Avaya just announced their roadmap for Avaya IP Office 6.1 and Avaya IP Office 7.0. This announcement has been anticipated for some time as it highlights the integration strategy for older Nortel telephone sets into the IP Office platform. The roadmap breaks into two, end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.

Estimated for November 2010, software version IP Office 6.1 is set to be released with the following enhancements:

- Nortel IP Phone 1100 and 1200 IP Sets will begin to work on the Avaya IP Office system. The sets will have ‘limited’ functionality until the next release of software
- Interoperability in mixed BCM/IPO environments
- Simplified voicemail server setup with a Linux DVD which will automate setting up the voicemail and one-X portal. This will also eliminate the requirement for costly Microsoft Windows Licensing.
- SIP Trunk support will be improved
- Multi-site management to be improved
- iGoogle-style customizable one-X portal
- CCR user interface and report detail improvements

Estimated for February 2011, version IP Office 7.0 will provide the following key feature enhancements:
- Nortel IP Phone 1100 and 1200 sets will have more features added
- Nortel Digital T7xxx, M7xxx, Digital Mobility phones and Nortel Audio Conferencing Units set to work
- Digital sets will require a new IP Office card or expansion chassis which will allow for both Avaya and Nortel sets to work on the same system simultaneously.
- BCM Migration wizard for moving over all settings/voicemail greetings/etc to IP Office Platform
- Interoperability between BCM, IP Office, CS1000 and Avaya Aura.
- Lower end Nortel sets will not be supported on IP Office and they will need to be replaced.

The BCM solution will not be discontinued until full integration of most sets into the IP Office platform is complete, it was advised however that for any ‘Greenfield’ installation the BCM is probably not the best option as the IP Office and Avaya SCS platforms are the two that will continue to be supported long term.

Published as a guest post and written by Matt Gorgun

Avaya, introduced its next-generation of contact center solutions to meet the real-time demands of a rapidly evolving customer service environment. The new solutions – which include innovations in multimedia work assignment, workforce optimization and outbound self-service – can help businesses more effectively manage customer experiences in an always-on world. These advancements drive improvements in customer satisfaction, agent productivity, and cost-savings throughout contact center operations.

Central to the new offerings is Avaya Aura™ Contact Center, a multimedia work assignment application for mid-size contact centers that connects customers and their information to the right agent or expert via any communications mode (i.e. voice, video, e-mail, chat). It uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based collaborative session model of Avaya Aura – the company’s business communications applications platform – to enhance the efficiency and quality of customer service. Avaya Aura Contact Center complements the large enterprise solutions of Avaya Aura Call Center Elite, and will serve as its multimedia extension.

Avaya Aura Contact Center’s collaboration capabilities help a business understand the full context of a customer interaction – including the customer’s mode of communications, history and present needs. The solution also brings collaborative sessions to customer service, eliminating the process of having customers repeat information to several people as they progress through a call. By bringing the customer, agent and expert into a session to share information, a company can reduce customer frustrations, increase first-contact resolution and enhance experiences. Through this approach, Avaya Aura Contact Center can improve customer satisfaction by up to 50 percent.1

Customer experiences are critical, yet most businesses are not aware of the disconnect they have with their own customers. A study by Webtorials Editorial shows that 80 percent of companies believe they provide a good or superior customer experience, while only 20 percent of consumers agree. Additionally, 82 percent of consumers say their experience with the contact center is important or very important in their opinion about a company’s image.

“SIP and web services enable contact centers to do what used to require highly customized and costly computer telephony integrations (CTI) to accomplish,” said Drew Kraus, research vice president, Gartner, Inc. “It makes multi-modal customer service widely accessible, instead of limited to just big-budget contact centers. With continued adoption of multi-modal contact centers, and an evolving social media space, SIP is a growing area of interest for companies.”

Avaya Aura Contact Center also enables increased agent productivity, since agents no longer have to juggle separate communications channels across multiple systems. A single desktop agent application can be used to track and manage up to six types of transactions simultaneously – one voice and five non-voice (email, web chat, etc). It also lets businesses deliver advanced work items, such as online applications or claims, to agent desktops via an ‘open universal queue’, which used to require a separate workstream. Additionally, during incoming customer instant messages or chats, the solution identifies context-sensitive keywords, which are matched up with prepared textual responses the agent can use to speed interactions. Keywords can also be used to create a list of relevant available experts, reducing the time spent searching for them.2

New Solutions Deliver End-to-End Experience Management

All of today’s introductions provide a foundation for end-to-end Experience Management, which uses open communications so businesses can orchestrate people and information, learn customer data, bring full context to sessions, and immerse agents and customers into a collaborative session. Other new solutions unveiled today include:

Avaya Aura™ Workforce Optimization (WFO): Avaya introduces its first integrated offer in workforce optimization, enabling companies to make more informed decisions about customer service. WFO includes recording and quality monitoring to capture and synchronize an agent’s audio and screen activity so supervisors can see the full scope of interactions. Insight gained through quality monitoring has been forecast to reduce agent training time by 30 percent.3

The solution also includes a workforce management application that collects information and historical trends from a contact center, such as call volumes for a given time, to determine ideal staffing requirements. This reduces excess costs and accelerates return on investment. More effective workforce scheduling can lead to a 20 percent cost-reduction.4

Avaya Proactive Outreach Manager: Designed to let businesses reach out to customers via self-service, Proactive Outreach Manager places all multimedia interactions on a single platform. This enables businesses to go beyond outbound calling to more effectively use outbound notification campaigns incorporating several modes of communications. Hotels, for example, can use it to send room availability notices and promotions, while manufacturers can more effectively provide real-time updates on shipments.

Outbound self-service can drive new revenues and savings, with one customer reporting a 10 percent increase in payments, and $50,000 in annual savings from automated appointment reminders. This solution also delivers the ability to manage both outbound and inbound self-service using a Web browser accessible system, simplifying management and reducing the costs of outbound self-service, since the same systems can now be used for both functions.

Other introductions include Avaya Aura™ Call Center Elite 6.0, the new version of Avaya’s call routing software for large enterprises, which now offers greater capacity and includes the adaptive, predictive routing capabilities of Business Advocate as an entitlement. The company also delivers Avaya IQ 5.1, the company’s powerful reporting and analytics solution, which gains improved capacity (900 simultaneous users), availability, and graphical views.

“As next-generation communications takes hold, businesses recognize that customer expectations continue to move in one direction – up,” said Anthony Bartolo, general manager, Contact Center Solutions, Avaya. “Avaya Aura Contact Center and our new people-centric collaboration solutions provide the tools to more effectively manage experiences, both for customers and the agents who serve them.”

There are three golden rules when assuming a high level management role in any company: First, lay all the existing company issues at the feet of the person you replaced. Second, downplay the role of your predecessor, and third, let your corporate partners know that everything is going to be okay. Of course, what one says when obeying any of these rules doesn’t really need to be true, it just needs to be convincing. It is with these rules well in hand that Joel Hackney, Avaya’s new Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing and President of Field Operations, officially begins his tenure at Avaya.

