Massive Mitel Product Line Reaches ‘End of Life’

A seismic shift in market demand toward cloud services has pushed Mitel to initiate the end-of-life process for the MiVoice Office 250, an incredibly popular line of phone system hardware and related software. We know this is huge news for many of our customers, so we’re getting out in front of it to help you decide the best way to proceed. 

Here Are The Details

Mitel’s announcement affects all MiVoice Office systems (HX Controller and the associated marketing kits which include this controller), line cards, trunk cards, and software licenses. Broader MiVoice components such as Attendant console, PS-1, and CT Gateway will also be impacted. The 85xx Digital phones sold on the MiVoice Office 250 platform are also subject to the same lifecycle notice, but all other devices such as the MiNET 53xx IP phones, 56xx WiFi phones, IP DECT phones, and 69xx phones will continue to be available, regardless of the MiVoice Office 250 Lifecycle plan, unless otherwise announced separately.

Mitel is providing 10 months advance notice to the End of New System Sales date, which arrives on Jan. 31, 2022. End of Add-on Sales will be June 30, 2022. End of Software design lands on Jan. 31, 2023. And finally, End of Technical Support and overall End of Life for the product arrives on June 30, 2026.

What Does End of Life Mean?

We understand that it can be difficult to grasp the speed at which technology moves. One minute you're on the cutting edge, and then all of a sudden the technology you’ve built your business processes around—a business phone system, for example—reaches what the manufacturer calls the product’s “end of life.” 

Though it sounds incredibly dramatic, end of life (EOL) is simply a designation applied to products and platforms that have reached the end of their useful life, according to the manufacturer. Though EOL typically occurs many years after production or development has ceased, most manufacturers make the announcement early in the process, in order to give customers a chance to prepare for the change. 

What this means for Mitel customers who use the MiVoice Office 250, is that for their phone system:

• There will be no further developments or updates made to that particular product line.
• Technical support for that product will eventually be unavailable after the expiration of any existing contracts.
• Spare parts or repair parts for that product line will either be dramatically decreased or completely ceased. 
• Certain features or functionality may be limited or unavailable, and the retiring product line will not be compatible with any new products. 

You might be tempted to stick with the MiVoice Office system and squeeze as much out of it as possible in its last few years of life. While we can understand that thought process, you’d be much better served to begin looking for a replacement system right now. Eventually, something is going to break and you’re going to seek out technical support that just isn’t there anymore. 

What Are Your Options?

Most of our customers who utilize MiVoice Office have had that system in place for 15-20 years. That is a long time and it must be completely jarring that it’s being phased out. We get it! But with change often comes a golden opportunity to improve your situation. That is most certainly the case here. 

With Mitel’s MiVoice Office going the way of the dodo, it’s the perfect chance to get with the times and upgrade to a hosted phone system that operates in the cloud. As opposed to on-premise phone systems, hosted offers flexible, easily customizable services to accommodate any business or organization. Not only that, it simplifies linking a distributed workforce together into one unified communications system. 

Option #1

Stay with Mitel

You can stay with Mitel and upgrade to Mitel’s Cloud Solution. But here’s the catch: Mitel’s Cloud Solution DOES NOT include support. That means you’ll be charged every time you reach out for support. Those are the types of charges that really add up over time.

Option #2

Move to the CCi Voice Cloud

We NEVER charge you for calling us. In fact, we love when you call us! We’ll make upgrades and changes to your system every day if that is what you require. With CCi Cloud Care, you qualify for unlimited support—and unlimited everything—from our team.

We use Switchvox software to manage our cloud services. That means you get the incredible advantage of Sangoma Switchvox technology, coupled with the services of a local vendor like us—a vendor that will partner with you and hold your hand through every aspect of your transition to the cloud, and beyond!

What’s important to remember is that as a company in the telecommunications industry, we were there when Panasonic, Toshiba, Inter-tel, and 3Com all discontinued various products over the years. If you’re sitting at a desk right now with a MiVoice Office system staring back at you, you might be anticipating a massive technical headache on the horizon. But we’re here to tell you that we’ve seen this before and we are prepared to shepherd you into the next phase of your organization’s communications system.