This is a smart move on the part of Mitel. By making not only the MCD but Mitel’s other applications (such as the Mitel Unified Communicator (UC) Advanced, Mitel Contact Center Solutions, and Mitel Enterprise Manager) part of the VMware Ready program, they’re positioning both themselves and their partners to break into a new market of data centers and virtualized environments. Mitel partners can capitalize on customers who were interested in virtualizing their applications and just may happen to need some new voice products and services as well.

It also goes both ways. VMware partners now have the opportunity to move into the ever-growing UC market, opening themselves up to a new world of voice customers.  VoIP virtualization is a growing market ready to be tapped by partners who have the know-how.  This isn’t to say that there aren’t already partners from both vendors who are already in these respective markets, but it’s a chance for those who hadn’t made the jump to make the transition much more easily.

And for partners on both sides, it would be a smart choice. Virtualization has been one of the hottest IT topics for a couple of years now, and unified communications has been generating its own fair share of buzz. With many SMB and enterprise customers curious about both technologies, it’s an opportunity for Mitel partners and VMware partners to educate their customers and boost their own sales at the same time.

For more information on VMware’s vSphere 4 platform, check out this tip on integrating Cisco’s Nexus 1000V with vSphere 4 for your customer’s network to unite network managers and VMware admins.

Are you a Mitel or VMware partner who plans to move into the new space, or already has a presence and has advice for others? We’d love to hear from you. Email me at ehom@techtarget.com

Riggs also tweeted that about one-third of the attendees at Avaya’s partner conference are Nortel partners.