While Hackney has avoided voicing anything disparaging towards his predecessor Todd Abbott, who reportedly left to pursue other interests amidst rumors that he had been given his walking papers, he clearly has his hands full when it comes to restoring consumer and shareholder confidence.

The simple fact is, no one likes high profile leadership changes. Regardless of the official reasoning behind it, when people like Abbott suddenly step down from a high paying influential position it’s concerning. But, as you would expect from anyone looking to sugarcoat a difficult transition, Hackney wants you to know that there’s nothing to worry about. Everything is fine!

The key issue now, however, is whether or not you actually believe him.

Unfortunately for Avaya, Todd Abbott was the senior face behind Avaya’s revamped channel development and the driving force behind the acquisition and integration of Nortel’s assets. For many, his departure was both an indication that the Nortel integration wasn’t going as planned, despite reports that Avaya is already looking to roll out Nortel’s one-stop VSP 9000 data center, and that perhaps the momentum that Avaya had gained through its acquisition of Nortel towards becoming “channel-centric” had stalled.

But, as Hackney has repeatedly stated since taking up his post a mere two weeks ago; at Avaya, it’s business as usual. Maybe Abbott wasn’t that big of a deal after all?

Despite the fact that Hackney continues to reassure nervous partners and potential customers that Avaya’s growth is on track and that Abbott’s plans to roll out new communications technology that integrates the company’s Nortel assets are still going forward, it’s clear that he has his hands full.

But in my mind, if Hackney can sell Avaya products with the same confidence we’ve seen over the past two weeks, they will clearly have no problem selling their telecom solutions.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >

It’s often amidst the more innocuous stories about quarterly earnings or banal market share reports that one finds the most interesting and engaging tidbits of information, that is if you know where to look for them. In a report released by the Dell’Oro Group, a reputable and trusted objective source for market information regarding the telecommunications and networking industries, it was found that the worldwide Private Branch Exchange (PBX) market, the foundation of business telephone systems, has dipped considerably in the first quarter of 2010, falling 5% over the last quarter of 2009.

The reason behind the market fluctuation, simply enough, is the instability of the Euro, due in part to the economic woes in Greece. Since a large percentage of worldwide PBX market is based in Europe and the Middle East, it comes at little surprise that economic hardships would negatively impact the telecommunications market in this way.

While the market downturn has negatively affected the overall line shipments of key telecommunications companies live Avaya and Cisco, with the former seeing a monumental 13% dip in unit shipments worldwide this quarter, the interesting news was that perennial IT follower NEC is now establishing a dominant market position. I guess slow and steady really does win the race!

With the news that Avaya has seen a significant dip in its overall line shipments and the fact that Cisco has remained stagnant in its market position, it is clear that the big winner in the first quarter of 2010 has been NEC, who has seen a significant 24% increase in its sequential quarterly sales. While the details of the Dell’Oro report have little interest for anyone outside the telecommunications industry, what the numbers indicate is that NEC is clearly on the rise, while Avaya and Cisco are struggling to tread water.

It will be interesting, however, to see if NEC can maintain this torrid pace of growth over the entire fiscal year, or even if it’ll last through another quarter. Most market analysts predict that this downturn in the telecommunications market will be temporary, as the impending recovery of the Euro and the European market as a whole will undoubtedly restore the worldwide PBX market to its former state.

In NEC’s favor, though, is the news that the IT company has just established a key center for European and Middle Eastern business operations in Turkey, meaning that when the European market does recover, NEC will have strategically placed itself to capitalize on it.

In the end, I have to say that I was certainly surprised to see that NEC was the only company to be making any significant inroads in the PBX market, as both Avaya and Cisco seem to be slipping from their lofty perches at the top. What I find humorous in this whole situation is that with both Avaya and Cisco busy watching each other’s backs in the competitive business telephone systems market, they both failed to recognize the silent threat posed by NEC, a perennial tortoise in the PBX market race who has, astonishingly enough, found itself at the front of the pack.

While it remains to be seen whether NEC can now solidify itself as a true market leader and maintain its place at the top, one thing is for certain, both Avaya and Cisco have been served notice, resting on their laurels in the competitive PBX market will only lead to one thing, a trip to the bottom.

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Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

When Apple dropped ideas for its iPad on consumers and the general public, the initial response was one of confusion. Folks didn’t appear to know what this “thing” was or what its purpose was. All of that changed once the marketing machine picked up and informed the populace that it did indeed need this piece of tech gear and, not only that, this piece of tech gear was going to revolutionize communications like other iProducts before it.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Apple’s sold millions of iPads at a rate that has eclipsed sales of the iPhone and of Mac laptops. Is this a sign of marketing at work or does this actually represent a shift worth noting?

Avaya seems to think it’s the latter. Word around the campfire is that the company has been working on its own tablet PC. Keeping in mind that Avaya specializes in “enterprise network, telephony, and call center technology,” it’s hard to imagine what they’d want in the tablet biz.

Avaya actually introduced an intention to develop “chameleon units for business communications” last fall, expressing a desire to get involved in the development of devices that “will take on the characteristics of phones, desktop video systems, locked-down contract-center terminals” and so forth to complete a “whole range of dedicated communications gear.”

The idea for the tablet, therefore, appears to fall right in line with Avaya’s designs on delving into the development of “dedicated communications gear.”

Avaya passed a device called tablet PC model 2010-70DO1A-003 through to the FCC on June 4. A diagram for the device’s test configuration shows the device “connected to a docking station equipped with an LCD monitor, phone handset, and earphone.” This leads to the conclusion that the device could be meant for office usage primarily.

With this information, it’s likely that Avaya’s tablet designs are currently fixated on the business and corporate sector. The device, while being called a tablet PC, is actually a “kind of computer peripheral” in that connection to a computer is necessary for “typical use.” The testing configuration confirms this assessment.

Given these facts, it’s tough to float the argument that Avaya is gearing up to take on the iPad or tablet computers in general with this offering. Instead, it appears that the company is continuing on its earler promise to provide a “whole range of dedicated communications gear” to its sector consumers.

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Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >

When news breaks of some minor acquisition by one of the larger technology or telecommunications companies it barely makes news anymore. But what few see is that with these minor acquisitions and other such moves, several of the larger companies are quietly working towards becoming one-stop shops for all your personal or corporate IT and telecommunications needs.

With that in mind, from a strictly technological news standpoint, the report that Hewlett-Packard (HP) is laying off 9,000 jobs is barely noteworthy, as large companies frequently reshuffle the deck, especially those routinely acquiring and incorporating other companies into the fold. But what is interesting about this story is that buried beneath the headline is evidence of HP’s grand scheme to master both the IT and telecom sectors, and if they pull it off, HP may well in fact become one of the world’s most powerful technology companies.

