Director of Product Management Nick Brasier told Comms Business Magazine that INDeX systems would no longer be supplied from 1 June 2006.
“INDeX has been a highly successful product for Avaya and since its introduction in 1995 more than 22,000 systems have been sold – the majority in the UK. We started migrating INDeX customer to IP Office a couple of years ago with the introduction of the media gateway and since then we have introduced some commercial migration offers as well.”
“We are now at a stage where we want to clarify the migration plans and options for our INDeX customers. Avaya is taking INDeX to end of sale on 31st May 2006 and between now and then it will continue to be available as a live running product. From 1st June 2006 only repairs and spares will be made available - no new shipments of hardware or software will be made.”
Avaya say they are making the announcement now for two reasons. Firstly to lay to bed any speculation as to the future of the product in the channel and secondly to provide adequate time for resellers and their customers to determine what they want to do in the future. Avaya will continue to technically support the product for a further three years.
Brasier continued, “User that are anticipating large or significant upgrades to their INDeX systems in the near future will need to pre-purchase the kit ahead of the May deadline. After that date we will no longer have the parts to support that expansion. For SME’s the option is IP Office and for medium to large enterprises it is Avaya Communication Manager.”
Neil Simonsen, product manager at Avaya distributor Crane Telecommunications commented, “INDeX has been a fantastic product over the years but now we have some equally fantastic deals for resellers looking to migrate their customers to Communication Manager. These include free 8700/8500 servers and a great trade in allowance of up to £50.00 per INDeX handset.”