juniper, Nokia, Rogers, TELUS, VIAVI, Wind River, and Zayo Canada.

By collaborating with CENGN, Mitel will be able to grow meaningful relationships with Canada’s most promising up and coming companies in the ICT sector. This cooperation will allow Mitel to help contribute to the advancement of Canadian innovation, as well as play a key role within the development of the booming NGN environment in the country.

“Canada is recognized globally as an engine for innovation and R&D, and CENGN’s efforts to commercialize Canadian innovation will be instrumental in unlocking value for businesses and creating new opportunities for them to thrive in the digital economy,” said Rich McBee, Mitel President and CEO. “Mitel looks forward to working with CENGN and its partners, to enable new solutions that businesses of all sizes can use to operate more efficiently, improve productivity, better serve customers, and help them succeed.”

About CENGN – Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks

Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN), is a consortium of industry, academic and research leaders dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of next generation communications solutions. CENGN’s internationally recognized testing centre employs interoperability between multiple software and hardware products, providing a unique environment to commercialize advanced products, applications and services. Our fully operational data centre is running a production OpenStack environment with multiple connections to a real world WAN including a dark fibre connection that enables connectivity speeds of more than 100Gbps. CENGN services include; Proof of Concept (PoC) validation and hosting, interoperability/performance/ certification testing, technical training (SDN, NFV, IPv6, ODL, OpenStack, Innovation for Hire and Commercialization Acceleration.  CENGN members include: Cisco, EXFO, GENBAND, Fujitsu, Invest Ottawa, Juniper, Mitel, Nokia, Rogers, TELUS, VIAVI, Wind River, and Zayo Canada.

For more information visit www.cengn.ca

About Mitel

A global market leader in enterprise communications powering more than two billion business connections, Mitel (Nasdaq:MITL) (TSX:MNW) helps businesses and service providers connect, collaborate and provide innovative services to their customers. Our innovation and communications experts serve more than 60 million business users in more than 100 countries.

For more information visit www.mitel.ca and follow us on Twitter @Mitel.

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CENGN Media contact: 
Richard Waterhouse
VP Marketing and Business Development
Richard.waterhouse@cengn.ca
613-963-1200 x304

Mitel Media contact:
Camille Beasley
PR Manager Americas Region
Camille.beasley@mitel.com
469-212-0433

Follow us @CENGNCanada