Mitel at top of the class in Tift County, Georgia

Tifton County, Georgia and Ottawa, Canada, March 23, 2006 – Mitel® has come up with the equation to how school districts can subtract money from their communications costs while increasing students grades through the flow of information between staff, parents and students.

Tift County Schools, the board of education that serves the community of Tifton in southern Georgia, has approximately 7,500 students that attend one of the board’s 12 schools.

When Technology Services Director Harris Tucker was charged with bringing a failing 1988 phone system into the 21st century, Mitel did its homework and came up with the answers he was hoping to hear.

“Our existing telephone telecommunications environment was 14 individual and separate key phone systems,” said Tucker. "The 179 phone lines we had cost Tift County $3,848 per month. The high school service cost $900 per month. On top of that, we paid for two long distance companies.

“The schools were not able to transfer calls to other schools and the attendant had to answer incoming calls from the public as well as school staff from other schools and the board of education. We also did not have voicemail anywhere and we wanted to have the capability to have an after-hours auto-attendant for any messages relaying to the public about the school hours and/or weather closings.”

It seemed like a difficult test to pass, but after careful calculations, the answer was clear. The Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) with embedded standard unified messaging, auto-attendant, automatic call distribution (ACD) and wireless along with more than 200 IP phones located across the district with convenient four-digit dialing would save a substantial amount of money.

“The board entered into a Local Service Agreement with a local carrier to provide our local service for both the VoIP PRI's and any analog fax lines we had left in place,” said Tucker. “We now have a monthly BellSouth Local Service bill for our two Centrex PRI's for VoIP and the 39 analog Centrex fax lines of $2,600 per month. That's $2,100 per month in savings, or $25,200 per year. Since all of these charges are E-rate eligible, beginning in July 2006 we can apply Tift County's 80 percent discount to the telecommunication charges. The results will be a $520 per month Local Service or $6,240 per year. Altogether, that's $4,180 per month, or $50,160 per year savings.” The result will allow Tift County to recoup its investment in only two-and-a-half years, while the ongoing per-year savings can go to where its needed most: the education of the students.

“Mitel is very focused on developing solutions catered to particular vertical markets, and Tift County School District is just one success story among many in education,” said Mitel CEO Don Smith. “Our solutions are designed to open the lines of communications and save educators money, which can then be spent on improving conditions for students, parents and teachers.”

Mitel in Education
Mitel IP devices, platforms, features, and applications are revolutionizing the way schools communicate, operate and educate. District-wide savings abound with a single, powerful, centrally managed, IP communications solution. Mitel IP telephony solutions improve student outcomes by establishing direct lines of communication between parents, teachers, and administrators . When it comes to today’s most advanced and cost-effective IP communications solutions, Mitel definitely makes the grade.

About Tift County Schools
Tift County Schools is the board of education that serves the community of Tifton in southern Georgia.  It has approximately 7,500 students that attend 12 schools. The Georgia State Board of Education authorized the Department of Education to recognize Tift County Schools as a Title I Distinguished School District at its October 2005 meeting. Tift County was identified as a model for other school districts on closing the achievement gap for economically disadvantaged students. For more information on Tift County Schools, please visit www.tiftschools.com.

About Mitel
Mitel is a market leader for voice, video and data convergence over broadband networks. With a focus on the user experience, the company delivers advanced communications solutions that are easily customized for individual business needs. Mitel solutions extend from intuitive desktop appliances and applications through to Applications and Services Gateways that enable business process integration and enhancement. Customers are provided with innovative ways to leverage their resources and migrate to the benefits of IP communications at their own pace. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide. For more information please visit www.mitel.com.

- 30 -

Mitel and logo are registered trademarks of Mitel Networks Corporation.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For media and analyst contact information click here.