Avaya recently announced that all legacy Nortel phones will now function on the new version of Avaya IP Office and all existing data – including customer records, voicemail and system configurations – can be migrated to the new platform easily using a migration wizard. This opens up massive potential in the SME market, as it provides a clear and affordable migration path to Avaya IP Office from legacy systems such as Meridian and Norstar as well as more the more recent BCM offerings.
Graham Bunting, Avaya Team Leader at Azlan, said: “There is a large installed base of these systems in the UK and migrating to IP Office is a very attractive option as it provides a complete unified communications solution with no requirement to swap out current handsets. It means resellers can offer to upgrade customers and provide them with increased collaborative working, conferencing and mobility capabilities, yet leave all existing handsets in place.”
Resellers are already responding to the potential. Mark T. Pollitt, Managing Director of Avaya partner, Digicomm BCS, commented: “Historically, BCM has been a closed market, mainly being offered by BT resellers, andvirtually impossible for other resellers to penetrate. The acquisition of the Nortel base and the product strength and knowledge of Avaya has opened up this as-yet-untapped market to Avaya resellers. Digicomm is excited to now be able to offer Nortel users the increased functionality of the Avaya solutions, without the significant cost of replacing all the handsets, and with the same high quality service as we do with our existing base. It is always a giant step forward to have the opportunity to provide our customers with a greater range of options, whilst having the ability to reduce costs and improve their return. Digicomm has recognised the potential of this emerging market which spells good news for all Avaya resellers who embrace it.”
Andrew Henderson, Managing Director of Lanway, added: “We love the migration strategy and the assistance offered by Avaya and Azlan in helping us to articulate this message to the market. Of particular note is the ability for the customer to invest in new Avaya technology in stages – they can buy the system and worry about migrating to the most costly part, the handsets, later. I find this is a winning message in these austere times.”
Avaya IP Office 7.0 will also deliver an expanded portfolio of devices for multimedia collaboration, including sophisticated new colour touch screen desktop phones that let users scroll through contacts or manage visual voicemail at the touch of a finger. Additionally, new conference room phones offer patented wide-band audio, call recording via SD card, and fast USB connectivity to a laptop for temporary set-ups.
These are part of a portfolio that offers a range of advanced communications, such as HD videoconferencing, via desktop PCs with no added equipment required.
In recent weeks, Avaya has been previewing forthcoming innovations in collaboration, including the Avaya Flare Experience on mobile devices and tablets for Avaya IP Office. This functionality will integrate the distinctive ‘touch and swipe' interface of Flare on third-party devices, providing simplified mobile access to integrated directory, unified voicemail, instant messaging and more.
Avaya has also been talking about it shared its vision for a hybrid cloud approach to SME communications, which places Avaya IP Office on-premises, while enabling select applications to be hosted in the cloud on a partner network. This capability will allow more flexible use and faster deployments of Avaya's latest collaboration applications.