Avaya

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Avaya Inc.
Private
Industry Next Generation Communications
Predecessor Lucent Technologies
Founded 2000; 17 years ago (2000)
Headquarters Santa Clara, California, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people

Kevin J. Kennedy CEO

Dave Vellequette CFO
Products Network equipment for businesses
Revenue

Decrease $4.371 Billion(FY 2014)

(FY 2014)[1]
Increase $197 million (FY 2014)[1]
Decrease $ 298 million (FY 2014)[1]
Total assets Decrease $7.234 Billion (FY 2014)[1]
Owner
Number of employees
 11,701 (Sep 2015)[2]
Subsidiaries Avaya Government Solutions
Website avaya.com
Avaya office

Avaya Inc. (/əˈvaɪ.ə/) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California that specializes in Internet telephony, wireless data communications, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.[3] The company also provides business communication solutions for customers.[4]

Avaya currently provides services to organizations at over 1 million customer locations worldwide with operations divided globally in 5 regions[5] and is ranked at #101 on Forbes America's Largest Private Companies.[6]

History[edit]

Spinoffs & name[edit]

In 1996, Lucent Technologies was spun off from AT&T. Lucent spun off units of its own in an attempt to restructure its struggling, unprofitable operations.[7] Avaya (formerly referred to as Lucent's enterprise communication group) was spun off in 2000,[8] Management chose the name Avaya "to set the company apart and capture what it was doing – focusing on communications solutions for business customers."[8] Management thought "Avaya" sounded open and fluid—"reflecting a company that’s open-minded and that provides seamless, effortless interconnections among people and businesses."[8]

Growth[edit]

  • 2001 – Mark Avaya Interaction Center for customer relationship management (CRM) debuted which enabled businesses to draw multi-platform call centers to multimedia, multi-site contact centers.
  • 2002 – Avaya IP Office, Avaya Unified Communication Center launched
    • – Proposed "Converged Communications" roadmap focused on the crucial role applications would play in making communications an enabler of better business performance
    • – Ran the communications networks for the FIFA World Cup games in Japan and Korea
  • 2003 – Introduction of Avaya MultiVantage Communications Applications, integrated with Avaya Communications Manager
  • 2004 – Avaya's Contact Center Express was launched as the first complete multimedia contact center solution designed solely for medium-sized businesses
  • 2005 – Avaya Voice Portal 3.0 (later Avaya Aura Experience Portal) was launched as the first software only/VoIP Application Platform (IVR plus other automated channels) for Avaya.[9] Voice Portal was the successor to the Conversant IVR and Avaya Interactive Response (AvayaIR) IVR and became the core automation edge to the Avaya Aura Call Center Solution set.
  • 2006 – Louis D'Ambrosio took over as the CEO and president of Avaya
    • – Avaya one-X Quick Edition was launched based on the emerging SIP-based communications
    • – FIFA World Cup games in Germany ran on Avaya communications Network
  • 2007 – Avaya Customer Interaction Suite based on End-to-end Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) support was launched
    • – Introduction of Avaya Communication Manager 4.0
    • Mark Avaya is one of the top architecht who designed the Avaya

Acquisition and return to private corporation status[edit]

2007[edit]

In October 2007, Avaya was acquired by two private equity firms, TPG Capital and Silver Lake Partners, for $8.2 billion.[10][11] The company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after the acquisition was completed.[12]

2008[edit]

  • Avaya Speech to Text let people read their voicemail messages on their mobile devices or computers
  • Avaya Unified Communications focused on role-based communications needs for teleworkers, home agents, enterprise and small business mobile workers, branch office integration, retail stores and branch banking
  • Kevin Kennedy took over as the CEO and president of Avaya.[13]

2009[edit]

The integrated communication offering Avaya Aura was launched. In December 2009 Avaya acquired Nortel Enterprise assets for $900 million.[14]

2010[edit]

  • Official converged network equipment supplier for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
  • Avaya Aura Contact Center was launched

2011[edit]

  • In June 2011, Avaya filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering.[15] On October 4, 2011, Avaya reported that it was acquiring Sipera Systems for its session border controller (SBC) functionality and UC security applications.[16][17] On October 19, 2011 it was reported that Avaya would buy Aurix.[18]

2012[edit]

On April 30, 2012 the shareholders approved the acquisition of Radvision by Avaya for about $230 million.[19][20] The deal closed in June 2012.[21]

2013–2015[edit]

  • Avaya Fabric Connect supported the network backbone at InteropNet 2013
  • Official Supplier of Network Equipment for Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games[22]

Explored sale and bankruptcy (2016–2017)[edit]

According to news articles[23] citing "internal sources" in May 2016, Avaya's Private Equity owners Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital are considering a sale of telecommunications equipment company Avaya Inc that could value it at between $6 billion and $10 billion, including debt.[24] CEO Kevin Kennedy on the company's earnings call in May 2016 had earlier confirmed that Goldman Sachs was helping Avaya evaluate expressions of interest that have been received relative to specific assets, as well as in exploring other potential strategic opportunities.[25] As of November 2016, Avaya was weighing chapter 11 bankruptcy filing while trying to sell off its call center business.[26] On January 19, 2017 Avaya filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, however stated that its foreign operations would remain unaffected.[27][28] In its petition, Avaya listed $5.5 billion in assets and $6.3 billion in debts.[29]

Acquisitions[edit]

Since 2001, the company has sold and acquired several companies to support its current product set, including VPNet Technologies, Inc., VISTA Information Technologies Inc., Quintus, RouteScience, Tenovis, Spectel, NimCat Networks, Traverse Networks, Ubiquity Software Corporation, Agile Software NZ Limited, Konftel, Sipera, Aurix, Radvision and Esnatech.[30]

