BASKING RIDGE, NJ--(Marketwire - March 8, 2010) -
Avaya
today introduced the new release of Avaya IP Office -- the company's
flagship communications solution for
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Avaya IP Office 6.0 features
new unified communications (UC) capabilities that deliver enhanced user
experiences to employees in any location. These capabilities include
advanced collaboration tools using voice, instant messaging, presence and
video to drive a more productive and flexible workforce.
Additionally, Avaya IP Office is now easier and more affordable for a key
market segment -- businesses with less than 20 employees -- to install and
use. This enables the smallest of companies to cost-effectively implement
the advanced communications and customer service functions of larger
systems. With this new release, Avaya makes unified communications up to
40% more affordable for small businesses.(1)
"With Avaya IP Office 6.0 in place, small businesses don't have to
sacrifice easy, intuitive operation in order to get the enhanced
communications features of large enterprises," said Anthony Bartolo,
general manager, Small and Medium Enterprise Communications. "Our latest
version provides SMEs with all of the next generation collaboration tools
necessary for competing more effectively today against peers and larger
competitors -- and for thriving as the economy recovers."
Improved collaboration tools, greater capacity to address SME challenges
Trends show that SMEs are optimistic about the future, yet seek new paths
to business success. While most SMEs expect revenue growth in 2010(2), the
majority (78%) also state that coming out of the recession, the old way of
doing business won't work and they need to find new ways of taking
advantage of market opportunities. (3) Avaya addresses this with
advancements to its user-based SME solutions designed for teleworkers,
mobile workers and office workers, including enhancements to Avaya one-X®
Portal for IP Office -- a desktop communications tool easily accessible via
Web -- and new video collaboration capabilities.
Avaya one-X Portal for IP Office lets users manage communications from a
business office, home office or on the road via an easy-to-use Web
browser-based interface (using a VPN and PC/phone combination). Today, the
new release adds fully-integrated instant messaging with embedded voice
calling and presence -- boosting both the speed and responsiveness of
inter-office communications among co-workers. Additionally, the audio
conferencing feature, which allows up to 64 parties on a single call, now
provides the ability to view, add, drop and mute attendees, as well as
record conference calls.
Avaya IP Office 6.0 also introduces video collaboration through a new IP
Office Video Softphone application. This offers voice control features via
a virtual phone on a PC or laptop, supporting point-to-point video
communications when visuals are required.
Other key Avaya IP Office improvements include doubling support capacity in
a Multi-Site Network to 1,000 users. This enables SMEs in a wide-area
network to extend the benefits of seamless communications, such as
extension dialing and conferencing, to everyone across a business.
Additionally, to keep essential communications running during an outage,
Avaya IP Office enhances business continuity beyond telephony operation to
now include voice messaging, auto attendant and other capabilities.
Bringing Cost-Effective UC to the "Less than 20" Market
According to IDC, an international provider of market intelligence for
information technology, companies with less than 20 employees account for
more than 90% of small businesses(4) worldwide. Avaya IP Office is now
affordably available to this segment through a new 'combination card' --
providing just a single card for what used to require several cards to
support digital, analog and IP devices. This, paired with a new line of
phones for businesses with less than 20 employees, reduces costs without
compromising capability.
"Now, the smallest businesses can gain access to the rich capabilities that
were previously only available to larger companies," said Tom Roles,
president,
NACR, an Avaya business
partner. "And with IP Office 6.0, the savings in money and time are
formidable. For example, a 90% price reduction in voicemail(5), combined
with the new combination card, can make a real difference for companies
with less than 20 employees. And we estimate that the programming, set-up
and training time provided to this segment can now be cut by 50% -- to just
half a day. This makes it much easier for business partners to deploy."
MBA Poultry Speeds Decision-Making with Avaya IP Office
A company that is upgrading to Avaya IP Office 6.0 is
MBA Poultry, a leading poultry
producer based in Waverly, Nebraska, which has the mission of providing
safe, high-quality chicken while ensuring superior customer service. To
help achieve its goal, the company chose Avaya IP Office to speed
decision-making in a time-sensitive environment. MBA Poultry's IP Office
implementation was made possible with help from NACR, the partner of choice
for MBA Poultry.
Having reliable, always-on communications helps MBA Poultry employees
monitor its food preparation process, maintain high quality, and sell more
effectively. Employees who often travel between two Nebraska facilities can
remain in seamless communications through Avaya IP Office's Mobile Worker
solution, which includes "one number access" to forward calls to a user's
preferred device. The company also believes the enhanced IP Office
Teleworker solution will improve user experiences and flexibility by
increasing work-at-home options.
"Having the option to work from home using Avaya one-X Portal will be very
helpful," said Eric Hannesson, director of Information Technology, MBA
Poultry. "When the weather is bad, employees can work from a home office
with a productive collaboration tool at their fingertips. The new instant
messaging capabilities will be valuable, since our team needs to be in
constant contact, and this is one of fastest ways to communicate. For a
business like ours, saving just 30 extra minutes in a month could improve
productivity and savings."
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.
About NACR
With offices nationwide,
NACR (Eagan,
MN) is a certified Avaya Platinum BusinessPartner, a seven-time Avaya
BusinessPartner of the Year, multiple award winner from industry partners,
and the Value Added Solutions Provider of choice for today's leading
businesses. NACR delivers proven, scalable, cost-efficient solutions
tailored to a customer's business communication needs, in an end-to-end
package that includes consultation, design, implementation, and testing.
With its strategic partners, including Avaya, NACR provides customers with
solutions in VoIP migration, convergence, mobility, unified messaging, and
contact centers. For more information, call 1-888-321-NACR (6227).
(1) Based on Avaya estimates for companies with fewer than 20 employees.
(2) Forbes Insights/CIT report: US Small Business Outlook 2010: Lessons
Learned-A Case for Greater Optimism (60% of SMEs expect their
companies' revenues to grow or grow significantly coming out of the
recession)
(3) Forbes Insights/CIT report
(4) Small businesses defined as those with less than 100 employees
(5) Voicemail from the Essential Edition IP Office solution
Contact Information: Media Inquiries:
Jonathan Varman
P: 908-953-6432
jvarman@avaya.com