I was surprised that with HP’s well-publicized acquisition of Palm just over a month ago that there were so few others in the tech or telecom sectors who recognized the sheer brilliance of the purchase on HP’s part. With that purchase, HP set itself up as one of the only companies that dominates both ends of the telecom market, as it now controls its own mobile division, complete with one of the market’s best mobile operating systems, and, with its purchase of 3Com last year, acquired the means to compete with the likes of Cisco and Avaya in the enterprise voice market as well.

The interesting thing about this most recent story is not the mass layoffs, although I do always regret the negative effect on those individual employees impacted by such necessary restructuring, but that HP has finally entered the last phase of integration of Electronic Data Systems (EDS), a company it acquired back in 2008. While this news is evidence of just how long it takes a company like HP to fully integrate new technological acquisitions—meaning don’t hold your breath if you were hoping HP would quickly integrate Palm’s webOS into anything new in the near future—it is also evidence of HP’s increasing technological dominance.

The reason for the layoffs, it turns out, is that HP is freeing up capital to reinvest in its next generation Enterprise service business, which will include fully automated data centers and enhanced IT support for businesses the world over.  

As a one-stop shop for your corporate tech and telecom needs, HP will now be able to competitively challenge IBM in the IT and data center markets, compete with Cisco and Avaya in the enterprise voice market, and rival with the likes Google, Apple, and others in the mobile market. While there are other companies competing with HP in each sector, as Dell and Xerox are improving their IT department and as innumerable mobile companies rise and fall, there are simply no other companies that I can think of that can boast the same sort of end-to-end, all-encompassing, (soon-to-be) fully integrated technology and telecommunications experience that Hewlett-Packard has built for itself over these past few years.

While it’s clear that HP can put the pieces together, it remains to be seen, however, if they know what to do with them. Although I sincerely doubt HP will dominate any one market, if they are able to provide competitive technological devices, service, and support, they may very well become one of the strongest tech companies in the world.

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Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Earlier this week Avaya announced the the appointment of John DiLullo as vice president, Americas International sales theater, which includes Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.

In this new role, DiLullo is responsible for leading all of the company’s operations across the region, including sales, marketing, customer care and management of Avaya’s country offices. He reports to Todd Abbott, senior vice president, Global Sales and Marketing and president, Field Operations, Avaya.

Most recently, DiLullo led Avaya’s Asia Pacific region where he was responsible for leading all of the company’s operations there.

“John DiLullo’s broad industry background and track record of successfully leading diverse and wide-ranging organizations will be invaluable for leading the Americas International sales theater and positioning Avaya for growth,” said Todd Abbott, senior vice president, Global Sales and Marketing and president, Field Operations, Avaya.

Prior to joining Avaya, Dilullo was vice president, Worldwide Sales, Channels and Field Operations, SonicWall, Inc. He also was vice president, Worldwide Distribution, Cisco Systems.

The following is a list of the questions that were asked during the Avaya Nortel roadmap Presentation presented on January 19th, 2010. The question and answer format listed below is really a “hodge podge” of questions, answers …

If you are looking for more detailed information you can check out the following link: This link covers the roadmap and direction extensively. Or, you can also call Digitcom.ca for a more detailed consultative discussion.

TheTelecomBlog.com has published a series of posts related to the Avaya Nortel Roadmap:

POST 1 – Avaya Announces Integrated Roadmap

POST 2 – Questions from the Avaya Nortel Roadmap presentation. This post is really a “hodge podge” of questions, answers …

POST 3 – Avaya announces the fate of the Nortel Norstar and BCM product line

POST 4 – Avaya Unified Communications and Enterprise Roadmap

In the mean time, the questions are as follows:

Question :93 I haven’t heard any mention of the tdm based SL-100. What is the plan for this PBX ?

There will be more details around the SL-100 in the UC breakout session. It will continue to move forward as the CS2100 and eventually interact with the Avaya Aura architecture. Government customers should look toward the Avaya Aura AS5300 as a SIP enablement solution.

Question 92 Does Avaya have a support preference i.e. direct or through partners??

Customers make the ultimate choice on procurement. We are continuing to move towards a model where the majority of purchases are made through a channel partner. There is an expectation that a minimum level of support (maintenance)will be included from the manufacturer

Question 91 It took 15 minutes to get connected to the meeting so I apologize if this question is redundant. I have not seen any reference to the Option 11C, 61C,and 81C platforms. Is Avaya going to force customers with these platforms to the CS1000.?

Meridian1 Opt11C has not been available for new system sales since the release of CS 1000 R6.0 in June 2009. CS 1000 TDM is the equivilant marketing package as of CS 1000 R6.0. Meridian1 Opt 61C and 81C continue to be supported and sold as per the CS 1000 R6.0. Please refer to the CS 1000 Life Cycle bulletin PB 2006-0094

Question 90 What will be the model for software updates for data products? e.g. ERS 8600. Currently it is not open to customers, only partners.?Avaya policy on software updates will be unchanged from Nortel’s policy for the ERS 8600. Software updates are available to customers that have support contracts with Avaya directly. Software updates are also available to partners that have support contracts with Avaya.

89 Will the SCS capacity be reduced or will it still able to scale to 2K + user??
SCS is suited for small and mid-sized IT-centric customers. Investment and go-to-market will emphasize those customers with per site needs of hundreds of users. There is no planned change to the scalability of the SCS product.

88 What will happen to open Nortel trouble tickets and access to Nortel documentation??
To ensure a smooth transition, we are keeping the existing Nortel support processes in place. This includes contact numbers, the opening and handling of trouble tickets and access to Nortel documentation.

87 What are the Survivable remote gateway solutions in Avaya’s kitty ?. Sure that both Nortel and Avaya have similar Survivable offerings…which one takes precedence ?. ?
The Survivable Gateways in the case of Avaya are the G430 and G450 Gateways which will continue. Nortel brings the Secure Router with SIP survivablity. Secure Router is currently being tested with Avaya Aura Session Manager for branch SIP survivability. The Survivable Remote Gateway (SRG) is based on BCM and will continue to be sold for the next 18 months.

85 Will there be a more specific roadmap for completion of the integration of ACE into Aura during the UC webinar??The breakout webinar session for ACE, will have this information.

84 Will the Nortel UM2000 Unified Messaging platform be continued or replaced by a different product??
UM 2000 continues for as a specialized product for large scale use.

83 Will CALLPILOT 150 continue to be supported??
The CallPilot mini will migrate from the NES legacy support (e.g. SP2509 in North America) to a common, global Avaya SME Support for Partners offer in July 2010.

82 Is Aura a one for one solution or one Aura over all PBX’s?
Avaya Aura™ is the core communications platform supporting unified communications and contact center solutions for midsize to large enterprises. It extends PBX capability enables SIP-based session management with innovative and powerful capabilities. Enabling centralization, Avaya Aura at the core integrated over SIP with all PBXs, Legacy systems, isolated standalones and other systems. Thus not a one -for – one, rather a centralized Avaya Aura for multiple PBX architecture.

