In July and August 2000 interviews reported that Avaya Communications would be created on October 1, 2000 when the unified communications and call center businesses left Lucent Technologies Inc. or Lucent enterprises. The spun off of Avaya with 34,000 employees also received $400 million in capital from Warburg Pincus.[2]
Henry Schacht became the board chairman and the first CEO was Don Peterson who was promoted from the CFO position of Lucent.[3] Avaya had a stock symbol of "AV" and debuted at $20 a share.[4]
Since 2001, the company has sold, and acquired several companies to support its current product set – Vista, VPNet. Quintus, Routescience, Nimcat Networks, Spectel, Ubiquity Software, and Traverse Networks. Sales through channels have grown from 98% direct to 50% alternative channels. In 2003 Avaya sold its cabling unit to CommScope for $263 million to focus on its phone gear and services businesses.[5]
In 2004 Avaya expanded in Europe through a $370 million acquisition of Tenovis and in Asia through a majority interest in Tata Telecom (now Avaya Global Connect).[6] In 2006 Louis D'Ambrosio took over as the CEO and president of Avaya.[7] and on Jan 12, 2007 they announced the acquisition of Ubiquity Software Corporation for $144 million. Ubiquity develops SIP end-user applications.
Going private
October 26, 2007 Avaya was acquired by two private equity firms, TPG Capital and Silver Lake Partners, for $8.2 billion.[8] As a result of this transaction Avaya became a privately held company, no longer traded on any stock market. On November 9, 2007, the firms completed their buy-out and Avaya shareholders received $17.50 per share of owned common stock. In 2008 it had approximately 17,500 employees, 40% of whom are located outside the US. Avaya's global headquarters are located in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, with Kevin J. Kennedy appointed as its Chief Executive Officer.
Nortel acquisition
On Sep 14, 2009, Avaya was announced as the winner for the Nortel Enterprise division sale. Avaya successfully bid $900M for Nortel Enterprise.[9] On Dec 21, 2009, Avaya and Nortel officially closed the sale, to create Avaya with a total of about 21,000 employees.[10] Then on March 8, 2010 Avaya renewed the LG-Nortel relationship to continue Avaya Data Solutions sales into Korea.[11]
Western Electric roots
Since Avaya is a company spun off from Lucent Technologies, itself a spinoff of AT&T, Avaya continues to sell and support well-known telephone models for businesses that were made popular in the heyday of the Bell System, including the 2554 wall phone, and the 2500 series desk phone, both popular Western Electric models.[12] Avaya telephone production at the Shreveport Works, a former Western Electric pay phone plant, ceased in 2001. All of Avaya's telephones are made outside the U.S. by contract manufacturers such as Celestica. Much of Avaya's product and customer set today can be traced back to its AT&T legacy where it formed part of AT&T Network Systems.[13]
2011 – present
At the start of 2011 Avaya acquired Konftel, a company founded in 1988 and headquartered in Sweden, to expand its audio capabilities with the OmniSound system.[14] Then in June 2011, Avaya filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering.[15] On October 4, 2010, Avaya reported that it was acquiring Sipera Systems for its session border controller (SBC) functionality and UC security applications.[16] On October 19, 2011 it was reported that Avaya is buying Aurix.[17]
Avaya has been named the official telecommunication equipment supplier for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.[18]
Corporate information
Avaya's headquarters are located at 211 Mt. Airy Road, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States, 07920, just off interstate 287. The company has offices located in over 145 countries world wide.[19]
Market position
Avaya is recognized by industry and technology experts as a world leader in the following areas:
Unified Communications and Enterprise Telephony[20]
Avaya sponsors a wide variety of IT Professional certifications and training for Avaya products and technologies. The five-level credential program offers opportunities to enhance individual proficiency from a beginner to expert level competence. The certifications from the highest level are; Avaya Certified Solutions Architect (ACSA), Avaya Certified Support Specialist (ACSS), Avaya Certified Implementation Specialist, Avaya Professional Design Specialist.[28]
Products
The company products are made up of two major lines, the networking systems and the unified communication systems.
Networking
Modular systems
Virtual Services Platform (VSP) 9000 – High end modular hardware router and switch system scaling to over 100 terabits per second in a quad switch cluster.
Ethernet Routing Switch 8800 (ERS-8810, ERS-8806, ERS-8803) – High performance modular chassis supporting up to 96 10 gigabit Ethernet ports.
