Avaya Inc. /əˈvaɪ.ə/ is a privately held computer networking, information technology and telecommunications company that is a global provider of business communications systems. The international headquarters is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States. The company provides contact centers, networking (routers, switches and other networking hardware), unified communications, and video products (integrated hardware and software) solutions and services.

In July and August 2000 interviews reported that Avaya Communications would be created on 1 October 2000 when the unified communications and call center businesses left Lucent Technologies Inc. or Lucent enterprises. The spun off of Avaya with 34,000 employees also received $400 million in capital from Warburg Pincus.Henry Schacht became the board chairman and the first CEO was Don Peterson who was promoted from the CFO position of Lucent. Avaya had a stock symbol of "AV" and debuted at $20 a share. Since 2001, the company has sold, and acquired several companies to support its current product set – Vista, VPNet. Quintus, Routescience, Nimcat Networks, Spectel, Ubiquity Software, and Traverse Networks. Sales through channels have grown from 98% direct to 50% alternative channels. In 2003 Avaya sold its cabling unit to CommScope for $263 million to focus on its phone gear and services businesses. In 2004 Avaya expanded in Europe through a $370 million acquisition of Tenovis and in Asia through a majority interest in Tata Telecom (now Avaya Global Connect). In 2006 Louis D'Ambrosio took over as the CEO and president of Avaya. and on 12 Jan 2007 they announced the acquisition of Ubiquity Software Corporation for $144 million. Ubiquity develops SIP end-user applications.

The Basics ( /ˈbæzɪtʃ/ BAZZ-ich) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".

With close to 1000 shows in their ten-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne. The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s and 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially, they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met Michael Hubbard and later invited him to join them on electric guitar. Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar, and the trio was born. During this time, the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.