81 Please indicate the timeframe migration of MPS to Avaya Customer Experience Portal if possible. Thank you?
MPS will continue to be supported for customers who require the scale and the TDM capabilities. The next release of MPS is scheduled for later this year and will include many upgrades. MPS will eventually evolve to the CXP

80 Will Converged Office continue to be supported as customers move to Avaya Aura or will this be phased out over time in favor of Avaya products??
Converged Office continues to be supported as customers evolve to Avaya Aura.

78 We are in the process of upgrading to latest CS1000 and CC7.0. Do I need to upgrade to Aura instead??You do not need to upgrade to Aura . We encourage customers to upgarde to CC7.1 now. NGCC will support CS1K, CM, and Avaya AuraTM platforms. CS1K customers have investment protection and an upgrade path to Avaya AuraTM. NGCC and Avaya AuraTM are the strategic direction providing the most optimal context center operation and customer experiences. In addition, NGCC is based on open SIP standards to support multi-vendor environments. NGCC will continue to have an AML connector as well as a SIP connector. Application Messaging Link is the proprietary interface used between the NES CS1000 and its applications such as CallPilot and Contact Center Manager Server (“CCMS”, CC6, CC7, Symposium). NGCC R1 will support both this heritage NES proprietary ink to the NES CS1000 as well as the SIP connector which is the preferred, open path forward.

79 Will the BCM 50 be discontinued??For BCM, including BCM50 and BCM450, the goal is to retain what channel partners and customers like best while integrating the unique elements of the Avaya IP Office communications solution. As such, BCM / Norstar Digital T-Series Phones, select Mobility and IP Phones, management/configuration elements, and selected BCM features will be converged within the IP Office platform. We are working closely with partners throughout the evolution process, and more details will be communicated within the next 60-90 days. Note that BCM will continue to be sold well into 2011, as both a standalone solution, or a BCM or SRG branch solution. Over time, we’ll continue to introduce new gateways and solutions with new capabilities and future paths for customers, aligned with our Avaya Aura SIP directions. The convergence towards an IP Office helps to streamline and simplify the portfolio while increasing our focus on innovation and balancing the investment protection.

77 What do you consider mid-range vis-a-vis “enterprise”? In other words, how many agents max. in mid-range??Traditionally Avaya has defined the mid-market as 21-400 agents.

76 is it going to be posible to use teh Nortel SR2330 Like branch solution and sip survivability with aura ?
Secure Routers 2330 and 4134 support SIP Gateway and Survivability for branch offices. They are certified with Software Communications System (SCS), Call Servers 1000 and 2100, as well as 3rd party devices. Certifiation with Aura is being prioritized and will be available soon.

75 will all avaya partners be allowed to sell the nortel product line?Yes once they complete the Sales and Technical training/competency requirements for that product.

74 What time is the replay on 1/21? Do we re-register? What is the link to attend on 1/21? ?The replay will be available at 9:00 am ET Thursday morning (1/21). If you’ve registered for today’s event, you will not be required to register again. Access information will be available on avaya.com.

73 Whare can I get the charts being shown??The presentations and links to the replay of the Keynote will be posted to Avaya.com by Thursday.

72 What is the advantage of connecting Avaya AURA to my older Nortel system versus connecting a different VOIP PBX to my Nortel system??Connecting your Nortel PBX to Aura provide customers with optimal benefits. Instead of two peer communications systems interoperating with little integration, simplification, separate dial plans, management and support, customers will benefit more quickly from new SIP-based features and applications delivered through Avaya Aura with greater simplicity, flexibly while extending the value of their existing Nortel PBX going forward with a much smoother evolutionary path to Unified Communications. Ensure the support you need from a industry leader you have trusted for reliable, secure communications.

71 Will Nortel TDM phones be supported in Avaya solutions in the near future??Nortel TDM phones continue to connect on their current platforms and will integrate with the rest of the network through Avaya Aura. Refer to the UC breakout session.

70 What about Nortel Secure Routers 2600 series and SR4134, will AVAYA continue these products globally in all regions.?Yes, Avaya will continue the Secure Router products globally in all regions.

69 How will you support the Nortel SL-100 platform.?The SL-100 platform will be supported by the same support personnel as before the acquisition.

68 Where do I go to find out more about the strategy for Nortel wireless products and ERS??
The strategy for the Avaya Wireless and ERS products will be posted on the web, but also feel free to contact your account manager for a more detailed review.

67 what is the scale of CC7? ?
NES CC7 today supports up to 3,350 concurrently active agents and networks of up to 30 nodes for a total virtual contact center of 100,500 agents. THe SIP version of NES CC7 supports up to 1,500 concurrently active agents and can also be networked up to 30 sites in a hybrid network.

66 What is NGCC, not able to hear the speaker?
Avaya’s acquisition of Nortel has allowed Avaya to accelerate our Next Generation Contact Center solution (aka NGCC), bringing in combined technologies from Nortel’s Contact Center 7/8 product and Avaya’s technology to deliver core components of NGCC: universal work assignment, customer service portal, reporting, and agent desktop. NGCC is a placeholder for a branded name to be announced soon. The first release of NGCC has been accelerated to July 2010.

65 Is there a timetable for Nortel software releases, EOL, MD, Supported?
The Communication Server 1000 product life cycle bulletin PB 2009-0094 details the timetable. Note that the next release of CS 1000 R7.0 is plan of record for early 2nd half 2010. The bulletin will be updated accordingly. Look forward to knowledge transfers and presentations on this new release in Q2 2010.

64 Will these integrated applications such as ACM be Avaya or Nortel branded? Will it all be Avaya??All products will be Avaya branded “Avaya CS1000″ etc. This will take a year to work through documentation, hardware and collateral but is effective now.

63 Is the Nortel BCM50 and BCM450 going to be MD??
BCM is a “communciations systems” with 400 voice applications and many other features. Going forward, the BCM50 and BCM450 chassis will be sold well into 2011, with 6 years of support into 2017. The next release of BCM, BCM Rls 6.0 is currently at the plan of intent stage and the teamworking hard on the program. We are assessing the business case and customer impact of proposed release content (and potential changes with the convergence roadmap). BCM R6 is currently planned for release in calendar Q2, 2010; more details will be available in the next 60-90 days.

61 What is the future of the CS2100??
The CS2100 will continue as an important part of the Avaya portfolio. More information will be available in the UC breakout session

59 Will Nortel PVQM continue to be supported on CS1000 and CS2100 systems??
Yes, PVQM will continue to be supported

58 what happens to Nortel’s CC Express ?
We encourage NES-heritage customers to upgrade to the latest CC/CCE 7.x release and to consider the benefits of transitioning to NGCC. Existing Nortel customers can upgrade to CC7.1 Express or NGCC R1 express. NGCC R1 Express will be integrated with Avaya Aura.

