How open is the "new" Avaya?

RamonFHerrera · January 24, 2008, 2:28am

I just visited a fast growing company hoping to tell them all about IP telephony, and it turns out that they already have some of the most recent Avaya IP systems. Still, there is some potential work to offer them: things like interconnecting their system with other partner companies’, sharing networks and POPs, etc.

The thing about Avaya is that I am familiar with their older systems (Definity) but I wonder just how much interoperability they offer now.

General comments are most welcome, but for a more specific question, how’s this one: can I buy an Avaya IP phone by itself? How well (or bad) will it work with Asterisk?

TIA,

-Ramon

Dovid · January 24, 2008, 9:17am

Good luck. Their IP system is a royal PITA. I have seen Grandstream phones work better (and I HATE Grandstream).

RamonFHerrera · January 24, 2008, 6:53pm

Hi Dovic!

Thanks for your answer:

I am very surprised by your comment. My understanding is that Avaya is the most expensive system, deployed by organizations for which:

money is no object

and/or
have a lot at stake such as patient and doctors

I would expect Avaya IP phones not to have the highest degree of cooperation with Asterisk, but they are a PITA even with an Avaya IP PBX!?

Perhaps you are referring to interoperability? That would make sense.

Can you please elaborate?

-Ramon

Dovid · January 25, 2008, 2:52am

The cost of the system has nothing to do with how good it is. If I am good I can sell you a rotten tomato for $1,000.00 doesen’t mean that it is good.

Avaya’s can talk to Asterisk. IMHO it’s a Royal PITA till you get it working. There was a NAT issue that I had with them that their European headquarters in the UK was not able to figure out. It took me two days to prove them wrong. So it can work but roll up your sleeves (at least this what I experienced , then again I am not an Avaya person).

kenn10 · January 27, 2008, 8:51pm

[quote=“RamonFHerrera”]General comments are most welcome, but for a more specific question, how’s this one: can I buy an Avaya IP phone by itself? How well (or bad) will it work with Asterisk?

-Ramon[/quote]

Avaya phones are not completely open SIP compliant yet. The 46xx series will work with Asterisk provided you don’t try to use the message waiting indicator. The new 96xx phones are much more open and compliant. All Avaya digital phones (24xx, 64xx, 84xx) are Avaya proprietary only.

There are several IP versions of Avaya systems. First, on the small business end, you have the IP Office. There is also the One-X Quick Office series which is based on the Nimcat product formerly sold as the Aastra Venture IP system but reworked to fit into the Avaya product family.

On the enterprise side of the house, the S8xxx media servers offer a wide range of features. Feature rich adjuncts and built in system functions are what sway most people to buy or stay with Avaya. The largest customers are the call center customers who wish to embrace extensive vectoring, expert agent selection, call management system reporting, workforce management, and encrypted IP communications. The concept for business to flatten, consolidate and extend communications is where Avaya systems perform best. Companies such as Delta Airlines, Home Depot, Coca Cola, Disney, NBC, GE, Smith Barney, Citigroup, etc. are all large Avaya customers.

The reason people are willing to pay higher prices for Avaya systems is the global services organization, they install and repair what they sell, provide continual competitive upgrade paths for legacy customers, and the product quality is uncompromised. Open systems cannot compete with that concept for people who are looking for the “five 9’s” of uptime.

One thing that holds Asterisk back is that the simplest feature of shared call appearances (not shared trunks) across phones (such as boss/secretary arrangements) which has been inherent to PBX’s since the Bell System is one thing most users want. Asterisk still isn’t able to provide that. Customers demand it.

Public reports indicate that Avaya wishes to become an applications oriented company and move away from hardware sales and support. Their software can already be run on HP servers which are customer provided.

For intercommunitcation with Avaya S8xxx media servers, you can do H.323 on a base system or SIP trunking if they have a Sip Enablement Server attached. Traditional PRI and QSIG may also be used.

Check support.avaya.com for a wealth of information on the products.

As to buying an Avaya phone to play with, Google is your friend; as is EBay.

Reaper · January 27, 2008, 9:53pm

kenn10

sound like advertisement.

kenn10 · January 27, 2008, 9:59pm

[quote=“Reaper”]kenn10

sound like advertisement.[/quote]

Nope. I just do my research and understand the correct niche for my customers. I could give you the same on Nortel or Siemens.

An Asterisk system with a solid support organization behind it would be able to kick Avaya’s butt in the small to medium sized business arena. Asterisk is not on par with what Avaya, Nortel or Siemens are doing on the large systems.

RamonFHerrera · January 28, 2008, 2:06am

[quote=“Reaper”]kenn10

sound like advertisement.[/quote]

Let’s say it was, Reaper.

What’s your problem with it?

Do you have somebody armed with scissors preprocess your newspaper?

Do you drink distilled water?

Do you have something against people actually being informed and educated? Since when is completeness and thoroughness something to be criticized?

You a commie or something?

-RFH

RamonFHerrera · January 28, 2008, 4:42am

[quote=“kenn10”][quote=“RamonFHerrera”]General comments are most welcome, but for a more specific question, how’s this one: can I buy an Avaya IP phone by itself? How well (or bad) will it work with Asterisk?