Avaya Positioned as a Leader in Analyst Firm's Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications

Basking Ridge, NJ – Avaya, a global provider of business communications and collaboration systems and services, today announced it has been positioned as a Leader in the recently published 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications*. In the report, Gartner finds that "the overall UC market has matured and evolved significantly in 2011. The most notable change has been the shift in emphasis from broad UC portfolios toward fuller UC suites. Other important factors influencing the market were the convergence of cloud and on-premises UC functions, the increased role of consumer products and the continued influence of mobility." Avaya's UC Portfolio: Avaya’s flagship UC suite for mid-to-large size enterprises, Avaya Aura®, offers voice, video, conferencing, messaging, presence services, and session management, enabling centralized management and administration, plus integration and interoperability with systems and applications from Avaya and other vendors. In the past year, Avaya also launched the groundbreaking, Avaya Flare® Experience – a unique tool for end-users that brings together the range of communications people regularly use today – voice, video, conferencing, email, IM/presence, multiple directories and more – and puts them at their fingertips, thus streamlining collaboration by removing the typical barriers between technologies. Quotes: Dr. Alan Baratz, Senior Vice President, Avaya President, Global Communications Solutions, Avaya "We have a simple goal for Avaya unified communications solutions: enable any employee to use any device in any location to collaborate effectively. This can mean enabling a nurse to launch a call to a doctor from a patient care application, or enabling ad hoc collaboration that starts as an IM, escalates to a multiparty conference call with document sharing -- all with the swipe of a finger. Avaya delivers a powerful, integrated experience for end-users that's easy for IT to manage and highly cost-effective for the business." Additional Resources: • Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications: http://www.gartner.com/technology/streamReprints.do?id=1-1728DMD&ct=110823&st=sb • Avaya Aura: http://www.avaya.com/usa/resource/assets/brochures/avaya%20aura%20-%20brochure%20uc4218%20v2.pdf • Avaya Flare Experience Guided Tour: http://www.avaya.com/usa/campaign/avaya-flare-experience-guided-tour/ Tags: Avaya, unified communications, business collaboration, Avaya Aura, Avaya Flare Experience, enterprise communications, Gartner * Bern, Blood, Steve, Dozier, Linda; Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications; Gartner Research, August 22, 2011 About the Gartner Magic Quadrant: The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2011 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Avaya Introduces New Communications Support Model to Drive Greater Flexibility, Faster Response Times

Avaya Support Advantage Offers Simplified Approach, Greater Choice

New support model provides globally consistent and streamlined support options aligned with today’s advanced communications needs
Customers to experience accelerated responses and simple, flexible packages

Avaya, a global leader in enterprise collaboration systems, software and services, today introduced a new support model that offers simple, flexible options and faster response times for Avaya solutions. Avaya Support Advantage is a comprehensive maintenance model comprised of 24x7 remote software and hardware support, with additional modular options that can be added to suit a customer's needs. 

The new support framework will be consistent globally for all new Avaya system solutions. It provides around-the-clock maintenance support coverage for both software and hardware, and enables effective troubleshooting of communications as well as streamlined pricing and invoicing.

The new Avaya Support Advantage model features two packages:
Essential Support is the basic level of support for customers requiring solution level remote technical support as well as software updates and patches. It offers 24x7 remote technical support and sets specific response time parameters to address issues, depending on problem severity. Included are access to Avaya's Web-based customer support tools, remote technical support of hardware and software, and coverage to ensure required parts are delivered on the next business day.
Preferred Support encompasses the Essential package plus remote monitoring that alerts Avaya within 90 seconds of receiving an alarm.  It can drive up to 20% faster resolution times, on average¹, due to increased visibility through around-the-clock monitoring. The Avaya EXPERT Systems^SM monitoring remotely clears virtually all system-generated alarms.  With this package, Avaya aims for response times of 15 minutes or less for major incidents.
Avaya Support Advantage also includes simplified add-on options that enable Avaya's maintenance partners and customers to select services in various combinations. These include:
1-Upgrade Advantage for subscription access to the latest major software upgrades.
2-Onsite support for critical parts replacement at the customer's location.
3-Terminal replacement for next-day deliveries to replace defective terminals.
4-Software release management and back-up and restore services.

Johnson Controls Inc. to Improve Global Communications with Avaya

New technologies help support 1000 JCI locations and will help lower capital and operating costs.


Avaya, a global provider of business communications and collaboration solutions and services, today announced that Johnson Controls (JCI) will be upgrading to Avaya Aura® as the company's new global IP telephony platform. This will provide new capabilities and a solution that supports the company's commitment to state of the art communication technologies and lower costs. Avaya Global Services will design, deploy and manage the entire operation, which will extend to over 1000 locations and 75,000 employees from three key hubs in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.  
 
The agreement extends the existing Avaya relationship with JCI as the company replaces its current PBX equipment with the Avaya Aura unified communications platform. JCI and Avaya have had a business relationship for over 10 years and both companies are pleased with this extension of the agreements.
 
"Avaya Aura will help JCI move to a whole new level of communications capabilities that have a tremendous potential to positively impact their business," said Joel Hackney, senior vice president, Global Sales and Marketing and president, Field Operations, Avaya. "Avaya Global Services will also be with them every step of the way to help ensure they have an unparalleled experience that maximizes that potential. We are thrilled that JCI has decided to extend its relationship with us."
 
The Avaya Unified Communication and Collaboration solutions being implemented by JCI include: Avaya Aura unified communications architecture with Session Manager, Communication Manager, Presence Services, Application Enablement Services, System Platform, Avaya Branch Gateway, Avaya Meeting Exchange, EC500, IBM Sametime Integration, Avaya one-X® Mobile and Avaya Aura Conferencing.