57 What is the future of the Nortel CS-2100 or SL-100??
The Nortel CS2100 and SL-100 will continue as solutions within the the Avaya portfolio. More specifics will be available during the UC Session.

56 how will the CS2100 product line be impacted by the Avaya/Nortel migration.?
The CS 2100 is a strategic product for Avaya moving forward. To get details on how it fits into the overall integrated roadmap please visit the UC breakout session available after the keynote session.

55 What happens with Nortel MPS (IVR)? ?
MPS will continue to be supported for customers who require the scale and TDM capabilities. The next relese of MPS is schedule for later this year.

54 does CC7 have multi-media capabilities or will CCE still be the solution here??
Yes, CC7 has full multimedia capabilities today. Avaya Next Generation Context Center will have full multimedia also. Depending on your immediate needs, Avaya CCE may still be an appropriate solution. Please work with your business partner and account team to help map out the best evolution path.

53 What is met by “High Touch” ??
High touch refers to Avaya’s approach to supporting customers through channel partners, with strong support through Avaya sales, service and support.

51 Will Avaya Legacy Partners begin to provide maintenance, engineering support for Nortel Legacy customers??
All partners need to be certified on the solution for installation/maintenance before being able to provide support. This applies for legacy Avaya and Nortel partners

50 Will Avaya continue issues related to the ability to add ISM’s and the need to be a specfic Succession release levels. Currently I cannot purchase additional ISM’s since I’m on release 3.0?
Avaya is continuing the Life Cycle for Sales and Support policies for CS 1000 products. Please contact your Sales Partner or Avaya Sales Representative for clarification of the product life cycle specific to product expansion. Product Bulletin 2009-0094

49 What is the road map of the Nortel Switches like passport 8600? ?
Roadmap of all the Ethernet Routing Switches (including 8600) has been confirmed and is available. Please contact your sales representative for a detailed review.

48 I don’t see anything about CS2100?
The CS 2100 is a strategic part of the integrated roadmap moving forward. Please attend the UC breakout session to follow the keynote for additional details.

47 Speaking of the BCM 450 what is its future ?BCM50 and BCM450 Rls 6.0 is currently at the plan of intent (POI) stage, and the Avaya SME team, along with the same BCM team who brought you BCM50 and BCM450, are assessing the business case and customer impact of proposed release content (and potential changes with the convergence roadmap). BCM R6 is currently planned for release in calendar Q2, 2010; more details will be available in the next 60-90 days. Please forward your application and feature needs through your channel to our BCM PLM team. Thanks. It is a very exciting time and our future product will have the best of BCM and IP Office in future releases!

46 Is Avaya getting rid of the Nortel name immediately or over time? ?The re-branding will take place over time

45 What about Microsoft OCS Intergration(click to call,Enterprise Voice)??Converged Office with CS 1000 continues to be supported.

44 There is no reference so far to the CS2100 switch equipment. How will it be integrated into this roadmap??The CS 2100 is a part of the new Avaya integrated roadmap. Please visit the UC breakout session following the keynote to see details how the CS 2100 fits into the new roadmap.

43 How long will the Nortel ERS switches be supported and improved ? Are we still able buy these devices in the future ??The Avaya ERS roadmap is exactly the same as the prior Nortel ERS roadmap. Purchase of these devices is available to all certified partners.

42 Will CC8 be SIP only as CC7 is available in MLS and SIP, will MLS version be discontinued.?CC8 will be the first release of NGCC and will continue to support MLS

41 Im using BCM400 for our 911 Departement. Do i need to upgrade it? Do you still support IT? ?The latest release for the BCM400 is the upgrade to BCM Rls 5.0 that was introduced in November 2009. BCM Rls 5.0 provides a very attractive upgrade path allowing users to leverage all the new features included with this release.

40 What release does the CS1000 PBX need to be at to leverage the new Aura platform??CS 1000 R5.5, R6 and future releases are all Avaya Aura “SIP ready”. Future releases will provide deeper integration.

39 What is the future of the BCM450?BCM50 and BCM450 Rls 6.0 is currently at the plan of intent (POI) stage, and Avaya is assessing the business case and customer impact of proposed release content (and potential changes with the convergence roadmap). BCM Rls 6.0 is currently planned for release in calendar Q2, 2010; more details will be available in the next 60-90 days. I am, and the SME team, is VERY EXCITED by the combining of the best BCM and IP Office in future releases. Stay tuned!

38 We do not have a traditional PBX – we use Nortel SCS 3.02 IP PBX (SIP based). What is our “roadmap?” ?Avaya will continue to invest in supporting and evolving the Software Communications System (SCS). Please attend the SME breakout webinar for more information.

37 What is the direction for Call Pilot and Contact Center (Symposium) products?The products continue and evolve. CallPilot will evolve over time into Modular Messaging. Contact Center/Symposium will upgrade directly into the Avaya Next Generation Context Center.

36 I don’t see the G4xx branch gateways mentioned, what are the plans for these branch solutions??The G430 and G450 Branch Gateways will continue to be sold and supported into the future.

35 Will the BCM50 product be discontinued??BCM50 and BCM450 will continue to be sold into 2011 and supported for a further 6 years, until 2017. The SME team at Avaya is currently working hard to evaluate the specific BCM features and applications to be converged within the IP Office platform, with additional details to be provided within the next 60-90 days. I am, and the whole teeam, VERY EXCITED about taking the best from BCM and IP Office in future releases. Partners are encouraged to consult their Channel Account Manager should they have feedback on high priority features and applications.

34 Unable to get connected to the video/audio, buffers, loading then stops..?Please hit F5 to refresh your event console

33 whats the plan with Nortels TM – Telephony Manager? will this kepp moving forward??Telephony manager customers will be transitioned to UCM ( unified Communication Management) based products – CS1K element manager and VPFM ( Visualization Performance & Fault Manager)

32 Where does the CS2100, or SL100 fit into the roadmap? ?The CS 2100 and SL-100 both have a path forward in the new integrated roadmap, please reference the UC breakout session to follow

31 If I have a network of older Nortel PBX’s – Release 3 and below, I’m getting no support from Avaya on those PBX’s. What value does Avaya AURA give me there??recommendation would continue to be to upgrade to a more recent software level for support purposes anyway, as was case before the avaya deal closed. upgrading to later release will also give option of sip integration into aura environment. no change to previous life cycle management.

30 What does “going forward” mean in a time line for ACE and Aura??ACE currently works with Avaya Communication Manager using AES. Expect deeper integration in this area 1Q10. As the road-map evolves beyond initial integration with Session Manager this summer and towards the end of the year, the integration will become much richer.

29 Please explain IVR roadmap.Thank you?Thank you for the question. Avaya Voice Portal and ICP from Nortel are both open standards compliant such as VXML and CCXML. MPS will continue to be available to and supported for customers who need the scale and TDM capabilities. AVP, ICP and MPS will evolve to Avaya Customer Experience Portal

26 What is the roadmap for the CS2100??The CS 2100 will continue forward toward with development and support. Please visit the UC breakout session for additional details with regards to the roadmap.

