Avaya (News - Alert), an enterprise communications systems provider, released a new version of Avaya IP Office – the company’s flagship communications solution for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Avaya IP Office 6.0 features new unified communications (UC) capabilities that deliver enhanced user experiences to employees in any location. These capabilities include advanced collaboration tools using voice, instant messaging, presence and video to drive a more productive and flexible workforce.

 

“With Avaya IP Office 6.0 in place, small businesses don’t have to sacrifice easy, intuitive operation in order to get the enhanced communications features of large enterprises. Our latest version provides SMEs with all of the next generation collaboration tools necessary for competing more effectively today against peers and larger competitors – and for thriving as the economy recovers,” Anthony Bartolo (News - Alert), general manager, SME Communications for Avaya said.

 

Avaya IP Office 6.0 also introduces video collaboration through a new IP Office Video Softphone application. This offers voice control features via a virtual phone on a PC or laptop, supporting point-to-point video communications when visuals are required. Avaya also offers SME solutions designed for teleworkers, mobile workers and office workers, including enhancements to Avaya one-X® Portal for IP Office – a desktop communications tool easily accessible via Web – and new video collaboration capabilities. Other key Avaya IP Office improvements include doubling support capacity in a Multi-Site Network to 1,000 users.  

 

“Now, the smallest businesses can gain access to the rich capabilities that were previously only available to larger companies. With IP Office 6.0, the savings in money and time are formidable. For example, a 90 percent price reduction in voicemail, combined with the new combination card, can make a real difference for companies with less than 20 employees. And we estimate that the programming, set-up and training time provided to this segment can now be cut by 50 percent – to just half a day. This makes it much easier for business partners to deploy,” Tom Roles, president, NACR, an Avaya business partner said.

 

MBA Poultry, a leading poultry producer based in Nebraska, is also upgrading to Avaya IP Office 6.0 to achieve faster decision-making in a time-sensitive environment. Employees who often travel between two Nebraska facilities can use the new solution for “one number access” to forward calls to a user’s preferred device.

 

“Having the option to work from home using Avaya one-X Portal will be very helpful. The new instant messaging capabilities will be valuable, since our team needs to be in constant contact. For a business like ours, saving just 30 extra minutes in a month could improve productivity and savings,” Eric Hannesson, director of Information Technology, MBA Poultry said.

 

According to IDC (News - Alert), a provider of IT market intelligence, companies with less than 20 employees account for more than 90 percent of small businesses worldwide. Avaya IP Office is now affordably available to this segment through a new ‘combination card’ – to support digital, analog and IP devices. This, paired with a new line of phones for businesses with less than 20 employees, reduces costs without compromising capability. With this new release, Avaya makes unified communications up to 40% more affordable for small businesses.

 

In other news, Avaya and Polycom (News - Alert) announced that they are expanding their existing relationship to jointly develop and market integrated video, voice and collaboration solution.