Mitel criticised by former distributor

Ex-distributor unhappy with product quality

Mitel has signed 20 new resellers since its channel push in January, but has seen one distributor abandon its agreement with the vendor.

Mitel has accredited the 20 resellers on its voice over IP products, but it was noted that all 20 came from a telecoms background.

Andy Elliot, Mitel's channel marketing manager, said: "Whether those resellers have a track record in voice or data is not an issue. To focus on a single type of channel - voice or data - would be shortsighted."

Craig McCalley, sales director at VAR Mitech, said Mitel has had problems with the channel in the past. But he said: "The push it has made this year has been positive for the company."

However, it has emerged that former Mitel distributor Spot ended its agreement with the vendor several months ago after claiming each of the Mitel 3300 switches it sold was returned.

Spot's sister firm, Total Network Solutions, tested Mitel products but found problems.

The configuration manager crashed and restarts took up to a day, said Mike Harris, who left BT to start TNS and Spot. "Calls used more than the allotted bandwidth, and the line would click every six to 10 seconds if a call went through an IP gateway."

But Enda Kenneally, director of indirect sales at Mitel, said: "We disagree with their comments and feel our proven success with end-users and channel partners portrays the reality."