24 Will the roadmap for the Nortel Contivity platform be described??The VPN Router (formerly Contivity) family will continue as a component ANS data portfolio. For questions related to specific platforms, roadmap or other topics, please contact your account manager.

23 What will be future for Nortel Symposium? ?Absolutely! The future and evolution of Symposium is a direct upgrade path into the Avaya Next Generation Context Center. Please see the Contact Center roadmap session: it describes the path way in order to take advantage of the Avaya Aura architecture, and the full breadth of the Next Generation Context Center.

20 So the CS-1000 platform goes away in favor of the Aura architecture??No. The CS1000 continues but “plugs into” Avaya Aura to get extended value and new applications. See UC Breakout after keynote.

16 what about the Contivity router family??The VPN Router (formerly Contivity) family will continue as a component ANS data portfolio. For questions related to specific platforms or other topics, please contact your account manager.

15 We just bought a CS1000E as a long-term platform. How long will products be available and supported??The CS1000 is an excellent investment and remains available for sale – and so is fully supported. R6 today integrates with the Avaya Aura architecture and new releases will enhance this. See UC breakout and learn more from your Avaya partner about how Avaya Aura will ADD value to your CS1000 for many years.

13 How long will the CS1000 Enterprise product line continue to be supported and what is the current scheduled end of life for the CS1000? Same question applies to the BCM product line.?The CS 1000 continues to be supported. The roadmap will provide tight integration with Avaya Aura to extend new UC capability. BCM continues to be supported. The roadmap will provide a path for BCM and IP Office. Please refer to the UC roadmap and SMB roadmap presentations for further detail.

12 Please comment on the Nortel Microsoft agreement and working relationship and how this will work moving forward. In particular OCS is very important.?Avaya is committed to continuing our integration with Microsoft products, which we have invested in for over a decade, including OCS. This will follow our current Gold developer relationship and future agreements, but not the previous ICA agreement.

9 What is the direction of the Nortel CS1000 Platform ?Please see the UC Breakout after this session. The CS 1000 is available, fully supported, has new releases planned, and integrates into the Avaya Aura architecture – protecting and extending your investments in this platform.

6 Is the BCM 400 being discontinued??MD for the BCM200 and BCM400 was announced September 2009 with the MD date scheduled March 1, 2010, in conjunction with the evolution path and launch of the new BCM Rls 5.0 for BCM50 and BCM450. BCM Rls 5.0 provides an upgrade path for BCM400 customers Last order date is February 01, 2010. Again, the notice has been on PIC since September 2009.

3 How will Avaya and Nortel training be offered going forward; Global Knowlegde, etc??There have been no changes to technical training and certification for Avaya or NES. Existing curriculum paths and certifications will be used until further notice. Existing training facilities around the world will remain in place, whether they are company-owned or used through a host of training partners.

2 How will the Nortel/Avaya users groups work now? Will they continue to be separate??There are three unique Avaya user group associations: International Alliance of Avaya Users (InAAU), International Nortel Networks Users Association (INNUA), and INSIGHT 100. Each association is a fully independent organization led by a board of directors composed of customer volunteers. All three groups remain active and relevant and are currently exploring joint programs and membership offers. The groups are pleased to partner together to provide a single conference for all Avaya users in April 2010. There are links to the user group sites on the virtual briefing center menu.

TheTelecomBlog.com has published a series of posts related to the Avaya Nortel Roadmap:

POST 1 – Avaya Announces Integrated Roadmap

POST 2 – Questions from the Avaya Nortel Roadmap presentation. This post is really a “hodge podge” of questions, answers …

POST 3 – Avaya announces the fate of the Nortel Norstar and BCM product line

POST 4 – Avaya Unified Communications and Enterprise Roadmap

Did you like this post ? TheTelecomBlog.com publishes daily news, editorial, thoughts, and controversial opinion – you can subscribe by: RSS (click here), or email (click here).

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Avaya Nortel, Nortel Avaya. Which one is it ? And what happens to your old Nortel equipment ?

What happened you’re wondering ?

You had a perfectly good Nortel system and all of a sudden you find out that Nortel is gone.

You’re an investor and can’t find your Nortel stock listed on the stock exchange ?

All excellent questions, and as both an investor, Telecom Blog writer, and President of a company that at one time actively sold Nortel hardware (Digitcom.ca) I myself often wondered the same thing.

Financial Mess:
It’s the stock question that really frustrates me ! I lost a significant amount of dollars in Nortel stock figuring that the company would rebound.

How could Nortel go bankrupt I thought ? Impossible. Canada’s largest Telecom company. Canada’s largest company. Number ONE worldwide market share ! Nortel’s stock made up over 25% of the Toronto Stock Exchange’s index. So, I hung on and watched the stock tumble from 120, 80, 50, 10, 5, 1 … you get the point. To add insult to injury when I called my stock broker to sell the stock in late 2008 he wanted a $60 commission. On a stock whose total value was worth less then $5 !

Nortel’s mess started many years ago, really after the 2001 DOT COM boom / bust cycle. The company never recovered following the crash in 2001 and subsequent management and financial scandals followed by product issues resulted in their ultimate bankruptcy.

And now you’re wondering, you’ve still got Nortel stock. What do you do with it ?

You can use it as scrap paper.

So what happened and how did it come to this ?
I started this blog in June 2009 in the middle of Nortel’s bankruptcy mess, so I have reported a very clear trial of posts from June 2009 to December 2009 when the Enterprise division was ultimately sold to Avaya. I will continue writing posts on Nortel until the end so stay tuned. A little further down this post you will find a list of articles related to their bankruptcy and dissolution.

Equipment:
In the mean time, you have Nortel equipment. What do you do ?
Well, the good news is that most of their assets were transferred to multiple manufacturers who have continued the product lines (Ericsson, Ciena, RAD, Avaya) under their own brands and continue to provide support to the former Nortel customers.

The other good news is that many of Nortel’s competitors are offering some VERY significant and attractive discounts to trade-in your old Nortel hardware.

I know Cisco had a program called Northern Exposure and they were offering a 65% discount (which ended in the Fall 2009) to displace Nortel hardware. NEC, Mitel, Toshiba, and Avaya all had and some still have some very aggressive trade-in programs.

Avaya had a very aggressive promotion which started in the fall of 2008 to displace Nortel hardware. They ultimately purchased Nortel’s Enterprise assets and have assured the market that they will continue to offer a clear migration plan for former Nortel customers. They will announce the plan on January 19th 2010, and in the mean time, now’s a great time to push your phone system vendor for discounts and migration credits if you are still running a Nortel system.

The following is a list of posts which chronicles the history of Nortel’s demise starting in June 2009:

July 2009
June 29th, 2009: Nortel’s Mess – Why would anybody want this ?

