Avaya outlined its roadmap for integrating products and services from the recently acquired Nortel Enterprise Solutions into its portfolio. Avaya's vision is based on open standards, communication-enabled business systems and effective, contextual, real-time communications. 
"The integrated roadmap we're outlining today supports Avaya's commitment to providing customers with the advanced communications capabilities they need to manage and grow their organisations," said Alan Baratz, senior vice president and president, Global Communications Solutions, Avaya. "In developing the portfolio, our guiding principle was to deliver the most compelling and cost-effective systems and services to customers and partners."
Roadmap Highlights:
- Unified Communications: the center piece of the unified communications (UC) portfolio is "Avaya Aura", a SIP-based communication platform that unifies complex communications networks. Avaya Aura provides an upgrade path for all existing Nortel voice and UC customers. The roadmap expands the value of Avaya Aura with the addition of Avaya (formerly Nortel) Agile Communications Environment (ACE). ACE uses Service-Oriented Architecture and Web Services to facilitate the rapid development of communications enabled applications.
- Contact Centre: Avaya Aura will also be at the centre of Avaya's contact centre portfolio. With this foundation, contact centres will move to a SIP-based, service-oriented architecture, simultaneously supporting multiple modes of communication. The new contact centre solution will be based on a new and collaborative work assignment model that will connect customers, agents, and information. The new capabilities will enable businesses and organisations to stay ahead of growing customer care demands for tighter integration and lower costs. The integrated roadmap will seamlessly extend Avaya and Nortel Enterprise Solutions market leading portfolio with capabilities for agent desktop, work assignment, experience management, analytics that will scale from mid-range to large contact centres.
- Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Communications: Avaya IP Office, BCM, Norstar, PARTNER and Integral 5 all remain for sale with a plan to converge the platforms to the company's flagship hybrid IP offering, IP Office. Avaya will blend Nortel features, interfaces and phones with IP Office to create a richer solution with strong investment protection benefits. This approach follows the model Avaya has successfully implemented with other systems into IP Office. The company also now offers the Avaya Software Communication System, a SIP-based offer from NES for small and medium enterprise customers who want to manage unified communications from their data centre.
- Data Products: Avaya will adopt the current roadmap of NES data products in its entirety. Avaya believes that the technology, customer base and innovative product roadmap represent a compelling value proposition for global customers. A key component of plug and play communications is the underlying, enabling network and the new Avaya data portfolio brings significant advantages of "Always-On" reliability, network efficiency and scalability to grow with customer's business needs. Included in the Avaya data portfolio are solutions for Ethernet Switching, Routers, Wireless Networking, Access Control and Unified Management.
- In December 2009, Avaya completed its acquisition of Nortel's global Enterprise Solutions business as well as the shares of Nortel Government Solutions Incorporated and DiamondWare. Approximately 6,000 NES employees have joined Avaya, including 25 top managers. Joel Hackney, previously president, Nortel Enterprise Solutions, joins the Avaya Executive Committee as senior vice president and president, Avaya Government Solutions and Data.
