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CloudLink: Mitel's On-Ramp to Cloud and IoT: Page 2 of 2

Continued from Page 1

Micro Apps

Mitel's own software developers are using the application programmer interfaces (APIs) available in the Mitel Next Platform to create what Mitel is calling micro apps. Micro apps will generally focus on a particular vertical, and they will often have limited scope and functionality. They are intended to provide highly valuable, broadly needed, reasonably priced functionality that customers in a particular vertical can easily license and use.

A prime example of a micro app would be a notification application. When a notification event occurs and people need to meet, telephones on any of these systems can ring, bringing people into a conference.

Third-party developers can also create applications using the Mitel Next Platform and make them available through an online store capability for end-user companies to purchase. This is similar to what other vendors are providing in their online stores and development environments.

Connecting with IoT Sensors for Real-Time Communications Processing

One of other capabilities the CloudLink strategy offers is a way to integrate with IoT sensors, and then trigger communications processes and events via the Mitel Next Platform based on sensor state. The company demonstrated a notification process based on sensors connected via a LoRaWan Low Power Wide Area Network. In this instance, the opening of a defibrillator door triggered delivery of SMS and email notifications to airport emergency personnel. A second demo showed an on/off switch that also triggered alerts, including dialing out to someone.

To be completely accurate, the mass notification capabilities Mitel showcased in this demo came via its recent acquisition of the Blazecast product from Benbria and have not yet been fully integrated into the Mitel Next Platform. However, the integration is on the immediate roadmap, and you can easily conceptualize Mitel Next's role in creating complex communications-enabled business processes that use data from IoT sensors.

Analysis of CloudLink

Creating a gateway so that a particular vendor's unified communications capabilities can work even if another vendor's call control is part of the mix is not new. Nortel did it with ACE, so that Nortel's other applications could use underlying third-party call control. IBM did it with Sametime Unified Telephony, the idea in this case being that anyone could deploy Sametime and integrate it with any vendor's call control so that the Sametime client could serve as a telephony endpoint. And there have been others that have tried. None of them gained any traction.

CloudLink is different in that customers are not relegated to using Mitel-created apps. Customers can build their own apps, their own communications-enabled processes, and their own IoT-enabled communications processes, as opposed to just relying on those provided by Mitel. Furthermore, these apps become easy to consume because they are cloud-based. The capabilities we saw with IoT sensors triggering communications processes were indeed compelling.

But more than that, CloudLink allows Mitel to create vision.

One of the challenges facing PBX manufacturers, with the exception of Cisco and Microsoft, is the ability to create a vision that secures their places in the hearts and minds of the partner channel and the user base. Lacking compelling visions, PBX vendors like Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, and Unify seem to be stalling in the market. They've not been able to create excitement in the user or prospect base.

Mitel has had the same challenge: It has been looked at as a sort of stodgy PBX company that happens to be growing through acquisition. CloudLink may allow Mitel to break through this barrier.

I have to wonder if the micro app idea is going to work like Mitel thinks it will. By definition, the micro app is a very specific, limited functionality, application. These may be easy for Mitel to develop, but the question is, can they generate enough revenue to be sustaining? One of the challenges with software is that the real costs start once the first version is released. Apps must be maintained forever. Will any of the micro apps generate enough money to support the sustaining effort required, and how will Mitel keep these micro apps from transitioning over time, due to software bloat, to mini and on to major apps accompanied by major support costs? We will see how this plays out.

Overall, I like the concept behind the CloudLink strategy. It enables an instant on-ramp to cloud-based app consumption for all existing and future Mitel customers obtained through acquisition as well as an opportunity to begin incorporating IoT into an organization's communications processes. Mitel will release CloudLink later this year, and we will watch with great interest to see how application attach rates and IoT-enabled business processes roll out across the company's customer base.