In April, Matthews lured Donald Smith, the president of Nortel's optical broadband unit, to head Mitel.

FORBES: Celtic charm

Matthews is merging Mitel into March Networks and hopes to take the company public by 2003.

FORBES: Celtic charm

In 1973 he cofounded Mitel, which pioneered electronic switching systems that allowed for operator-free PBXs and touch-tone phone sets.

FORBES: Celtic charm

Take for instance a set of patents Microsoft purchased from America Online in April, that Microsoft two weeks later sold to Facebook, who in turn used them to sue Mitel for patent infringement.

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