Cisco's recent success in offering managed services to customers has apparently hurt Mitel, he added.
In an October 20 interview, Mitel's CEO said the company was the number one vendor of IP voice switching equipment and related gear for small- and medium-sized business customers in the US. He said the the company's most popular products include the Mitel 5000 Network Communications Solution, which includes an IP voice switch used mainly by small and medium-sized businesses, and the 3300 IP Communications Platform for large business customers, including large corporations with smaller branch locations.
Earlier this year, Sun Microsystems and Mitel announced a combined Sun Ray thin client with a Mitel IP phone.
Smith said then that a vendor could not be selling IT gear "and not be aware of the financial turmoil." He called the market "an aspirin and not a vitamin market where customers only have time for pain and not wellness." In other words, he said customers were seeking relief from networking problems but not necessarily building for the distant future.
In all, 70 percent of Mitel's revenues come from customers who buy managed services, Smith said at the time. "It may not be realistic to get it higher than 70," he said.