Ethernet Routing Switch 4000ERS-4526FX (ERS-4850GTS, ERS-4850GTS-PWR+, ERS-4826GTS, ERS-4526GTS-PWR+)(ERS-4526FX, ERS-4526T, ERS-4526T-PWR, ERS-4526T-PWR+ ERS-4550T, ERS-4550T-PWR, ERS-4550T-PWR+ ERS-4524GT, ERS-4524GT-PWR, ERS-4548GT, ERS-4548GT-PWR, ERS-4526GTX, ERS-4526GTX-PWR) The ERS-4500 switches can be stacked up to eight unites high to create a 320 Gbit/s backplane through a fast stacking configuration.[29] The switch series consists of eleven (11) stack-able models that can be mixed and matched together with other models to meet configuration and scaling requirements.[30] The systems are also capable of supporting the 100/1000BASE-X small form-factor pluggable transceiver, and several also support the T1 Ethernet over TDM Pluggable Transceiver. This system has gone through several detailed interoperability tests and is certified as a Department of Defense approved and certified product for use in military networks.[31]
The secure routers are a product line of devices manufactured by Avaya that combines the functions of WAN routing, stateful firewall security, Ethernet switching, IP telephony, and Microsoft mediation into one device.
Digital Communications Protocol (DCP) – A proprietary protocol for Definity and CM systems
Auto Detection Auto Configuration – A networking protocol which automatically configure Avaya switches to support and prioritize traffic for IP phones. When ADAC is enabled and a IP phone is connected to the switch, the switch automatically configures the VLAN, port, and QoS settings. This protocol can be configured globally or on a port, and can be used with IEEE 802.1AB/LLDP or by itself for auto discovering the phones, setting VLAN PVID, Layer 2 and Layer 3 QoS values. An unlimited number of phones on a port can be supported, simplifing IP Phone configuration, and saving time, which improves Total Cost of Ownership of the VoIP solution.[37]
Auto Unit Replacement – Allows the maintainer to hot swap (replace) any switch (including the master) in the stack without powering down the stack or rebooting the stack. The new unconfigured switch will be integrated into the stack and be reconfigured to match the removed switch.
Avaya Energy Saver (AES) – Automatically reduces the power consumption of ethernet equipment without impacting the flow of traffic.
Flexible Advanced Stacking Technology (FAST) Stacking – A switch-stacking technology that allows up to eight Avaya ERS series switches to operate as a single switch. All switches in the stack share configuration files, if one switch fails the remaining switches continue to function and wrap the traffic around the failed unit. It allows up to eight switches to operate and be managed as a single device. The stacking performance can scale up to 1.1 Tbit/s.
System 85, System 75, Avaya Definity line including the hardware and software.
System 25 (based on the code of the Merlin system)
CallMaster, a voice terminal designed specifically for the growing demand of call center telephony in the late 1980s into the 1990s. The CallMaster was based on a similar design of an executive office telephone a few decades before called the Call Director.
Dimension & Horizon discontinued prior to 2000 under Lucent, with the pending Y2K bug
ComKey (a KSU-less telephone system, later to become replacements to the Merlin and Partner systems)
PARTNER Advanced Communications System (ACS) (as of November 8, 2010)
Patents
Avaya acquired many patents from Nortel when they successfully bid $900 million for Nortel Enterprise.[38] This is a list of Patents referenced, cited or explained in Wikipedia articles.[39]
^
David Rohd (July 3, 2000). "Lucent spinoff Avaya plays to its strength". IDG Network World Inc.: 68. ISSN0887-7661. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^
Brian P. Kenstout (August 2001). "Lucent's Kids Grow up Fast". Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.: 116. ISSN1528-9729. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"Technology Briefs". The New York Times. October 28, 2003. Retrieved November 22, 2011. {{cite news}}: Text "Telecommunications: CommScope To Buy Avaya Unit For 63 Million" ignored (help)
^
Drew Kraus; et al. (June 2011). "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide". Gartner Inc. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
^
"InfoTrack for Converged Applications, Full Year 2010". T3i Group. April 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^
"The World UC Applications Market, 2010 Edition". MZA, Ltd. June 2010. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^
"Services Market Dashboard, 4Q YE 2010 Global Lifecycle Services Market". IntelliCom Analytics. April 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^
Steve Blood; et al. (August 2010). "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony". Gartner Inc. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
^
Drew Kraus; et al. (June 2011). "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide". Gartner Inc. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
^"Hot Sheet"(PDF). Nortel. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
^"ASVALAN Certification"(PDF). Defense Information Systems Agency. Dec 18, 2009. Archived from the original(PDF) on July 16 2011. Retrieved Aug 2, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
