Avaya Unveils “Collaborative Cloud” Strategy and Solutions

Avaya yesterday unveiled the Collaborative Cloud, a strategic framework for delivering communications and collaboration applications and services to businesses through public, private, and hybrid cloud models. The company also announced the AvayaLive suite of public-cloud delivered solutions, including the new, AvayaLive Connect solution and the enhanced, AvayaLive Engage.

Avaya Collaborative Cloud framework enables customers, channel partners, service providers, and developers to use, build, deliver, and enhance cloud collaboration solutions based on Avaya applications, platforms and infrastructure. The framework allows a wide range of flexible, cloud-based deployment and use options to accommodate diverse market segments and needs. 

As part of the Collaborative Cloud, the new AvayaLive suite of solutions focuses on unique, public cloud-based communications and collaboration services. Today, the suite includes the following:

• AvayaLive Connect – a fully-integrated, unified communications solution for small businesses that includes voice, voice conferencing, messaging, video, mobility, presence, and more. The solution supports PC and Mac, iOS and Android devices; multiple offices and remote and mobile employees. AvayaLive Connect is currently in trials and is planned for general availability in the U.S. market by mid-2012. 
• AvayaLive Engage, formerly known as web.alive, the Web-based, immersive collaboration environment adds new features and capabilities. The solution enables participants to use personalized avatars in a 3D environment to engage in collaboration activities, such as meetings and creative sessions, sales and customer service, HR training, and recruiting. The new features of AvayaLive Engage include aupport for the Apple Mac OSX operating system and Safari browsers, video collaboration and conferencing, enhanced collaboration tools, and video streaming, sharing, and synchronized playback. 

For enterprise-grade private or hybrid clouds, businesses and cloud service providers can use Avaya Virtual Enterprise Network Architecture (VENA) and Avaya Aura as the foundation. Avaya Communications Outsourcing Solutions can also be provided to enterprises as a private, managed cloud service.

 Avaya is working with companies like Orix Rentec, the largest high-tech equipment rental and leasing company in Japan. The two companies recently announced a service provider agreement for Avaya's video collaboration solution featuring the Avaya Flare Experience. Based on this agreement, ORIX Rentec will provide the Avaya Flare Experience Cloud Service, one of the world's first services to provide the Avaya Flare Experience as a cloud-based offer. The service will enable customers to adopt a secure collaboration solution with limited startup cost, without having to own or operate their own infrastructure.

AvayaLive Connect and AvayaLive Engage are the first of a growing list of public cloud services that will be offered on AvayaLive.com.  

"The Collaborative Cloud formalizes Avaya’s cloud strategy.  It expands our current portfolio of cloud-based solutions to encompass new offers from the public cloud," said Brett Shockley, senior vice president and general manager of applications and emerging technologies at Avaya, in a statement. "Over the year, we will continue building new cloud-based solutions in a variety of highly flexible delivery models, enabling our customers and partners to access, utilize, and extend the value of Avaya’s applications, platforms, and infrastructure."

Interest is already building around the AvayaLive Connect solution, with plans being laid out for a strategic relationship with Level 3 Communications in support of the AvayaLive Connect solution in the U.S. 

"The AvayaLive Connect solution is a great way for small businesses to enjoy the benefits of unified communications without the burden of cumbersome implementations and ongoing management overhead. We strongly believe there is an excellent market opportunity for hosted solutions that allow customers to control communication expenditures and focus on their core business," said Sara Baack, senior vice president of voice services at Level 3 Communications. 

"Avaya is focused on delivering best in class collaboration solutions that bring together the right people with the right information at the right time. The combination of our AvayaLive Connect solution with Level 3's advanced SIP infrastructure and extensive network coverage will enable a new class of entrepreneurial business users that expect and demand our solution's capabilities," Shockley added.