Avaya Unveils Updated UC Software, Avaya Aura API, and Messaging Service

Avaya has announced the release of several new additions to its software and services portfolio, including an updated version of its IP Office platform, an API for Avaya Aura, and a messaging service.

IP Office 9.0

The most recent version 9.0 of IP Office can handle up to 2,000 users, compared to the 1,000-user capacity of IP Office 8.1. The expanded user threshold of IP Office 9.0 marks Avaya’s shift of focus from SMB-centered IP telephony platform to the midsized business market.

The upgraded version also contains virtualized software running on VMware vSphere 4.x or 5.x, which enables IP Office to be used in a virtual machine, a dedicated server, an appliance, or through a combination of the aforementioned methods. Avaya says that IP Office 9.0 is able to provide support for multiple branch-office deployments.

Avaya Aura Collaboration Environment

Developers, who are mostly also channel partners, are provided with a new API to write their applications. Avaya Aura Collaboration Environment is a development platform modeled after a so-called “snap-in” approach that enables rapid development and repeatability. Snap-ins are widgets of code that can be used throughout the collaboration environment.

Avaya Aura Collaboration Environment is virtualized and uses traditional methods for email, SMS, video, and voice.

With this API, developers can write their applications even without understanding contact centers or unified communications. “They don’t have to know how a call path works to be able to access the environment and write their apps,” said Mark Monday, vice president and general manager of the collaboration platforms business unit at Avaya.

Avaya Messaging Service

The new cloud-based Avaya Messaging Service (AMS) extends SMS back and forth through desktop and mobile devices. This enables users to have single-number communications through text messaging. The text messages remain secure as they go through a corporate network.

AMS allows text messaging for contact centers and small businesses. The service, however, is still number-specific and does not provide support for contact center call routing.

For $10 per month per user, the service makes any number able to send and receive text messages to a range of a specific user’s devices like PCs and Macs, as well as Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. For audit purposes, the new messaging service from Avaya makes it possible for the text messages and exchanges to be recorded outside of the user’s devices.

At a yearly price of $120 for a minimum of 25 devices, AMS can be purchased by channel partners through distribution. (KOM) Link. Link.

Also on UCStrategies.com on this topic:

• New Collaborative Solutions from Avaya, by Dave Michels