Avaya Buys Konftel, Bolsters Audio Conferencing Product Line

Avaya has purchased a conference phone maker whose products will start to become available to the channel in March.

On Tuesday, the privately held Avaya said it paid about $15 million for Sweden-headquartered Konftel. Konftel owns the OmniSound technology, designed especially for conference-room phones. The acquisition represents a logical step in Avayas drive to lead in business collaboration,” Alan Baratz, head of global communications solutions for Avaya, said in a press release.

Konftel specializes in high-definition sound; its equipment includes desktop conference phones, and systems for conference room and large auditoriums. Avaya plans to pair Konftels gear with its SIP-run endpoints. Still, Avaya said it will continue to offer Konftels analog conferencing products, along with gear built on the H.323 and UNISTIM protocols, as long as theres market demand. 

Meanwhile, over the next year, Avaya will work on rebranding Konftels hardware. The Konftel name will show up on products for a bit longer.  

Avaya channel partners will be able to sell the Konftel portfolio, although details on pricing, geographic availability or any compensation changes wont be made public for a while.

Konftel has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Avaya.