Gartner defines Unified Communications products (equipment, software and services) as those that “facilitate the use of multiple enterprise communication methods…Key technologies include Internet Protocol (IP)-PBX, Voice over IP (VoIP), presence, e-mail, audio conferencing and Web conferencing, videoconferencing, voice mail, Unified Messaging (UM), Instant Messaging (IM), and various forms of mobility.”
According to the Gartner report, “UC products integrate communication channels (media), networks and systems, as well as IT business applications and, in some cases, consumer applications and devices.” Corporate Telephony is described as “the provision of holistic voice communications for all wired and wireless users in large enterprises.”
According to Gartner, “a best-of-breed approach [to UC] remains the surest way of ensuring adequate functionality, and planners should require vendor products to be interoperable.” The report also notes that “while most solutions today support key standards such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), an important distinction is the extent to which they federate and integrate with third party products.” Further, the report states, “Some solutions are intended primarily to enhance and operate within their own specific environments; although these solutions do work with third parties, their interoperation is often limited. Other products are clearly designed to interoperate in multiple environments, thus are more flexible.”
“The open, standards-based flexibility of Avaya Aura coupled with the Avaya DevConnect programme and its tens of thousands of developers and partners, provide an unparalleled network of leading technology companies to enable a fully-integrated, ‘best in class,’ multi-vendor approach to addressing the particular needs and purposes of a company,” said Alan Baratz, senior vice president and president, Global Communications Solutions, Avaya.
“On an average, customers are reporting that Avaya Aura can save large enterprises approximately 23 percent in capital expenditures and another 33 percent in operating expenditures,” said Baratz. “In today’s economy, that’s significant. But, more importantly, Avaya Aura positions companies for a real-time communications-collaboration future like no other solution available today.”
Avaya acquired Nortel's Enterprise Solutions (NES) business in December 2009, and has been recognised for the rapid definition of a new management and operational structure, as well as product road maps for how the company plans to normalise the combined product and service portfolios.
In July, Avaya announced a broad range of new and enhanced products based on Avaya Aura that that redefined the economics and effectiveness of real-time, multi-media enterprise communications. These products included many technologies added to the portfolio as a result of the Nortel acquisition and integrated with Avaya Aura – thus meeting commitments laid out in the Integrated Roadmap earlier this year. Among the new and enhanced products is a new version of Avaya Agile Communications Environment, which allows companies to easily build Communications-Enabled Applications (CEA) and Business Processes (CEBP) to speed workflow through a suite of packaged applications and an IT developer toolkit.