Avaya introduces Avaya IP Office release 10

Avaya has upgraded its unified communications (UC) solution for small and midsize businesses. Avaya IP Office release 10 adds benefits in terms of security, resiliency and end-user experience, both for businesses as well as for the channel partners who serve them.

With more than half a million systems shipped globally, Avaya IP Office is one of the most widely sold unified communications solutions for small and midsize businesses available in the market today. The Avaya IP Office Platform now offers built-in signalling as well as media encryption for endpoints and UC clients to preserve privacy and data integrity. This feature is provided at no extra cost or added complexity. Most other over-the-top, pure-cloud UC vendor offerings available today may provide encryption as an optional line item, if at all, Avaya said.

“The challenge of keeping up with growing, ever-changing cybersecurity threats is daunting - especially for small and midsize businesses with budget and resource constraints. It’s these very constraints that increase the inclination to choose cloud-based services; however, it’s also not a given fact that security is or will be provided by their cloud vendor. That’s why we believe security should be built into the solution as opposed to bolted on. It’s essential, and a core component of our Avaya IP Office Platform,” said Tak Kuen Hubert Lee, Midmarket Sales Lead, APAC, Avaya.

“In the small and midsize business sector in Asia Pacific, it’s all about speed and streamlined deployment regardless of whether cloud, on-premise, or a hybrid solution. Avaya’s IP Office promise of ease, speed and built-in encryption hits the right sweet spot in this region. In addition, the Avaya partner community in Asia Pacific - and specifically at the country level - is an important differentiator for providing the local customization needed and in addressing vertical industry nuances,” added Adrian Ho, Principal Analyst, Enterprise, Ovum, Asia Pacific.

With data becoming an important asset to businesses today and the nature of cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated, Asia Pacific businesses are setting their sights on security. Overall spending on critical infrastructure security in the region is expected to hit US$22 billion by 2020. On the back of this trend, Avaya’s increased focus in security is significant, especially to the midmarket: According to a 2015 global survey report by PwC, the number of attacks reported by midsize companies increased 64% between 2013 and 2014, from 2,581 to 4,227. This increase is partly due to cybercriminals turning to midsize businesses in hopes of easy access.

Beyond other pure cloud deployments, the latest version of IP Office takes a unique approach to resilience, providing system failover cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-premises, premises-to-cloud and premises-to-premises. Whatever the approach, the system stays active and users maintain connectivity throughout the outage.

To meet the rising expectations of end-users for a richer, more streamlined experience, the Avaya IP Office Platform also introduces the H175 video phone, with a 7” hi-definition touchscreen display that is suitable for personal use, an executive desk or a small conference room.

In addition, IP Office R10 opens a number of APIs to make it easier for developers to create WebRTC based clients to simplify configuration and deployment for partners. Finally, virtual meeting functions have been streamlined and strengthened with WebRTC audio and richer collaboration capabilities.

For midsize companies with contact centres, Avaya announced in June a new workforce optimisation solution that provides midsize companies with the operational intelligence needed to enhance contact centre performance and drive a high-quality customer experience. Avaya Workforce Optimization Select enables a wide range of insights into the customer experience.

Interested?

The Avaya IP Office Platform is available through authorised channel partners in three deployment options: premises-based, hybrid or pure cloud solution.