Videoconferencing for IP Office 8.1 from Avaya
Videoconferencing for IP Office 8.1 from Avaya by UCStrategies Staff
Avaya’s midmarket portfolio was upgraded yesterday to include a new video collaboration platform, suitable for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs).
Video capabilities will be offered for the first time to the new Avaya Video Collaboration Solution for IP Office, and will benefit users of Avaya’s midmarket-focused unified communications suite, IP Office. It is hoped that the solution will offer SMEs with enterprise-grade video capabilities via an affordable and device-agnostic approach.
The senior director of SME marketing at Avaya, Stephane Lamarre, said: Small businesses would like to have a more comprehensive and more enterprise-like solution for SME. But the solutions that are out there are either too complex or too costly, or they are being forced to use consumer-grade solutions.”
Distributed via the company’s XT Video Collaboration Server, the new Avaya Video Collaboration Solution for IP Office is an on-premises solution. Mac and PC desktop clients, Android and iOS mobile clients, and HD room systems can be supported.
Two versions of the XT Video Collaboration Server exist. The first operates at $5,500 and assists desktop and mobile clients, and the second will sell for over $3,000, which results in a total of $8,500. The latter also comes with support for a full HD videoconferencing room system. Room equipment (a camera, remote control, digital microphone pod and cables) are offered by the higher-end model, and according to Avaya, is very aggressively priced in comparison to other root systems on the market.
The director of product marketing for Avaya’s video solutions, Roger Wallman, said: “A room system is considerably more than $3,000, so it's just an incredible value, and we think it’s a very interesting offering for partners selling to SME.”
To put Avaya Video Collaboration Solution into use, Avaya’s IP Office version 8.1 needs to be run by users. Direct integration is enabled, and this includes a common dial plan, across the two products, according to Avaya.
A virtual conference room for up to eight participants at a time is supported by the Avaya Video Collaboration Solution, as are click-to-join capabilities from mobile devices, desktops and standards-based room systems. Users are also able to make use of an automatic firewall traversal that is able to work with conference participants outside of their networks, and can make use of capabilities that manage and adjust bandwidth.
Midmarket-focused solution providers will be able to round out their portfolios with Avaya’s new Video Collaboration Solution for IP Office, and will also encourage enterprise-focused partners to take the midmarket leap.
The vice president of SME Sales at Avaya, Brian Murray, said: “We're seeing some of what I would call our historical enterprise partners building out practices targeted at that midmarket, and this is going to be a key cog for them in that engine.”
The director of marketing at Lexington, Massachusetts-based Integration Partners, Bill Xydias, noted that the new Video Collaboration Solution for IP Office from Avaya is appropriate for his SME customers, due to its pricing and flexibility.
Xydias said: “This provides an SME customer with the flexibility to collaborate and conduct business via video. It's also priced right for this space and scales to the customer's growth plan and needs. Lastly, it provides a customer with one solution versus having to patch together a variety of third-party software that doesn’t integrate easily with their communications network.”
Avaya partners must already be certified to sell its Scopia videoconferencing infrastructure and IP Office in order to sell the company’s new Video Collaboration Solution. Murray stated that around 200 Avaya partners already have the appropriate certificates and there are roughly 3,720 SME authorized partners around the globe. (CY) Link