Mitel CEO Don Smith

Mitel has signed an agreement with Rogers Business Solutions Inc. to provide its web-hosted telephone system to nearly 100,000 small businesses across Canada.

The Ottawa-based telecommunications company will be supplying its Mitel 3600 Hosted Key Systems as part of a converged Internet protocol (IP) voice and data offering from Rogers, which will provide voice, data and Internet connectivity on a single IP network for small businesses.

"This system delivers the same functionality as a traditional telephone system, but with much simpler, web-based user management that will save small businesses time and money in managing their voice networks," said Mitel chief operating officer Paul Butcher in a statement.

The Hosted Key System allows service providers to replace traditional key systems in businesses with five to 50 employees with a hosted service that is full-featured, simple to use, low cost, and easy to manage. Small business owners would use the broadband data connection that they use for Internet access for their telephone systems, and would be able to use one vendor for their business communication needs.

"I'm confident that this will change the landscape of the small-business market," said Mitel CEO Don Smith. "Rogers is the first service provider to take such a disruptive approach to the market ... and this is proof point of our approach and where we stand in the market."

The converged offering from Rogers will be launched this March.