Avaya Expands Unified Communications Solutions for IBM Lotus Users

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Avaya (NYSE: AV) added to its suite of Unified Communications solutions at Lotusphere, IBM's annual user conference for Lotus software. The new applications expand Avaya's portfolio of solutions for the Lotus platform and extend the company's strategy to change how businesses deliver strategic communications and collaboration tools to workers wherever they are, on any network, platform or device. Avaya is a global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.

Avaya Unified Communications solutions for Lotus Sametime, Lotus Notes, and Lotus Domino currently include multiple applications, such as unified messaging, speech access to Lotus Notes email messages, calendars, directories and communications functions, and multi-party, click-to conference for Lotus Sametime.

Avaya is introducing three Unified Communications solutions, which will be on display at Lotusphere along with other advanced, integrated Avaya IP communications solutions for Lotus Notes and Domino and Lotus Sametime:

• Avaya Meeting Exchange for IBM Lotus Sametime extends the value of the latest version of IBM's platform for instant messaging and Web conferencing.  By integrating Avaya's audio conferencing capabilities, the solution provides users with added collaboration capabilities, including multi-party click-to-conference from Lotus Notes and Lotus Sametime contact lists.  In addition, Avaya Meeting Exchange integrates with the Web conferencing in Lotus Sametime to offer meeting participants a unified interface for both audio and Web conferencing.  Workers can see Web and audio presence, including who is speaking, and they can manage audio and Web conferencing. The solution is available globally.
• Avaya IP Softphone support for IBM Lotus Sametime provides workers with access to enterprise communications capabilities from the familiar Lotus Sametime interface on their PC or laptop.  The solution enables users to click-to-call from their Lotus Sametime client and contact list and includes features such as transfer, hold, and directory access, which can be accessed onscreen.  Conferencing for up to six parties can be launched with the click of a mouse.  The solution will be available globally in February 2007.
• Avaya Modular Messaging 3.1 is the newest release of Avaya's standards-based messaging system.  The solution can be deployed in either a traditional configuration, with voicemails kept on a separate Avaya messaging application server, or in a unified configuration where Lotus Domino customers can store both email and voicemail messages on their Lotus Domino email server.  When used with Avaya one-X Speech, users have hands-free, eyes-free, speaker-independent speech access to email, voice mail, and calendar from any phone.  In addition, speech access enables workers to place one-on-one or multi-party conference calls by telling the system to dial people from the user's Lotus Notes contacts list or co-workers from the corporate LDAP directory.  The solution will be available globally in February 2007.

The Via Group, a Houston-based systems integration consulting company, uses Avaya Modular Messaging integrated with their Lotus Domino message store. This enables workers to see all messages -- email, voice mail, and fax -- from the Lotus Notes client on their desktop or laptop for management and response. In conjunction with the solution, The Via Group uses Avaya one-X Speech Access for management of Lotus and Avaya productivity and communications tools, including calendars, email, voice mail, fax, calling, and directories from any phone, any time.