Avaya, whose stock today begins trading independently from Lucent Technologies, introduced Avaya Hosted Solutions, a complete suite of packaged and fully integrated communications software, hardware and services that enable next-generation service providers to significantly expand their communications offers for small-to-medium sized businesses and large enterprise customers.
Avaya today becomes one of the most widely held companies in America with nearly five million shareowners.
Avaya Hosted Solutions allow fast-growing, next-generation service providers (xSPs) to expand their offers beyond Web hosting and messaging to a broad array of communications applications - including hosted Internet Protocol (IP) telephony for employees located in central headquarters and remote offices, hosted contact centers, hosted messaging, and hosted collaboration, as well as multiservice infrastructure. These eBusiness communications solutions are supported by Avaya Services, the Avaya Hosted Solutions Interoperability Testing Lab and Avaya Hosted Solutions Advantage Customer Program.
According to industry data, the market for all communications services provided through Next-Generation Service Providers, or xSPs, is expected to grow from $15 billion now to $85 billion in 2003. xSPs include Application Service Providers, hosting providers, communications service providers, portals, and trading exchanges. With Avaya Hosted Solutions, xSPs can reduce the time to market and implementation costs of offering their customers eBusiness solutions, and allow their customers to focus on their core business without the expense of training IT staff or deploying new enterprise resources.
"Increasingly, enterprise customers are looking to next-generation service providers for communications as well as hosted applications," said Don Peterson, president and CEO, Avaya. "These customers need flexibility and speed - and Avaya Hosted Solutions meet those needs by bringing Avaya`s considerable communications experience and expertise to this fast-growing segment.
Peterson said that nearly one million business customers in more than 90 countries have purchased Avaya communications software, products and services, giving the company a solid base on which to grow its market.
Avaya Hosted Solutions include communication applications that are bundled and designed to work with Avaya`s ECLIPS (Enterprise Class Internet Protocol Solutions) announced on Sept. 20, and the company`s award-winning Cajun Campus solutions, which are fully integrated Gigabit Ethernet switches with technology to prioritize Internet transactions. Avaya Services offers design, integration, implementation and maintenance, and Avaya Hosted Interoperability Testing Lab will ensure Avaya Hosted Solutions will work with and be certified with third-party eBusiness applications.
Initial customers include Agora Interactive, Inc., Atento and PowerSchool, Inc. PowerSchool, which has over 900,000 subscribers in more than 1,180 K-12 schools in 32 states, has built an interactive and full-featured Web-based portal that runs through Avaya Hosted Solutions` highly scalable and secure multiservice networking products. Over 17,200 classrooms a day access the PowerSchool portal.
"PowerSchool is using Avaya Hosted Solutions to help us bring students, teachers, parents, and administrators closer by facilitating communication via the Web," said Greg Porter, president and CEO for PowerSchool, based in Folsom, Calif.
"Avaya Hosted Solutions embedded in Agora`s services platform enable our subscribers in business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets to interact as simply as using a telephone while taking full advantage of multimedia communications," said David Doctor, CEO of Agora Interactive, based in Louisville, KY.
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Avaya
Avaya, formerly the Enterprise Networks Group of Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., USA, is a leading provider of communications systems for enterprises, including businesses, government agencies and other organizations. Avaya offers converged voice and data, customer relationship management, messaging, voice multi-service networking and structured cabling products and services. Avaya is a worldwide leader in sales of messaging and structured cabling systems and a U.S. leader in sales of enterprise voice communications and call center systems. Avaya intends to use its leadership positions in enterprise communications systems and software, its broad portfolio of products and services, and strategic alliances with other technology and consulting services leaders to offer its customers comprehensive eBusiness solutions. For more information about Avaya, visit its Web site at http://www.avaya.com.
For fast facts about Avaya, please visit www.avaya.com/press.
Avaya Hosted Solutions Product Backgrounder
Avaya introduced today four new Internet Communication Hosted Solutions, enabling xSPs to provide enterprises with a complete suite of Avaya`s next-generation market-leading communications applications - including telephony, messaging, collaboration and Internet contact centers - fully integrated over a highly-reliable and secure multi-service infrastructure that includes Avaya`s recently-introduced Enterprise-Class IP Solutions or Avaya ECLIPS products [see related ECLIPS announcement on Sept. 20] and Cajun"a Campus multi-service network products. With the Avaya Internet Communication Hosted Solutions, for the first time, xSPs can completely outsource and host an emerging enterprise customer`s communications network.