July 14th, 2009: If the vultures had a meal, would they feast on Nortel ?

July 20th, 2009: Avaya to Buy Nortel’s Enterprise Business: A Sad Day for Canada

July 21st, 2009: Nortel, Avaya, Siemens, RIM, Matlin Patterson: Things Are Heating Up

July 25th, 2009: The dismantling of a Telecom Giant – Poof – Ericsson takes a slice out of Nortel

July 29th, 2009: The Nortel fiasco continues – what took so long for the Cdn. Government to wake up ?

August 2009
August 6th, 2009: The Gloves Come Off – Nortel / Ericsson VS The Cdn Govt

August 20th, 2009: Avaya-Nortel Merger: Why It’s Likely to Succeed

August 28th, 2009: Nortel’s Enterprise acquisition by Avaya is being investigated by the US Dept of Justice. Canadian Jeff Wiener writes to DOJ with reasons to back the deal

September 2009
Sept. 14th, 2009: Avaya wins Nortel’s Enterprise business for $900 Million

Sept. 17th, 2009: Time is not on Nortel’s side: An appeal to the US, EU, and Cdn Govt’s to expedite the process

October 2009
October 9th, 2009: Appaling. Zafirovski is disgracing the remnants of Nortel

November 2009
November 3rd, 2009: Nortel – It ain’t over till it’s over !

November 5th, 2009: Does Nortel have another stalking horse in Nokia Siemens?

November 12th, 2009: Avaya’s Proposed Acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions Receives HSR Act and Canadian Competition Act Clearance

November 24th, 2009: Stalking horse Ciena wins Nortel MEN auction

November 26th, 2009: Ericsson gets Nortel GSM assets for a song

December 2009
December 3rd, 2009: Nortel execs have to cope with massive bonus payout!

December 11th, 2009: Will Nortel bring down Ciena?

December 19th, 2009: It’s official. Avaya has taken over Nortel’s Enterprise Business. Now the fun part begins

December 23rd, 2009: Things are heating up in the Nortel CVAS sale. Somebody stop the sale !

The Avaya IP Office Release 6 is just around the corner. And Avaya IP Office Release 6 will be the first Avaya SMB product release since announcing the Avaya Nortel integrated SMB roadmap (you can read more about that here). The Avaya announcement on the fate of the Nortel SMB product line suggests a migration of the Nortel SMB portfolio to the Avaya IP Office portfolio, and some of the product enhancements suggest Avaya understands where they were weak vis a vis Nortel’s strengths.

Nortel’s Norstar CICS and MICS were fantastic workhorses. Avaya’s competing product, the Partner, compared, but not that favorably to the Norstar. Although they were similarly priced, the Norstar was easier to install and use, and had much more expansion capability then the Partner. The Norstar has expansion in excess of 190 extensions, and the Partner to barely 50.

It’s a different story with the former Nortel flagship BCM product. The product, BCM 1000, 400, 200 had been plagued with issues since inception. Although the BCM 450 was better and more reliable, it came unfortunately for Nortel “too little too late”. By time Nortel had released the BCM 450 they were already in bankruptcy protection.

Now, add all of the above products together and what do you get ?

The Avaya IP Office Release 6. At least it appears that Avaya is headed in that direction, especially with some of the product enhancements in Release 6.

Release 6 will represent a consolidation, “morphing” for lack of a better word, of the SMB portfolio. The traditional Partner cabinet will be phased out and replaced with software and hardware combos that can be installed into the IP Office to emulate the Partner.

Some of the significant enhancements of Release 6 include:
- Support for the 9600 series of IP sets. This phone was formerly only available on the Avaya Communication Manager product. They are now supported on IP Office.
- Video conference capability on the SoftPhone client
- Support for the new 1400 series digital sets. The 1400 series have the same look and feel as the 1600 series IP sets. Unfortunately the phone still has the paper inserts
– New line card for IP Office which includes: a combo 6 Digital phones, 2 analog phones, 4 analog trunks, 10 VCM channels, and power fail
– New Partner ETR card which includes: 6 partner phones, 4 analog trunks, power fail on IP Office V2
– Some significant enhancements to the resiliency functionality on the product especially as it relates to the voice mail resiliency
– Small Community Network now supports up to 1000 users

Avaya has introduced a rather confusing support and software upgrade component to the product which I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around. Some of the details are a little sketchy – my excuse was I wasn’t paying perfect attention to the WebEx, OR, I was taking such feverish notes I wasn’t able to keep up. I think I like the latter. I will fill in the details with greater accuracy over the next few weeks, and will post that info to this blog (when I understand what they were talking about).

The expected release date is late February.

Did you like this post ? TheTelecomBlog.com publishes daily news, editorial, thoughts, and controversial opinion – you can subscribe by: RSS (click here), or email (click here).

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Plantronics today announced an expansion of its 40-year business and technology relationship with Avaya to deliver Unified Communications (UC) and Customer Service (CC) solutions that help companies improve business collaboration and reduce operating costs. Plantronics has been named Avaya preferred headset provider to bring unparalleled audio quality, reliability and ease-of-use to enterprise business users. Plantronics and Avaya are working together to jointly introduce future voice solutions that take advantage of Avaya’s suite of collaboration applications toprovide a new level of communication intelligence to customers.

Beginning February 9, 2010, Avaya will no longer sell Avaya-branded headsets manufactured by Plantronics. However, Plantronics will continue to manufacture and sell headsets designed for Avaya solutions, and Avaya Germany will continue to purchase headsets directly from Plantronics.

Between now and February 8, it’s business as usual. On February 9, 2010 Avaya-branded inventory will be shifted to Plantronics brand. Plantronics will continue to manufacture and sell the same headsets designed for Avaya solutions under the Plantronics name and logo. All these Plantronics headsets will be available for sale through the Plantronics Authorized Distributors and Solution Providers for use with Avaya solutions worldwide.

Did you like this post ? TheTelecomBlog.com publishes daily news, editorial, thoughts, and controversial opinion – you can subscribe by: RSS (click here), or email (click here).

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Some news from Avaya’s web site – it looks like the regulatory hurdles surrounding the Nortel acquisition have been cleared.

Avaya today announced it was granted early termination of the antitrust waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), for the company’s proposed acquisition of Nortel’s enterprise solutions business.

Avaya also received regulatory clearance for the proposed transaction from the Canadian Competition Bureau. The Competition Bureau issued a no action letter, indicating that it does not have grounds to challenge the proposed transaction under the Competition Act.

The proposed acquisition is subject to additional regulatory reviews, and Avaya expects to close the transaction in December 2009.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Skype

The new owners, Silver Lake (same parent company that owns Avaya ), Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, will hold 56% of Skype, and eBay will retain 30%.  Missing from the mix is Index Ventures.  When the sale was initially tabled last summer, Skype’s founders sued to prevent the merger from happening.  Their case stated that Index Ventures, with partner Michelangelo Volpi, used confidential information in an attempt to acquire a 65% share of Skype.  Jeff wrote about the merger in the beginning of September, so this conflict, and its eventual resolution, developed very quickly.

