Avaya Announces Integrated Roadmap

This is a guest post written by Rob Spicer Strategic Advisor with Enable Strategic Design, a Calgary-based independent Unified Communications Advisory Services firm. Contact details below.

On January 19th, Avaya announced their new integrated product roadmap including assets acquired from Nortel Enterprise Solutions (NES). Avaya categorizes their solution offerings across five groups; Unified Communications, Contact Center, Small – Medium Enterprise, Data and Services. Avaya will be hosting in-depth sessions with the Consultant community over the next couple of weeks to share more information across each of their solution segments.

The Avaya strategy is clear and concise. Avaya delivers standards-based communications solutions that leverage Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) services across the entire portfolio, while protecting customer’s existing investments and providing a migration path to these standards-based systems.

Some of the key highlights of the Integrated Roadmap include:

Unified Communications – inclusion of the Nortel CS1000, CS2100 and AS5200 Call Servers and the Nortel Agile Communications Environment (ACE) into the Avaya Aura architecture, extending UC capabilities across all enterprise customers.

Contact Center – Contact Center portfolio offerings from both Avaya and Nortel will merge and integrate to offer world class Contact Center and Self-Service environments, including the use of Avaya Contact Center and Nortel Integrated Communications Platform (ICP) offerings.

Small-Medium Enterprise – continued sale of existing voice solutions through 2010 with longer term support while Nortel Norstar and BCM phones and features are migrated to Avaya IP Office in early 2011. Nortel Software Communications System (SCS) continues its development and position as the SIP standards-based SME Unified Communications solution.

Data – the Nortel Data product plan of record is accepted and adopted by Avaya delivering robust Ethernet switching, secure routing and wireless LAN offerings to existing and new customers with a focus on building end-to-end Unified Communications networks.

Services – the service delivery teams from Avaya and Nortel merge and integrate to provide a broad portfolio of Design, Deploy, Manage and Maintain services to customers through and with the Avaya partner and reseller community globally.

With regards to product, when an Avaya product reaches End-of-Sale, support will continue for 6 years in accordance with Avaya standard support policies.

The Avaya Consultant community will gather again on January 21st for a more detailed view of the Unified Communications Integrated Roadmap strategy. We will be able to share more information with you at that time. So for now, know that Avaya is on the right track to protect your exiting investments while offering a strong roadmap towards future solutions.

Tomorrow we will cover the SME (Small Medium Business) portfolio in a more detailed manner.

This post was written by Rob Spicer, Strategic Advisor with Enable Strategic Design, a Calgary-based independent Unified Communications Advisory Services firm. Rob may be reached at: rs@enablestrategic.com.

Liam, Avaya is hosting additional Consultant Briefings with UC covered on Jan. 21st and Contact Centre on Jan. 28th. UC is my specialty, but I do have some information on CC as well.

If you are a Nortel CS1k customer, then you are in good shape. CS1k is being retained in the UC portfolio along with Agile Communications Environment (ACE). You can create a SIP overlay in your network by using Avaya Session Manager. This will give you the choice to continue with CS1k phones or move towards SIP phones attached to Session Manager. The great part is that the CS1k (and the Avaya Communications Manager) will essentially act like Feature Servers to Session Manager with feature delivery to the SIP devices. Jeff and I are planning on a more detailed UC post over the next few days.

For Contact Centre, the Nortel CC7 is retained and will continue with development going forward with a primary focus on the mid-market segment. Avaya generally defines mid-market as being 21 to 400 Contact Centre users. The Avaya Elite Contact Centre product will be focused on the Enterprise scale Contact Centres. Avaya likes the SIP capabilities of CC7 as it is consistent with their Next Generation Contact Centre (NGCC) strategy.

Overall, at high level it looks like you are in good shape. If you wish, feel free to contact me by email if you wish to discuss more at rs@enablestrategic.com

Questions from the Avaya Nortel Integrated Roadmap presentation

The following is a list of the questions that were asked during the Avaya Nortel roadmap Presentation presented on January 19th, 2010:

If you are looking for more detailed information you can check out the following link: or, you can also call Digitcom.ca for a more detailed consultative discussion.

Question: 93 I haven’t heard any mention of the tdm based SL-100. What is the plan for this PBX ?

There will be more details around the SL-100 in the UC breakout session. It will continue to move forward as the CS2100 and eventually interact with the Avaya Aura architecture. Government customers should look toward the Avaya Aura AS5300 as a SIP enablement solution.

Question 92 Does Avaya have a support preference i.e. direct or through partners??

Customers make the ultimate choice on procurement. We are continuing to move towards a model where the majority of purchases are made through a channel partner. There is an expectation that a minimum level of support (maintenance)will be included from the manufacturer

Question 91 It took 15 minutes to get connected to the meeting so I apologize if this question is redundant. I have not seen any reference to the Option 11C, 61C,and 81C platforms. Is Avaya going to force customers with these platforms to the CS1000.?

Meridian1 Opt11C has not been available for new system sales since the release of CS 1000 R6.0 in June 2009. CS 1000 TDM is the equivilant marketing package as of CS 1000 R6.0. Meridian1 Opt 61C and 81C continue to be supported and sold as per the CS 1000 R6.0. Please refer to the CS 1000 Life Cycle bulletin PB 2006-0094

Question 90 What will be the model for software updates for data products? e.g. ERS 8600. Currently it is not open to customers, only partners.?Avaya policy on software updates will be unchanged from Nortel’s policy for the ERS 8600. Software updates are available to customers that have support contracts with Avaya directly. Software updates are also available to partners that have support contracts with Avaya.

Question 89 Will the SCS capacity be reduced or will it still able to scale to 2K + user??SCS is suited for small and mid-sized IT-centric customers. Investment and go-to-market will emphasize those customers with per site needs of hundreds of users. There is no planned change to the scalability of the SCS product.

Question 88 What will happen to open Nortel trouble tickets and access to Nortel documentation??To ensure a smooth transition, we are keeping the existing Nortel support processes in place. This includes contact numbers, the opening and handling of trouble tickets and access to Nortel documentation.

Question 87 What are the Survivable remote gateway solutions in Avaya’s kitty ?. Sure that both Nortel and Avaya have similar Survivable offerings…which one takes precedence ?. ?The Survivable Gateways in the case of Avaya are the G430 and G450 Gateways which will continue. Nortel brings the Secure Router with SIP survivablity. Secure Router is currently being tested with Avaya Aura Session Manager for branch SIP survivability. The Survivable Remote Gateway (SRG) is based on BCM and will continue to be sold for the next 18 months.

Question 86 How can there be 32 support centers in 55 countries??We have a number of large NOCs that support multiple countries.

Question: 85 Will there be a more specific roadmap for completion of the integration of ACE into Aura during the UC webinar??The breakout webinar session for ACE, will have this information.

Question: 84 Will the Nortel UM2000 Unified Messaging platform be continued or replaced by a different product??UM 2000 continues for as a specialized product for large scale use.

Question: 83 Will CALLPILOT 150 continue to be supported??The CallPilot mini will migrate from the NES legacy support (e.g. SP2509 in North America) to a common, global Avaya SME Support for Partners offer in July 2010.

Question: 82 Is Aura a one for one solution or one Aura over all PBX’s?Avaya Aura™ is the core communications platform supporting unified communications and contact center solutions for midsize to large enterprises. It extends PBX capability enables SIP-based session management with innovative and powerful capabilities. Enabling centralization, Avaya Aura at the core integrated over SIP with all PBXs, Legacy systems, isolated standalones and other systems. Thus not a one -for – one, rather a centralized Avaya Aura for multiple PBX architecture.

Question: 81 Please indicate the timeframe migration of MPS to Avaya Customer Experience Portal if possible. Thank you?MPS will continue to be supported for customers who require the scale and the TDM capabilities. The next release of MPS is

scheduled for later this year and will include many upgrades. MPS will eventually evolve to the CXP

Question: 80 Will Converged Office continue to be supported as customers move to Avaya Aura or will this be phased out over time in favor of Avaya products??Converged Office continues to be supported as customers evolve to Avaya Aura.

Question: 78 We are in the process of upgrading to latest CS1000 and CC7.0. Do I need to upgrade to Aura instead??You do not need to upgrade to Aura . We encourage customers to upgarde to CC7.1 now. NGCC will support CS1K, CM, and Avaya AuraTM platforms. CS1K customers have investment protection and an upgrade path to Avaya AuraTM. NGCC and Avaya AuraTM are the strategic direction providing the most optimal context center operation and customer experiences. In addition, NGCC is based on open SIP standards to support multi-vendor environments. NGCC will continue to have an AML connector as well as a SIP connector. Application Messaging Link is the proprietary interface used between the NES CS1000 and its applications such as CallPilot and Contact Center Manager Server (“CCMS”, CC6, CC7, Symposium). NGCC R1 will support both this heritage NES proprietary ink to the NES CS1000 as well as the SIP connector which is the preferred, open path forward.

Question: 79 Will the BCM 50 be discontinued??For BCM, including BCM50 and BCM450, the goal is to retain what channel partners and customers like best while integrating the unique elements of the Avaya IP Office communications solution. As such, BCM / Norstar Digital T-Series Phones, select Mobility and IP Phones, management/configuration elements, and selected BCM features will be converged within the IP Office platform. We are working closely with partners throughout the evolution process, and more details will be communicated within the next 60-90 days. Note that BCM will continue to be sold well into 2011, as both a standalone solution, or a BCM or SRG branch solution. Over time, we’ll continue to introduce new gateways and solutions with new capabilities and future paths for customers, aligned with our Avaya Aura SIP directions. The convergence towards an IP Office helps to streamline and simplify the portfolio while increasing our focus on innovation and balancing the investment protection.

Question: 77 What do you consider mid-range vis-a-vis “enterprise”? In other words, how many agents max. in mid-range??Traditionally Avaya has defined the mid-market as 21-400 agents.

Question: 76 is it going to be posible to use teh Nortel SR2330 Like branch solution and sip survivability with aura ?Secure Routers 2330 and 4134 support SIP Gateway and Survivability for branch offices. They are certified with Software Communications

System (SCS), Call Servers 1000 and 2100, as well as 3rd party devices. Certifiation with Aura is being prioritized and will be available soon.

Question: 75 will all avaya partners be allowed to sell the nortel product line?Yes once they complete the Sales and Technical training/competency requirements for that product.

Question: 74 What time is the replay on 1/21? Do we re-register? What is the link to attend on 1/21? ?The replay will be available at 9:00 am ET Thursday morning (1/21). If you’ve registered for today’s event, you will not be required to register again. Access information will be available on avaya.com.

Question: 73 Whare can I get the charts being shown??The presentations and links to the replay of the Keynote will be posted to Avaya.com by Thursday.

Question: 72 What is the advantage of connecting Avaya AURA to my older Nortel system versus connecting a different VOIP PBX to my Nortel system??Connecting your Nortel PBX to Aura provide customers with optimal benefits. Instead of two peer communications systems interoperating with little integration, simplification, separate dial plans, management and support, customers will benefit more quickly from new SIP-based features and applications delivered through Avaya Aura with greater simplicity, flexibly while extending the value of their existing Nortel PBX going forward with a much smoother evolutionary path to Unified Communications. Ensure the support you need from a industry leader you have trusted for reliable, secure communications.

Question: 71 Will Nortel TDM phones be supported in Avaya solutions in the near future??Nortel TDM phones continue to connect on their current platforms and will integrate with the rest of the network through Avaya Aura. Refer to the UC breakout session.

Question: 70 What about Nortel Secure Routers 2600 series and SR4134, will AVAYA continue these products globally in all regions.?Yes, Avaya will continue the Secure Router products globally in all regions.

Question: 69 How will you support the Nortel SL-100 platform.?The SL-100 platform will be supported by the same support personnel as before the acquisition.

Question: 68 Where do I go to find out more about the strategy for Nortel wireless

products and ERS??The strategy for the Avaya Wireless and ERS products will be posted on the web, but also feel free to contact your account manager for a more detailed review.

Question: 67 what is the scale of CC7? ?NES CC7 today supports up to 3,350 concurrently active agents and networks of up to 30 nodes for a total virtual contact center of 100,500 agents. THe SIP version of NES CC7 supports up to 1,500 concurrently active agents and can also be networked up to 30 sites in a hybrid network.

Question: 66 What is NGCC, not able to hear the speaker?Avaya’s acquisition of Nortel has allowed Avaya to accelerate our Next Generation Contact Center solution (aka NGCC), bringing in combined technologies from Nortel’s Contact Center 7/8 product and Avaya’s technology to deliver core components of NGCC: universal work assignment, customer service portal, reporting, and agent desktop. NGCC is a placeholder for a branded name to be announced soon. The first release of NGCC has been accelerated to July 2010.

Question: 65 Is there a timetable for Nortel software releases, EOL, MD, Supported?The Communication Server 1000 product life cycle bulletin PB 2009-0094 details the timetable. Note that the next release of CS 1000 R7.0 is plan of record for early 2nd half 2010. The bulletin will be updated accordingly. Look forward to knowledge transfers and presentations on this new release in Q2 2010.

Question: 64 Will these integrated applications such as ACM be Avaya or Nortel branded? Will it all be Avaya??All products will be Avaya branded “Avaya CS1000″ etc. This will take a year to work through documentation, hardware and collateral but is effective now.

Question: 63 Is the Nortel BCM50 and BCM450 going to be MD??BCM is a “communciations systems” with 400 voice applications and many other features. Going forward, the BCM50 and BCM450 chassis will be sold well into 2011, with 6 years of support into 2017. The next release of BCM, BCM Rls 6.0 is currently at the plan of intent stage and the teamworking hard on the program. We are assessing the business case and customer impact of proposed release content (and potential changes with the convergence roadmap). BCM R6 is currently planned for release in calendar Q2, 2010; more details will be available in the next 60-90 days.

Question: 62 Where is the briefing??The conference has started. If you missed parts of the keynote, the replay will be available beginning Thursday, 1/21, details on avaya.com.

Question: 61 What is the future of the CS2100??The CS2100 will continue as an important part of the Avaya portfolio. More information will be available in the UC breakout session.

Question: 60 I can´t see the roadmap presentation ?Please try hitting F5 to refresh the event console

Question: 59 Will Nortel PVQM continue to be supported on CS1000 and CS2100 systems??Yes, PVQM will continue to be supported

Question: 58 what happens to Nortel’s CC Express ?We encourage NES-heritage customers to upgrade to the latest CC/CCE 7.x release and to consider the benefits of transitioning to NGCC. Existing Nortel customers can upgrade to CC7.1 Express or NGCC R1 express. NGCC R1 Express will be integrated with Avaya Aura.

Question: 57 What is the future of the Nortel CS-2100 or SL-100??The Nortel CS2100 and SL-100 will continue as solutions within the the Avaya portfolio. More specifics will be available during the UC Session.

Question: 56 how will the CS2100 product line be impacted by the Avaya/Nortel migration.?The CS 2100 is a strategic product for Avaya moving forward. To get details on how it fits into the overall integrated roadmap please visit the UC breakout session available after the keynote session.

Question: 55 What happens with Nortel MPS (IVR)? ?MPS will continue to be supported for customers who require the scale and TDM capabilities. The next relese of MPS is schedule for later this year.

Question: 54 does CC7 have multi-media capabilities or will CCE still be the solution here??Yes, CC7 has full multimedia capabilities today. Avaya Next Generation Context Center will have full multimedia also. Depending on your immediate needs, Avaya CCE may still be an appropriate solution. Please work with your business partner and account team to help map out the best evolution path.

Question: 53 What is met by “High Touch” ??High touch refers to Avaya’s approach to supporting customers through channel partners, with strong support through Avaya sales, service and support.

Question: 52 What does TCO stand for??total cost of ownership

Question: 51 Will Avaya Legacy Partners begin to provide maintenance, engineering support for Nortel Legacy customers??All partners need to be certified on the solution for installation/maintenance before being able to provide support. This applies for legacy Avaya and Nortel partners

Question: 50 Will Avaya continue issues related to the ability to add ISM’s and the need to be a specfic Succession release levels. Currently I cannot purchase additional ISM’s since I’m on release 3.0?Avaya is continuing the Life Cycle for Sales and Support policies for CS 1000 products. Please contact your Sales Partner or Avaya Sales Representative for clarification of the product life cycle specific to product expansion. Product Bulletin 2009-0094

Question: 49 What is the road map of the Nortel Switches like passport 8600? ?Roadmap of all the Ethernet Routing Switches (including 8600) has been confirmed and is available. Please contact your sales representative for a detailed review.

Question: 48 I don’t see anything about CS2100?The CS 2100 is a strategic part of the integrated roadmap moving forward. Please attend the UC breakout session to follow the keynote for additional details.

Question: 47 Speaking of the BCM 450 what is its future ?BCM50 and BCM450 Rls 6.0 is currently at the plan of intent (POI) stage, and the Avaya SME team, along with the same BCM team who brought you BCM50 and BCM450, are assessing the business case and customer impact of proposed release content (and potential changes with the convergence roadmap). BCM R6 is currently planned for release in calendar Q2, 2010; more details will be available in the next 60-90 days. Please forward your application and feature needs through your channel to our BCM PLM team. Thanks. It is a very exciting time and our future product will have the best of BCM and IP Office in future releases!

Question: 46 Is Avaya getting rid of the Nortel name immediately or over time? ?The re-branding will take place over time

Question: 45 What about Microsoft OCS Intergration(click to call,Enterprise Voice)??Converged Office with CS 1000 continues to be supported.

Question: 44 There is no reference so far to the CS2100 switch equipment. How will it be integrated into this roadmap??The CS 2100 is a part of the new Avaya integrated roadmap. Please visit the UC breakout session following the keynote to see details how the CS 2100 fits into the new roadmap.

Question: 43 How long will the Nortel ERS switches be supported and improved ? Are we still able buy these devices in the future ??The Avaya ERS roadmap is exactly the same as the prior Nortel ERS roadmap. Purchase of these devices is available to all certified partners.

Question: 42 Will CC8 be SIP only as CC7 is available in MLS and SIP, will MLS version be discontinued.?CC8 will be the first release of NGCC and will continue to support MLS

Question: 41 Im using BCM400 for our 911 Departement. Do i need to upgrade it? Do you still support IT? ?The latest release for the BCM400 is the upgrade to BCM Rls 5.0 that was introduced in November 2009. BCM Rls 5.0 provides a very attractive upgrade path allowing users to leverage all the new features included with this release.

Question: 40 What release does the CS1000 PBX need to be at to leverage the new Aura platform??CS 1000 R5.5, R6 and future releases are all Avaya Aura “SIP ready”. Future releases will provide deeper integration.

Question: 39 What is the future of the BCM450?BCM50 and BCM450 Rls 6.0 is currently at the plan of intent (POI) stage, and Avaya is assessing the business case and customer impact of proposed release content (and potential changes with the convergence roadmap). BCM Rls 6.0 is currently planned for release in calendar Q2, 2010; more details will be available in the next 60-90 days. I am, and the SME team, is VERY EXCITED by the combining of the best BCM and IP Office in future releases. Stay tuned!

Question: 38 We do not have a traditional PBX – we use Nortel SCS 3.02 IP PBX (SIP based). What is our “roadmap?” ?Avaya will continue to invest in supporting and evolving the Software Communications System (SCS). Please attend the SME breakout webinar for more information.

Question: 37 What is the direction for Call Pilot and Contact Center (Symposium) products?The products continue and evolve. CallPilot will evolve over time into Modular

Messaging. Contact Center/Symposium will upgrade directly into the Avaya Next Generation Context Center.

Question: 36 I don’t see the G4xx branch gateways mentioned, what are the plans for these branch solutions??The G430 and G450 Branch Gateways will continue to be sold and supported into the future.

Question: 35 Will the BCM50 product be discontinued??BCM50 and BCM450 will continue to be sold into 2011 and supported for a further 6 years, until 2017. The SME team at Avaya is currently working hard to evaluate the specific BCM features and applications to be converged within the IP Office platform, with additional details to be provided within the next 60-90 days. I am, and the whole teeam, VERY EXCITED about taking the best from BCM and IP Office in future releases. Partners are encouraged to consult their Channel Account Manager should they have feedback on high priority features and applications.

Question: 34 Unable to get connected to the video/audio, buffers, loading then stops..?Please hit F5 to refresh your event console

Question: 33 whats the plan with Nortels TM – Telephony Manager? will this kepp moving forward??Telephony manager customers will be transitioned to UCM ( unified Communication Management) based products – CS1K element manager and VPFM ( Visualization Performance & Fault Manager)

Question: 32 Where does the CS2100, or SL100 fit into the roadmap? ?The CS 2100 and SL-100 both have a path forward in the new integrated roadmap, please reference the UC breakout session to follow

Question: 31 If I have a network of older Nortel PBX’s – Release 3 and below, I’m getting no support from Avaya on those PBX’s. What value does Avaya AURA give me there??recommendation would continue to be to upgrade to a more recent software level for support purposes anyway, as was case before the avaya deal closed. upgrading to later release will also give option of sip integration into aura environment. no change to previous life cycle management.

Question: 30 What does “going forward” mean in a time line for ACE and Aura??ACE currently works with Avaya Communication Manager using AES. Expect deeper integration in this area 1Q10. As the road-map evolves beyond initial integration with

Session Manager this summer and towards the end of the year, the integration will become much richer.

Question: 29 Please explain IVR roadmap.Thank you?Thank you for the question. Avaya Voice Portal and ICP from Nortel are both open standards compliant such as VXML and CCXML. MPS will continue to be available to and supported for customers who need the scale and TDM capabilities. AVP, ICP and MPS will evolve to Avaya Customer Experience Portal

Question: 28 Has the keynote started? ?We apologize for the delays accessing the webcast. If you missed any portions of the keynote presentation, the replay will be available Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 27 Hello? Is anyone there??We apologize for the delays accessing the webcast. If you missed any portions of the keynote presentation, the replay will be available Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 26 What is the roadmap for the CS2100??The CS 2100 will continue forward toward with development and support. Please visit the UC breakout session for additional details with regards to the roadmap.

Question: 25 We have no audio! We have refreshed by hitting F5. ?We apologize for the audio issues you’re experiencing. If you missed any portions of the keynote presentation, the replay will be available Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 24 Will the roadmap for the Nortel Contivity platform be described??The VPN Router (formerly Contivity) family will continue as a component ANS data portfolio. For questions related to specific platforms, roadmap or other topics, please contact your account manager.

Question: 23 What will be future for Nortel Symposium? ?Absolutely! The future and evolution of Symposium is a direct upgrade path into the Avaya Next Generation Context Center. Please see the Contact Center roadmap session: it describes the path way in order to take advantage of the Avaya Aura architecture, and the full breadth of the Next Generation Context Center.

Question: 22 will this available for download at some point, the video and audio has only worked for about 2 seconds.?We apologize for the delays accessing the webcast. If you

missed any portions of the keynote presentation, the replay will be available Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 21 FYI – the traffic is huge, it took me 20 minutes to get the link to launch – not sure if you need to communicate that. ?We apologize for the delays accessing the webcast. If you missed any portions of the keynote presentation, the replay will be available Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 20 So the CS-1000 platform goes away in favor of the Aura architecture??No. The CS1000 continues but “plugs into” Avaya Aura to get extended value and new applications. See UC Breakout after keynote.

Question: 19 Nothing is showing on my screen. Is there any plug-in needed??Hi – try hitting F5 to refresh your screen and make sure your volume is on. Also – we are replaying the keynote on Thursday and it will be available through this platform for the next few months.

Question: 18 many of us have had trouble getting in how much did we miss?The conference is in progress. We apologize for the delays accessing the webcast. If you missed any portions of the keynote presentation, the replay will be available Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 17 what is tco ??Total Cost of Ownership

Question: 16 what about the Contivity router family??The VPN Router (formerly Contivity) family will continue as a component ANS data portfolio. For questions related to specific platforms or other topics, please contact your account manager.

Question: 15 We just bought a CS1000E as a long-term platform. How long will products be available and supported??The CS1000 is an excellent investment and remains available for sale – and so is fully supported. R6 today integrates with the Avaya Aura architecture and new releases will enhance this. See UC breakout and learn more from your Avaya partner about how Avaya Aura will ADD value to your CS1000 for many years.

Question: 14 slides are not fitting on the screen – is this for everyone? ?Click on Attendees – will make the slides appear larger in the window

Question: 13 How long will the CS1000 Enterprise product line continue to be supported and what is the current scheduled end of life for the CS1000? Same question applies to the BCM product line.?The CS 1000 continues to be supported. The roadmap will provide tight integration with Avaya Aura to extend new UC capability. BCM continues to be supported. The roadmap will provide a path for BCM and IP Office. Please refer to the UC roadmap and SMB roadmap presentations for further detail.

Question: 12 Please comment on the Nortel Microsoft agreement and working relationship and how this will work moving forward. In particular OCS is very important.?Avaya is committed to continuing our integration with Microsoft products, which we have invested in for over a decade, including OCS. This will follow our current Gold developer relationship and future agreements, but not the previous ICA agreement.

Question: 11 can I save this Webinar to my desktop?It’s not possible to save the webinar to your desktop. The webinar replay will be available beginning Thursday morning (1/21).

Question: 10 Is it working??The fonference is in progress. You should be able to view it now. If you missed any portions of the keynote, it will be available in replay form beginning Thursday (1/21) morning.

Question: 9 What is the direction of the Nortel CS1000 Platform ?Please see the UC Breakout after this session. The CS 1000 is available, fully supported, has new releases planned, and integrates into the Avaya Aura architecture – protecting and extending your investments in this platform.

Question: 8 When does it start??The conference is in progress. If you’ve missed any of the keynote presentation, there will be a replay available beginning Thursday morning.

Question: 7 is the conference going on ?Yes, the conference is in progress. If you’ve missed some of the keynote presentation, it will be available in replay form beginning Thursday morning.

Question: 6 Is the BCM 400 being discontinued??MD for the BCM200 and BCM400 was announced September 2009 with the MD date scheduled March 1, 2010, in conjunction with the evolution path and launch of the new BCM Rls 5.0 for BCM50 and BCM450. BCM Rls 5.0 provides an upgrade path for BCM400 customers Last order date is February 01, 2010. Again, the notice has been on PIC since September 2009.

Question: 5 has the event started??Yes – video and audio is working

Question: 4 I don’t see any mention of the PRODUCT ROADMAP in the agenda. Will this be discussed in detail today??After the keynote presentations you will be taken to the virtual event where you can view products roadmaps for the Vision, Strategy, Unified Communications, Contact Center, Data, SME, Healthcare, Federal Government, and Ace breakout webinars.

Question: 3 How will Avaya and Nortel training be offered going forward; Global Knowlegde, etc??There have been no changes to technical training and certification for Avaya or NES. Existing curriculum paths and certifications will be used until further notice. Existing training facilities around the world will remain in place, whether they are company-owned or used through a host of training partners.

Question: 2 How will the Nortel/Avaya users groups work now? Will they continue to be separate??There are three unique Avaya user group associations: International Alliance of Avaya Users (InAAU), International Nortel Networks Users Association (INNUA), and INSIGHT 100. Each association is a fully independent organization led by a board of directors composed of customer volunteers. All three groups remain active and relevant and are currently exploring joint programs and membership offers. The groups are pleased to partner together to provide a single conference for all Avaya users in April 2010. There are links to the user group sites on the virtual briefing center menu.