Michael McNamara

technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony

Avaya/Nortel Enterprise Solutions Integrated Roadmap

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There was an email message sent out to Nortel customers today announcing an Avaya/Nortel Enterprise Solutions Integrated Roadmap event on Tuesday January 19th at 1PM (EST).

You can click on the image to the left for all the details as well as the option to register for the event.

I’m not sure how in-depth and technical this event is going to be but this is going to be Avaya’s first major step in retaining the existing Nortel customer base. The event is only scheduled to take one hour so I’m not sure how much can be covered in detail within 60 minutes.

Here’s the agenda of the event;

  • Announcement of Avaya’s Vision for the future of Business Communications, the Avaya Reference Architecture and the new Integrated Portfolio Roadmap. This session will be led by Avaya CEO, Kevin Kennedy, Dr. Alan Baratz, Joel Hackney, Chris Formant, and other Avaya leaders.
  • In-depth breakout sessions focused on key product and service areas
  • Q&A with product experts and sales leadership throughout the event

Here’s an additional blurb from the email message and registration page;

The virtual event will show you how the combination of Avaya and NES products, solutions and expertise will deliver the best of both companies—giving you more ways to improve your company’s productivity, cut costs, and differentiate your business in the competitive marketplace.

Are you going to register and attend the event?

Cheers!

Avaya closes acquisition of Nortel

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It’s now official – the Nortel/Avaya deal has closed. As of today, Avaya has expanded its portfolio, enlarged its customer base and broadened its global reach…

It would seem the deal is officially done. The words above appeared on the Nortel Enterprise Technology blog yesterday afternoon. I also know that the Nortel sales team responsible for Southern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey were essentially fired by Nortel as of Friday’s close of business. Those that have been offered positions will become Avaya employees on Monday.

With the acquisition complete the clock is now running for Avaya to produce a product roadmap to Nortel/Avaya customers. There’s been a lot of speculation as to which products will make the cut and how Avaya might integrate some of the Nortel products into their portfolio. I won’t add to that speculation other than to say there are a lot of eager Nortel customers waiting on Avaya to release their product roadmap.

You can find the official press release from Avaya here.

Cheers!

What will happen to the product lines?

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Avaya HomepageThe obvious question on everyone’s mind is what will happen to the Nortel and Avaya product lines? The safe bet at this time is that the data products will probably be fully adopted and the development and research investments will continue. The grey area is most certainly around the legacy TDM products and the IP telephony products. It should be noted that Avaya shed the majority of their legacy TDM solutions a few years back.

Avaya recently released a document that provides some answers although still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The document did make some interesting statements:

Upon closing, Avaya looks to provide continuity for Nortel Enterprise Solutions and Avaya customers. Currently, Avaya expects to:
• continue to ship existing products for approximately 12-18 months post close;
• provide customer support for all customer contracts acquired in the transaction pursuant to their respective terms;
• utilize the vertical and professional services expertise of both companies to drive realizable value and navigate complex architectural evolution;
• honor product life cycle support as set forth in customer contracts acquired in the transaction; and
• adopt, for data products, the Nortel roadmap and investment plan.

So on the surface this document suggests that Avaya will adopt the current data product roadmaps including the research and development. It also promises that existing products will continue to be available for 12-18 months past the predicted December 2009 close of the sale to Avaya. It also promises a detailed roadmap of all products 30 days after the close of the sale.

Let me close out by pointing up to the current poll at the upper right hand corner of this blog. If one thing is certain it’s very clear that Nortel customers are a very loyal group.  Almost 60% of respondents to that poll are willing to give Avaya a shot. I’m also eager to give Avaya a shot and excited to see how they will capitalize on Nortel’s strengths.

What do you think?

Cheers!

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