Where is Skype now?

Like a teenager moving away from home for the first time, Skype is going to have to learn how to become a profitable enterprise, quickly.  No longer having the support, or bankroll, of eBay means that Skype will need to be run as a for-profit venture.  With over 520 million users, 40 million of which came on board in the past quarter, Skype is being given the opportunity to demonstrate that they can run a profitable business.

One of the new owners,  Marc Andreessen shares that “as an independent company, “there’s no need to deliver any specific revenue or earnings number in a particular quarter. It’s a pure focus on the long term.”

What does Skype need to do?

With fewer folks using land based phone services, combined with the extra step of running an application to provide a connection between customers, Skype is going to need to revamp their offerings and find ways to satisfy the growing mobile market.  Competitors like the iPhone or droid handsets, or software like Google Voice already have a huge head start on Skype, but now that the company is no longer primarily owned by eBay, the Skype folks can focus more time and money into marketing themselves.

Skype’s next hurdle?

With the recommended focus being to develop Skype’s mobile offerings and integration, the next step will be to convince the wireless providers (AT&T, Verizon, Bell, Rogers, Telus) to allow Skype to offer their service.  As this can potentially cut into the profits of the providers by allowing a free communication service, we see this being a potentially enormous hurdle for Skype.

So – now that Skype is all grown up, and about to leave the nest, it’s probably best for them to plan well ahead into the future to determine the best features and business plan to incorporate into the next generation of Skype.

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Avaya Aura™-Enabled Applications Power Advanced Instant Notification and Financial Services Solutions

For Immediate Release: 02-Nov-2009

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — VoiceCon — Avaya today unveiled two new applications that use advanced unified communications and customer service technologies to address urgent business and customer needs. Enabled by Avaya Aura™ — the company’s platform supporting enterprise communications — the applications drive customized solutions that help improve workplace productivity and customer assistance in a more efficient way.

The Avaya Notification Solution (ANS) is a new Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based application that helps streamline communications for an urgent business or emergency situation. When a critical event occurs, the solution can reach out to, inform, and get responses from the right people. For further collaboration, ANS can bring the notified parties into a conference call. By enabling processes with communications, the solution accelerates responsiveness and reduces communications breakdowns.

Avaya Proactive Outreach for Financial Services adds new enhancements to help companies better manage a key segment of the loss and collections process — mortgage modifications. By combining outbound contact and self service, the solution calls customers and uses voice automation to determine one’s eligibility for a mortgage modification. It can also pre-qualify customers, and inform customers where they are in the application process.

The applications were developed by Avaya Global Services’ professional services practice, and can use Avaya Aura to extend advanced communications across a multi-vendor, multi-location organization, while significantly reducing operating costs.

“Avaya’s notification and proactive outreach applications are ready-to-use solutions that demonstrate innovation and bring real value to industries,” said Joe Outlaw, Frost & Sullivan principal analyst. “The Avaya Notification Solution delivers on the promise of communications enabled business processes (CEBP) to reduce latency in enterprise decision-making with that magic combination of reduced operational costs and enhanced customer experiences.”

Solving Real-Time Business Issues with the Avaya Notification Solution
When a critical event occurs, the Avaya Notification Solution facilitates the flow of urgent information by notifying a pre-determined group of people, and accelerating collaboration. It can be triggered by an administrator or by a third party application, and alert first-line response members using any communications mode (i.e. voice, e-mail). If ANS can’t reach one’s first contact preference, it tries the next preferred mode or party.

ANS can be used for many purposes, including business issues, healthcare communications, and environmental threats such as hurricane alerts. In a business setting, for example, a retailer can integrate the solution with an inventory management system to assist during the holiday season. ANS can automatically detect if a popular product is on backorder, alert the right department representatives, and bring them onto a conference call to determine a plan of action.

“These applications bring the power of Avaya Aura to the forefront of business communications needs,” said Greg Billings, vice president, Avaya Global Professional Services. “ANS puts real-time communications to work, driving the collaborative processes essential for competing in today’s business environment.”

A customer that has seen the Avaya Notification Solution in action is CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX), a Pittsburgh, PA-based energy company producing both coal and natural gas. The Avaya partner that works on CONSOL Energy engagements is Technology Solutions Group.

CONSOL Energy will use ANS to integrate unified communications into emergency notification scenarios. The company — the largest producer of high-Btu bituminous coal in the U.S. — must have instant communications if issues arise with a coal mine. Any injury or violation must be communicated instantly so it can be addressed quickly and the coal mine can operate uninterrupted. According to CONSOL Energy, if a mine is shut down for any reason, the company could lose around $1 million a day. The Avaya Notification Solution will significantly reduce this risk.

“From what we’ve seen, ANS provides an ideal method for collaborating in urgent situations, and in a way that ultimately saves money,” said George Rosato, vice president, IS&T, CONSOL Energy. “As a company requiring ‘always on’ service, we need to apply the latest technologies that help ensure reliable and instant communications. Avaya and TSG have previously gone beyond the call of duty, and we expect the Avaya Notification Solution to build on this reputation.”

Mortgage Servicers and their Customers Get Help from Proactive Outreach
Avaya Proactive Outreach for Financial Services — previously introduced with capabilities to manage collections — today adds automated mortgage modification capabilities to help ease the process of making customers aware of their eligibility for mortgage modifications, and the status of their applications.

The solution can identify candidates for mortgage modifications, and call and notify them of their eligibility under the federal government’s 2009 Home Affordability Modification Program. Using self-service, Proactive Outreach walks them through the pre-qualification process, and can also inform customers about their application status — along with instructions for missing documents — to keep the process moving.

Avaya Notification Services and Proactive Outreach are available for purchase through Avaya and its partners.

About Avaya
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

It looks like Cisco is trying to play hardball with the shareholders in its quest to acquire teleconferencing company Tandberg ASA.  Cisco has offered to pay 17.2 billion-kroner ($3.04 billion US), but is now threatening to pull the offer off the table because some of the existing shareholders are not willing to settle for the price offered.  There are 21 owners that won’t sell their shares at the offered rate (153.5 kroner/share), instead, they feel that the can hold out and cause the offer to go even higher.

According to a Cisco representative, “We are currently in the middle of a tender-offer process, we are not able to comment… We have stated previously that we believe we are paying a fair price for a quality asset.” The rumor is that Cisco is very interested in acquiring Tandberg in order to expand Cisco’s videoconferencing division, which suggests that there might be some flexibility still within the offer.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the existing Tandberg relationship with Microsoft and Avaya – two major competitors for Cisco.

Perhaps the 21 hold-out owners saw the ubiquitous Cisco product placement in the summer blockbusters GI Joe, and Transformers 2, so they feel that there might be a little left in Cisco’s wallet.

Good luck to them!

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed