As communication in the digital world grows increasingly complex, companies of every shape and size are looking for reliable ways to simplify their connections, without compromising on feature sets. IP Office is the solution to advanced unified communication delivered by Avaya, one of the world leaders in cloud communications, contact centre and IP endpoints.
Today, IP Office already has more than 26 million IP Office lines installed around the world – indicating an incredible opportunity for their dedicated channel. Now, the company is taking their offering to the next level with the new release 11 update, which comes with an array of updates like access to Equinox and support for their latest IP endpoints.
I spoke with Khalid Khan, the Director of Cloud & Midmarket for Avaya’s customers in the Middle East, Africa, Southern Europe, and Asia Pacific. Khalid has been selling IP Office for almost 20 years now, and he was keen to give us his insights into the update.
Tell Us How IP Office Has Evolved in Recent Years?
IP Office provides customers of all shapes and sizes with a simple and engaging solution for Unified Communications. It allows today’s businesses to connect regardless of which devices they’re using, where they are, or what applications they prefer. Khan told me: “The product has been around for 16-17 years now, and we’ve been constantly increasing its capacity and potential. In 2009-2010, we launched the Server Edition to make the service available to more than just small business.”
Over recent years, Avaya has been filling the gaps in their solution coverage with IP Office, introducing different services to support a host of teams. For instance, Virtualized IP office emerged around 6-7 years ago – ideal for those making the move to the cloud, and IP Office Cloud is catching on quickly too.
“We used to have a few features that were available just on Aura, and now those applications are being ported into IP Office. The Avaya Equinox experience, for instance, helps to put UC into the browsers, devices, and applications that people are using every day, making communication more transparent and simple.”
“The fact that Equinox is becoming part of the IP Office experience is perhaps the biggest announcement for version 11.”
How Does Avaya Equinox Overlay into IP Office?
Since the overlay of Equinox is one of the most exciting concepts of the IP Office upgrade, I was keen to find out how the two services will be interlaced – for instance, whether Equinox was something that needed to be hosted, or whether it was simply integrated into the system. Khalid told me:
“It will be hosted on a server. IP Office is a very low-footprint platform, meant for customers all the way from those with 2,000-3,000 endpoints, to companies with maybe 20-50 users. We’ve deliberately worked to keep the footprint low so it’s easier to deploy, which is why we’ve maintained the separate installation of UC servers.”
Ultimately, by bringing Equinox into version 11, Avaya isn’t changing the architecture of their offering – but making the UC experience a lot stronger. “All the previous UC applications will still remain, and customers can continue to use the licenses they already have without having to buy something additional for Equinox or anything else. For instance, customers can gradually move to Equinox while still maintaining their previous applications, which means that there’s no need for reinvestment to make the most of the Avaya latest releases.”
The new release for IP office will give Avaya an edge over their competitors, while simultaneously enriching the experience for all IP Office users. All the applications that were previously separate modules in the Avaya experience are coming together under the same banner. For instance, when you buy Equinox, you get Avaya Zang too. “The update means that our IP Office users can have the rich experience they want from UC, whether they’re on-premise or in the cloud – all under a single application.”
What else is new in IP Office Release 11?
Avaya’s commitment to offering a truly unified experience through IP Office isn’t the only thing that sets it apart from the crowd. The company’s new release will also enable users to record calls as part of their solution, rather than having to integrate separate modules to access this function. Khalid told me that one of the new features will be called Avaya Xima – something that the brand will be rolling out to the channel community soon.
“Xima is meant to support call centre customers and general IP Office customers too. After all, there are plenty of people out there who want to know more about their calling activity – such as who called, what time they called, and how long the call went on for. This is another big announcement that will be coming alongside Equinox for IP office release 11.”
For Avaya, the aim for IP Office 11 is to introduce new features and support, while simplifying the experience for customers and partners.
“We want to make advanced features available to more than just the large enterprise.”
“With this launch, we’ll be able to compete with any offer you can think of in the marketplace right now. When it comes to feature comparisons, IP Office is now number one in the global market.”
IP Office Multi-Tenancy Coming soon!
As you may know, if you’ve been following the Avaya story lately, the company has been facilitating a major push towards the cloud. They recently launched the Avaya IP Office “Powered By” system, which is a cloud system with significant partners throughout the world, and the UK, like Formation, Maintel, Six Degrees, and 4Net.
Khalid told me: “As you know, IP Office has become a great solution in the cloud. With it, every customer gets their own private experience – similar to a private cloud. The issue we had was when smaller customers with five or ten users wanted to sign up, they needed even smaller instances to reduce their hosting costs. Our new multi-tenancy options mean that the costs to end customers can go down, and channel partners can reach a broader stretch of the marketplace.”
Avaya is planning a controlled introduction of their multi-tenancy option, selecting some global partners to take the lead before they open the option to every partner.
“We have more than 600,000 customers on IP Office, and they’re all potential migrants to the cloud. Avaya now has a fantastic cloud story with IP Office.”
New J Series Phones Now Supported by IP Office
The updates to the IP Office experience aren’t all about the cloud either. Khalid also noted that Avaya is introducing a brand-new series of desk phones too in the form of both Vantage phones and “J-Series” endpoints. “We’ve also designed some hospitality phones specifically for hotels, so we have a large number of on-premise options available for a range of channel partners.”
The key to success in this evolving marketplace is offering solutions for on-cloud, on-premise, and hybrid solutions in one cohesive portfolio. Avaya is making sure they can do that with their IP Office upgrade. Customers who don’t want endpoints can use the Equinox WebRTC browser-based solutions with softphones, while customers who prefer the desk phone have plenty to choose from too.
For customers running legacy platforms like the Nortel CS1000 for instance, Avaya also has a migration program in place. The Loyalty2Gether scheme allows customers to move from “blue to red” seamlessly, ensuring that partners can protect their legacy customer base while nourishing new opportunities with a host of enhanced technologies.
Khalid noted:
“We’re also running a campaign for IP Office Cloud where we’re giving high-end phones to all users with a 3- or 5-year contract for free. The phones go to our partners for free, and this is part of our quest to motivate more people to move towards the cloud.”
Essentially, whatever you need for a unified communications experience in the modern world, Avaya IP Office has you covered. Avaya are clearly demonstrating their ongoing commitment to their partners and customers, great to see.
