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Now, I'm pretty up to speed on all the MiThis and MiThats that comprise the Mitel portfolio, but this notification thingy was a new to me. It turns out it's new to Mitel, too. A couple years ago Mitel entered into an OEM arrangement with Benbria, one of Mitel Chairman Terry Matthews' concerns at his investment management firm, Wesley Clover, to sell a notification server called Blazecast. In mid-2016 Mitel bought Blazecast and subsequently:
Mitel Mass Notification's first IoT application was the Charles de Gaulle AED cabinets. Pulling directory data from its hosted UC service, Hub One associated specified Charles de Gaulle employees with different workflows. Unauthorized access to an AED cabinet triggers a workflow that sends a text or voice alert specifically to airport medical personnel. The Mitel notification service generates both types of alerts, giving the location of the opened cabinet and prompting the person contacted to confirm he or she is on the way. If needed, responders can set up a one-touch audio conference to confer with others involved in the response. Notifications that go unacknowledged get escalated to a wider set of employees.
I'm not clear how many AED cabinets Charles de Gaulle has outfitted with LoRa sensors to date. I was recently at Charles de Gaulle and was tempted to run through the terminal flipping open all the doors to see what happened (before being tackled by security and arrested). All cabinets have certainly not been IoT-enabled, but Mitel says many have.
Moving Beyond Door Sensors
Mitel and Hub One are now looking at other use cases where they can enhance Charles de Gaulle's IoT network with real-time communications. Besides the environmental sensors mentioned above, they're in the process of deploying location sensors on wheelchairs and people movers. When a passenger needs a wheelchair, the gate agent presses a button to send an alert that provides the gate number and the location of the nearest wheelchair to appropriate staff.
Charles de Gaulle isn't Mitel's only customer combining IoT with its various communications solutions. Bob Agnes, EVP and president of Mitel's Enterprise Division, talks about the European shipping company whose trucks have sensors that detect imminent mechanical problems. The sensors send alerts to the driver, along with suggestions on the nearest place to get the repair. The company's customer service agents also receive alerts so they can tell clients about shipment delays.
And Haslett speaks about the U.S. manufacturer that has placed sensors on its factory machines. When there's a failure and production has stopped, alerts are sent out to workers on the next shift telling them not to come in, to suppliers telling them to delay shipments, and to delivery drivers telling them there'll be fewer or no products to pick up.
And Tony Pereira, VP of business development and strategic partnerships at Mitel, tells me about an agricultural company with pheromone sensors that identify what kind of pests have taken up residence in grain silos. It sends messages "telling exterminators if they should bring a mousetrap or bring a gun." (OK, this is from a discussion about possible IoT-UC integrations and isn't what any Mitel customers are doing. But Tony's quote was too good not to include.)
At first glance, Mitel's IoT solutions hinge mainly on its mass notification service, which it leverages as the messaging component that all IoT solutions need for sending SMS alerts to people. But MiVoice Business, which directly integrates with the mass notification service, comes into play for speech-to-text calling, PSTN calling, extension dialing, paging, and conference calling. It's an interesting example of how traditional UC technology can be brought to bear as enterprises start enhancing their IoT deployments with real-time communications.
Learn more about the intersection of IoT and UC at Enterprise Connect 2018, March 12 to 15, in Orlando, Fla. Register now using the code NOJITTER to save an additional $200 off the Advance Rate or get a free Expo Plus pass.
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