BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is a buzzword many of us are familiar with. As the popularity of BYOD is on the rise, Avaya is introducing IP Office 8.1 for small and mid-sized enterprises (SME). It includes new mobility, management, and security features as well as custom-built services to help SME’s take advantage of the rapidly growing BYOD sphere.

IP Office is Avaya’s Small business phone system and they have packed in some innovative mobility features in their 7.0 release. Some of these fun features are not widely known yet and it’s important to note how much they can improve communication while you (or your employees) are on the go. Listed below are my top 3 favorite IP Office mobility capabilities:

Avaya has announced “End of Sale” dates for the BCM50 and BCM450 products as of March 2012. Avaya is merging the Nortel BCM systems into the Avaya IP Office.

On Friday, CPI aced its onsite Avaya Global Services Assessment. An achievement that authorizes CPI to continue implementing and supporting Avaya Co-Delivery offers, such as Joint Service Delivery (JSD), Partner Support Service (PSS), and to qualify for PASS (heritage Nortel) Co-Delivery Services.

Norstar’s 20 year run ended on October 4, 2010 with Avaya’s End of Sale announcement. In efforts to consolidate products, Avaya is offering Norstar users two migration paths. As a Norstar (3×8, CICS, MICS, Call Pilot 100/150) user, you may be thinking to yourself “I don’t want to change. I’m happy with what I have.” Regardless of which camp you fall in to, we encourage you to explore all your options before making your next move. Currently, you have three. You may migrate to BCM, migrate to IP-Office 7.0 or maintain your current system until Extended Support Services ends. Here are brief explanations for each of your options:

Avaya recently unveiled an Enterprise Collaboration device that I believe will revolutionize the way we communicate in the workplace. It’s called the Avaya Flare Experience.

On September 15, 2010 Avaya announced the general availability of Business Communications Manager (BCM) Release 6.0 software. BCM 6.0 will be available on the BCM50 and BCM450 platforms and introduce enhanced unified communications capabilities and provide new teleworking solutions.

Indianapolis, IN – The U.S. Coast Guard awarded Communications Products, Inc. and teaming Partner Presidio, Inc.  a five year, $50 million contract to provide Avaya IP telephony products and services in support of the Coast Guard modernization efforts to improve their IT and telephony infrastructures throughout the United States and abroad.

Avaya just announced (9/9/2010) General Availability of Service Update 8 for CallPilot 5.0 servers.

Avaya just introduced CallPilotTM compatibility with VMWare© on September 7, 2010 for use on customer-provided web-servers for all supplemental application components such as CallPilot Manager, CallPilot Reporter, My CallPilot, and Password Change/Reset service.

If you have a Norstar phone system there is a lot of misinformation floating around… We want to make sure that you understand all of your options so you can make the best decision for your organization…

Someone asked me the question “Can I pass on getting a PASS Agreement from Avaya?”

Well, the answer is yes.  Avaya is about to announce an alternative to those customers that are not interested in the receiving the benefits of a 1, 2 or 3 year PASS Agreement.

Starting July 1, 2010 Avaya will institute a new services policy which requires all customers to purchase a PASS contract. This contract provides some key elements that ensures that your telephony systems and critical voice applications continue functioning optimally, helping you improve employee productivity and get more from your technology investments.

We’re well under way with one of our largest Avaya-Nortel IP telephony deployments.  200 pallets of equipment later, containing over 7,500 IP telephones; 200 Ethernet switches and enough racks and power backup units to fill over 45 telecom closets.

Amidst the integration of the Nortel product line, Avaya is continuing to roll out updates to Call Center manager. The Nortel product will actually be the first, out of the entire portfolio, to make the leap to Avaya’s Next Generation Context Center.