Michael McNamara

technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony

Avaya/Nortel Integrated Roadmap Keynote

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Well if you’re like a lot of us today you probably didn’t see much. I was unable to connect myself and know of three other people around the country that were also unable to connect.

Here’s the response from Avaya when I questioned them on it;

Were you aware that many Customers could not gain access to your presentation?
Please accept our apologies. Due to unprecedented demand, we experienced technical issues. The replay will be available today at 3:30pm ET, using the same link. You can also view the replay on-demand beginning 9:00am, Thursday, January 21, and will be available on demand for 6 months. It can be accessed using the same URL, user id and password that you received when you registered.

I’m in the process of trying to download the presentation and all the material. I’m hoping that I can sift through all the slides and marketing and get to the real meat, which I can then post here. In short the existing data product roadmap is getting adopted by Avaya – although I believe it’s fair to ask what is/was the data product roadmap? Let’s see it! It was obvious that the voice solutions were going to be the big issue. I heard/read that the CS1000 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon but I only heard about future support for the 1120e and 1140e IP phones, what about the millions of i2002/i2004 IP phones? I also did’t see much about the BCM/SRG other than a comment that it would continue to be manufactured into 2011.

If you’ve seen the keynote and had time to digest the information please go ahead and comment. I will update this post with additional thoughts and comments when I’ve had an opportunity to read through all the material. Hopefully I’ll be able to see the beginning of the keynote presentation today at 3:30PM.

Cheers!

Update: January 19, 2010 3:30PM

Looks like the presentation will now be available at 4:00PM as opposed to the previously announced 3:30PM.

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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