NEWS
Avaya adds Flare to Aura
AVAYA has spruced up its Aura unified communications platform with a new look and feel designed to simplify business collaboration and differentiate it in the channel. Speaking at the launch of the
Flare User Experience, Avaya’s CEO and President Kevin Kennedy said that it was designed to make enter- prise communications more ‘fun’. Flare has a media rich front end that supports drag and drop voice or videoconferencing, an integrated web browser and can handle mul- tiple calls and conferences simul- taneously. It also boasts the full range of UC applications including email, messaging, presence as well as social media feeds. The new interface is available immediately on an 11inch capa- cative touchscreen Android tab- let, and will be added to existing devices within the Aura portfolio including softphones, mobile apps and 96x1 series desk phones. Avaya has taken visual cues for
Flare from the consumer world. Curved borders on each side of the screen have information tabs which are scrolled with fingertips. On the right hand side of the
screen is a list of integrated applica- tions, and on the left a contacts list drawn up from multiple sources including corporate address book and social media. The Android tablet is being launched as the Aura Desktop Video Device, and Kennedy said that the aim of Flare is to ‘revolu- tionise business applications in the same way that Apple has revolu- tionised consumer apps’. Senior VP for Global Comm- unications Solutions, Dr Alan Baratz, explained that although Aura-based installations have had video capability for some time, what it hadn’t had until now was the endpoints. Baratz claims that the Aura back end makes videoconferencing feasible for desktop use, because Avaya’s HD video streams require half the bandwidth of competing codecs. “We’re taking video out of the conferencing room environ- ment and taking it down to the desktop,” he claimed.
Nigel Moulton
“We’re taking video out of the conferencing room environment down to the desktop”
Avaya’s EMEA Director of
Products and Solutions Marketing, Nigel Moulton, told Comms Dealer that one of the biggest advantages of Flare is the ease with which applications can be added to the left hand side of the screen. These add-ons could be general, like call recording, or something business specific, he says. “Any partner or customer of ours who wishes to develop a bespoke application for their envi- ronment can use the API that we publish,” Moulton explained. “Users may already be devel- oping on Android, meaning that learning the API from Avaya isn’t difficult for them. “If they have a specific billing application that’s been embedded in the business for some time, for example, the API will allow them to develop that code.” According to Moulton, Flare could also be used for customer fac- ing communications. “A retail cus- tomer might want to embed Flare devices in kiosks in their store,” he said. “So that rather than having to wait for a sales assistant, customers could browse the web and place a video call to a contact centre or someone in the store back office who can help with an enquiry.” At the same time as launching
Flare, Avaya also introduced a 3D avatar-based conferencing applica- tion called Avaya web.
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O-bit beefs up support capabilities
A STEEP climb in the number of customer contacts received by O-bit Telecom has prompted the company to restructure its sup- port team and introduce a new Customer Service Agreement. On average O-bit’s support
team now receives 5,000 emails per month and 2,500 phone calls, spurred in part by a 400% rise in broadband orders on the back new product launches in May. Kate Hayes, Customer Support
Manager, commented: “We have decided to restructure, nominating dedicated repair and provisioning agents for greater efficiency.” O-bit’s customer portal is also
in growth mode. “The portal has expanded rapidly over the past few months,” observed Operations Manager, Paul Richens. “We now have fraud report tools, pricing tools, archiving options, additional call divert and debt management. There have been over 20 enhancements in the past three months to improve our customers’ experience.”
New cordless phone boasts big talk range
NIMANS has lifted the lid on a new cordless telephone that boasts a talk range of up to 2km. The Radius Extreme has a six floor penetration and capacity for up to nine expandable handsets to operate from each base station. It features a full wireless duplex
intercom, broadcast PA capabilities, 4.5 hours talk time and 70 hours stand-by. The long range voice solution can also act as a two-way radio without a base unit, and is suited to sprawling sites such as industrial and agricultural premises as well as educational campuses. Nimans’ Head of Handsets, Ian
Brindle, said: “The Extreme ensures people can talk longer and further with interference-free call quality.” The Radius Extreme is part of
a new family of own brand Radius products from the distributor, which include MoH, call recording and traditional handsets.
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6 COMMS DEALER OCTOBER 2010
www.comms-dealer.com
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