Avaya, HP Partner to Deliver Expanded UC Services

Avaya and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Enterprise Services have teamed on a multi-year agreement to jointly offer cloud-based unified communications (UC), contact center technology and management solutions for enterprises. The companies will sell a combined portfolio of unified communications-as-a-service (UCaas), contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) and infrastructure modernization services to their combined customer base.

Both companies expect the collaboration to create an advanced and comprehensive solution by offering customers a combination of Avaya’s UC, contact center portfolio and as-a-service offerings coupled with HP’s cloud computing capabilities, according to the press release. The companies hope to use the partnership to address the growing global demand for secure business collaboration solutions delivered as a service.

“Businesses are increasingly seeking alternative models for deploying and managing innovative communications and collaboration technologies. The agreement with HP is the right path at the right time to quickly address what is already one of the fastest growing areas of our business,” said Pierre-Paul Allard, senior vice president of Worldwide Sales and president of Avaya’s Global Field Operations, in a statement. “Through our long-term relationship, we already share many customers. We expect that base to grow significantly with this new model, supporting the world’s collaboration business environment.”

The new partnership will allow HP ES to resell Avaya’s as-a-service offerings, while Avaya will be able to increase its scale through HP’s deployment models. HP also will utilize Avaya’s experience to help improve the overall efficiency and performance of its contact center operations. Additionally, the HP ES Business Process Services organization is set to assume service delivery of a portion of Avaya Private Cloud Services for integration into the existing HP ES Mobility, Workplace and Business Process Services practices to deliver private and hybrid cloud-based UC and contact center solutions to its customers, according to the company.

“This agreement reinforces HP’s commitment to the mobility and workplace market and helps to grow HP’s presence in the end-user space,” said Mike Nefkens, executive vice president and general manager, HP Enterprise Services. “HP is also making an investment in Avaya’s capabilities to improve our contact center infrastructure and significantly enhance business process services and customer engagement management. The partnership with Avaya supports HP’s larger vision for the New Style of IT.”

Earlier this week, HP introduced several new storage offerings for its software-defined data center users as the company looks to simplify the deployment of scale-out storage for cloud computing and virtual server environments. The company has also reportedly teamed with Microsoft (MSFT) to develop a low-cost, 14-inch laptop as a rival to Google’s (GOOG) popular Chromebook. In June, Avaya rolled out a new channel partner program to help its reseller partners to increase their personal expertise in utilizing the company’s Avaya Collaboration technologies.