Avaya Hosted Enterprise IP Telephony is a prepackaged communications bundle that offers the robust features, scalability, reliability, and quality of Avaya`s DEFINITY^a Enterprise Communications Server and ECLIPS solutions. This solution allows xSPs to offer enterprise customers business-grade telephony services, ranging from basic telephony functions such as call processing to eBusiness communications capabilities, such as Internet Protocol (IP) telephony. Available next month, the starter package for a xSP buying the Hosted Enterprise IP Telephony solution is $205,000 for 250 subscribers.
Avaya Hosted Virtual Telephony is a suite of Avaya`s remote communications applications - including DEFINITY Anywhere and Unified Messenger - which enable road warriors, telecommuters and mobile workers who are away from the office to access the communications capabilities that they would normally receive in their corporate office. Available next month, the starter package for a xSP buying the Hosted Virtual Telephony solution is $270,000 for 250 subscribers.
Avaya Hosted Contact Center is a fully integrated and completely outsourced contact center and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. This is ideally suited for enterprise customers who don`t have the technical skill sets and capital budget to deploy a contact center. Available next month, the starter package for a xSP buying the Hosted Contact Center solution is $180,000 for 100 subscribers.
Avaya Hosted Collaboration is a communications bundle that includes Avaya`s industry-leading iCosm Collaborative Video (iCV) solution. It allows xSPs to offer enterprise customers completely outsourced collaborative conferencing services, such as video conferencing, distance learning, streaming video and video broadcast applications.
Available next month, the starter package for an xSP buying the Hosted Collaboration solution is $5,000, which includes seven clients, two JPEG cards, and a Software Development Kit with an integrated Applications Program Interface (API). To help xSPs reduce their implementation, integration and interoperability challenges, Avaya also announced today complimentary Avaya Hosted Solutions Professional Services, an Interoperability Testing Lab and a Advantage Customer Program. Avaya Services offers next-generation service providers a complete suite of end-to-end network services for the planning, implementation and maintenance of Avaya Hosted Solutions. Avaya Services includes more than 900 CRM specialists and 600 data specialists. Avaya Hosted Solutions Interoperability Testing Lab ensures that all of the Avaya Hosted Solutions are fully interoperable and can be implemented immediately. The Interoperability Testing Lab will also ensure that third-party eBusiness communications are certified to work with Avaya Hosted Solutions. Avaya Hosted Solutions Advantage Customer Program is a three-tiered Silver, Gold and Platinum initiative that addresses customers` business challenges by enabling them to partner with next-generation service providers and be part of Avaya joint marketing and co-branding opportunities.
Avaya Hosted Solutions Customer Backgrounder
Agora Interactive
Agora Interactive, a value-added eCommunications ASP based in Louisville, Kentucky, is using Avaya Hosted Solutions` ultra-reliable Avaya Hosted Solutions infrastructure and communications applications, including iCosm Collaborative Video, to allow subscribers to see, talk, and interact simultaneously with their customers and others simply and productively from desktops and public platforms. "Avaya Hosted Solutions when embedded in Agora`s services platform enables us to provide our subscribers in business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets the ability to interact as simply as using a telephone with the added ability to interact using multimedia communications," said David Doctor, CEO of Agora Interactive.
Atento
Atento, a global service provider of electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) outsourcing services, has a presence in 13 countries on three continents. The company is expanding its outsourcing services with the Avaya Hosted Solutions Contact Center bundle. This will allow 8,000 Atento call center agents around the world to make live text-to-chat and Voice over IP calls over the Internet. PowerSchool, Inc., which has over 900,000 subscribers in more than 17,200 K-12 classrooms across the nation, has built an interactive and full-featured Web-based portal that runs through Avaya Hosted Solutions` reliable, highly scalable and secure multiservice networking products.
"PowerSchool is using Avaya Hosted Solutions to help us bring students, teachers, parents, and administrators closer by facilitating communication via the Web," said Greg Porter, president and CEO for PowerSchool, based in Folsom, Calif.