Avaya Names Voda One as the 2008 Distributor of the Year for North America

BASKING RIDGE, NJ--(Marketwire - October 20, 2008) - Avaya, a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services, today announced that Westcon Group, Inc.'s Voda One business practice was named the recipient of Avaya's 2008 Distributor of the Year award for North America. The award honors the leading distributor demonstrating year-over-year growth and innovation in delivering Avaya products and solutions to BusinessPartners.

Avaya also announced that XETA Technologies won the Avaya Enterprise Partner of the Year award and Daycom Systems won the Avaya Global Services Partner of the Year award.

The awards were presented recently at the Avaya Global Sales and Partner Conference in National Harbor, Md.

"The Avaya Distributor of the Year designation recognizes a company's commitment to their relationship with Avaya and our BusinessPartners, and the important role played in the success of the entire sales spectrum," said Carol Neslund, vice president, North America Channels, Avaya. "Voda One has demonstrated strong growth and developed innovative programs and tools to help their channel partners efficiently and effectively meet the needs of our customers."

In 2008, Voda One achieved double-digit growth in Avaya revenue and initiated several programs to drive BusinessPartner success, including:

--  A development program for mid-sized BusinessPartners
--  An SMB-focused BusinessPartner Council
--  IP Office Custom Solutions Configurator including lease rates and
    related Avaya vendors
--  Avaya Certified Learning Program (ACLP) trainings
    

"The Avaya Distributor of the Year award is a tremendous distinction and recognizes the unrelenting customer focus of our entire North American team," said Steve Bernard, Vice President of Westcon Group North America. "This year, we put in place development programs for our SMB and mid-sized BusinessPartners, while helping our Enterprise BusinessPartners expand their customer base."

"We are also proud XETA Technologies and Daycom Systems, both Voda One customers, who won Enterprise Partner of the Year and the Avaya Global Services Partner of the Year awards, respectively," Bernard added.

About Avaya

Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®, use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centers and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: www.avaya.com

About Westcon Group

Westcon Group, Inc. is the leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility and convergence for leading technology vendors, including Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, and Polycom. Through its Westcon, Voda One and Comstor business practices, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit www.westcongroup.com.

Contact Information: Deb Kline 908-953-6179 klined@avaya.com Jeff Touzeau 914-829-7388 jeff.touzeau@westcon.com