Verizon Business and Avaya Expand Enterprise Voice-Over-IP and Contact Center Capabilities

BASKING RIDGE, NJ--(Marketwire - May 14, 2009) - Businesses and government agencies will immediately be able to take advantage of the latest certifications of Verizon Business' voice over IP (VoIP) and contact center services with Avaya's complete line of equipment and software.

The two companies have completed certifications of Verizon IP Contact Center (IPCC) suite of services and Verizon IP Trunking with Avaya Communication Manager 5.1.1/SES 5.1.1 and Avaya Communication Manager Branch to enable the most current capabilities of both companies across Verizon Business' complete suite of VoIP and Contact Center Services.

"Working with Avaya, we're actively training our salesforce to put possibility into practice for our customers," said Tony Recine, vice president of specialized services for Verizon Business. "Together, we are committed to helping customers achieve the biggest bang for their enterprise buck when employing the Verizon-Avaya joint solutions."

The training program will support an expanded global Verizon-Avaya enterprise resale relationship, the continued introduction of the most current certified offers, and Verizon's status as a Platinum Avaya Partner and Platinum DevConnect Partner.

Vin LaRocca, president of North America sales for Avaya, said: "Verizon has already earned well over 100-plus Avaya design and technical support certifications, and we are working with Verizon to triple the number of certifications they hold in the next year. Our relationship with Verizon has grown significantly, demonstrating a level of progress that can only happen when both companies share a joint vision and commitment to the marketplace and their customers."

IP Contact Centers Cost-Effectively Speed Call Resolution

Verizon Business and Avaya have enabled one of the industry's first pure end-to-end Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based contact center solutions through the powerful combination of Verizon Business' leading contact center and VoIP portfolios and Avaya's advanced equipment. As a result, organizations can immediately benefit from upgrading an existing contact center to IP, or setting up a new center, to reduce their total cost of ownership and increase their return on assets.

The Verizon IP Contact Center suite incorporates Verizon VoIP Inbound Toll Free and IP Intelligent Voice Routing (IVR) services working in tandem with Avaya Intelligent Communications (User-to-User Information, Network Call Redirection (NCR) and Avaya Agent Deskphone 16CC-Communication Manager5.x and SIP Enablement Services 5.x).

Jim Tyrrell, vice president of global business voice solutions for Verizon, said: "Our long-standing relationship with Avaya continues to deliver innovative benefits for our enterprise customers. As businesses evolve their call center operations to IP, they can employ a 'right-time, right-person, right-device' customer service approach to enhance their overall business operations. For multinational organizations employing VoIP as a platform for advanced unified communications and collaboration, we are committed to continuing innovation across our portfolio to enable the next generation of smart and seamless global business adoption."

For a retrospective and prospective view of Verizon Business IP innovation, visit: http://www.verizonbusiness.com/about/ipinnovation.

Global VoIP Fuels Enterprise Operations

Verizon Business and Avaya continue to help companies transition to VoIP for enhanced enterprise communications and business operations.

Verizon IP Trunking, compliant with Avaya Communication Manager 5.1.1 and Avaya Communication Manager Branch, provides direct SIP connectivity into an IP PBX, eliminating the need for gateway equipment at the customer's premises.

IP Trunking helps businesses simplify network design and control costs resulting in lower operating overhead, power consumption and maintenance costs. It also delivers features such as BEST (Burstable Enterprise Shared Trunks) which enable customers to share local and long distance trunks across their enterprise providing unprecedented business efficiencies. IP Trunking is available in United States and 10 European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and the United Kingdom.

About Avaya

Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness. For more information, please visit www.avaya.com. For more information on the Avaya DevConnect program, visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with the world's most connected IP network to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees -- enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments -- including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions -- rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

Contact Information: Media Contacts: Debbie Lewis Verizon Media Relations 610-257-7974 Debbie.lewis@verizon.com Lynn Newman Avaya 908-953-8692 lynnnewman@avaya.com