Avaya Embraces MDM with SME Unified Communications Solution

Avaya, a provider of unified communications, contact centers, networking, and related services , announced a new unified communications (UC) solution — Avaya IP Office 8.1 — for small and mid-sized enterprises (SME) that includes new mobility, management and security features to assist with the popular bring your own device (BYOD) trend.

Avaya IP Office 8.1 introduces a variety of new features — Avaya Flare Communication, Avaya IP Office Support Service, New Centralized Management, and Enhanced Security Options — to provide SMEs with the capability to adapt to an evolving work environment including the trend of employees bringing in their own mobile devices. According to an April 2012 Forrester Research Study on BYOD trends, 56 percent of SME tablet users bring their personal tablet into work.

Avaya Flare Communicator — a feature that enables mobile access to collaboration capabilities such as company directory search, business-class calling and management of two simultaneous calls while mobile — is now available to Avaya IP Office SME users on Apple iPad tablets or Windows-based laptops. Before this feature, the advanced mobility app was only available to large enterprises.

Avaya also designed its first support service for SMEs in its latest UC solution: Avaya IP Office Support Service. Embedded in Avaya IP Office 8.1 are new SSL-VPN capabilities to guarantee the delivery of upgrades, patches, and web-based services.

New Centralized Management and Enhanced Security Options are additional features to the solution. New Centralized Management enables SMEs to manage several sites from one “central” location — instead of using multiple tools to accomplish a web-based task. Through the use of a newer version of Avaya Session Border Controller, Avaya IP Office adds protection against attacks — toll fraud, denial of service attacks, and other threats — for SMEs. The solution will be available later this year.

More information about the Avaya partner program can be found here.