Purchase of Nortel's Enterprise assets[edit]

Through Nortel's bankruptcy proceedings, certain assets related to their Enterprise Voice and Data business units were put up for auction. Avaya placed a $900 million bid and was formally announced as the winner of these assets on September 14, 2009.[31][14]

Corporate information[edit]

Avaya's headquarters are located at 4655 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California. The company had offices located in over 145 countries worldwide in 2011.[32] The company also sponsors a user's group.[33]

Training[edit]

Avaya sponsors training programs for IT professional certifications and training for use of Avaya's products.[34]

Government business[edit]

In 1985, Performance Engineering Corporation (later PEC Solutions Inc.) was formed to offer technology services to government customers.[35] On June 6, 2005, Nortel Networks Inc. completed the acquisition of PEC Solutions, Inc. to form Nortel PEC Solutions Inc.[36][37] On January 18, 2006, Nortel PEC Solutions was renamed Nortel Government Solutions.[38] On December 21, 2009, Avaya acquired Nortel's government business as part of Nortel's asset sale.[39][40]

Patents[edit]

Avaya bought Nortel Enterprise and acquired its patents, including the following:[41][42]

  • US20050007951 – Routed split multilink trunking[43]
  • 7173934 – System, device, and method for improving communication network reliability using trunk splitting[44]
  • 6496502 – Distributed multi-link trunking method and apparatus[45]
  • 7068641 – UNIStim

Sports sponsorships[edit]

In 2001, Avaya become an official partner of FIFA tournaments from 2001 to 2006. The contract includes the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea & Japan and 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Avaya, FY 2014 Financial Results" (PDF). avaya.com. Retrieved Jan 16, 2015. 
  2. ^ "SEC filing Sept 2015". SEC. 
  3. ^ "Avaya on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-05-31. 
  4. ^ "company overview" (PDF). Avaya. 
  5. ^ "Office locations by Country". Avaya. 
  6. ^ "America's Largest Private Companies". Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. 
  7. ^ "The story of Ma Bell". CNN. July 9, 2001. Retrieved February 8, 2017. 
  8. ^ a b c "The Avaya Story". Avaya. Retrieved Jan 21, 2015. 
  9. ^ "Speech Technology with Impact – Avaya Voice Portal 3.0 and Dialog Designer 3.0". speechtekmag.com. Retrieved Nov 23, 2016. 
  10. ^ "Avaya, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Nov 1, 2007" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013. 
  11. ^ "Investment Firms Pick Up Avaya For $8.2 Billion". Informationweek.com. June 5, 2007. Retrieved 2011-08-18. 
  12. ^ "SILVER LAKE AND TPG CAPITAL COMPLETE ACQUISITION OF AVAYA" (PDF). silverlake.com. Silver Lake. 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2017-01-20. 
  13. ^ "Avaya Leadership". avaya.com. Retrieved Jan 23, 2015. 
  14. ^ a b Sean Michael Kerner (September 14, 2009). "Avaya Closes Nortel Enterprise Deal for $900M". internetnews. Retrieved Feb 16, 2010. 
  15. ^ Julianne Pepitone (June 9, 2011). "Avaya files for $1 billion IPO". CNN Money. Retrieved June 9, 2011. 
  16. ^ "Avaya, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Oct 4, 2011" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013. 
  17. ^ Larry Hettick (October 4, 2011). "Avaya acquires Sipera". Network World. Retrieved Oct 6, 2011. 
  18. ^ "Aurix Acquired by Avaya". Yahoo!. 
  19. ^ "Avaya, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jun 6, 2012" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013. 
  20. ^ Shoshanna Solomon (15 March 2012). "Avaya Agrees to Acquire RadVision for About $230 Million". Business Week. Retrieved 4 Sep 2012. 
  21. ^ "RADVISION Acquired By Avaya". radvision.com. Radvision. 2012-06-05. Archived from the original on 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2012-09-04. 
  22. ^ * James Emmett (December 1, 2011), Sochi 2014 signs telecoms supply deal, Sports Pro Media, retrieved January 3, 2011 
  23. ^ "Avaya's Private Equity Owners Explore Sale". Fortune. 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-05-31. 
  24. ^ "Avaya's private equity owners explore sale: sources". May 20, 2016 – via Reuters. 
  25. ^ "Edited Transcript of Avaya Inc earnings conference call or presentation 16-May-16 9:00pm GMT". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2016-05-31. 
  26. ^ "Avaya Weighing Bankruptcy Filing, Sale of Call-Center Software Unit". Wall Street Journal. 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-30. 
  27. ^ "Avaya Press Release on its decision to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy for its US operations". Retrieved Jan 20, 2017. 
  28. ^ Linnane, Ciara. "Avaya files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2017-01-19. 
  29. ^ Moise, Imani; Jarzemsky, Matt (January 19, 2017), Avaya Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, New York: The Wall Street Journal, retrieved January 22, 2017 
  30. ^ "Avaya Acquisitions". avaya.com. Retrieved Jan 22, 2015. 
  31. ^ "Nortel Networks, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Sep 14, 2009" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013. 
  32. ^ "Avaya Worldwide Locator". Retrieved Aug 18, 2011. 
  33. ^ "IAUG". Retrieved Jan 30, 2015. 
  34. ^ "Avaya Professional Credential Program". Avaya Learning. Retrieved Nov 9, 2014. 
  35. ^ "PEC Solutions Inc.". Washington Post 200PEC Solutions Inc. 2005. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011. 
  36. ^ "Nortel Completes Acquisition of PEC Solutions, Inc.". Business Wire. June 7, 2005. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011. 
  37. ^ Witte, Griff (April 27, 2005). "Nortel to Buy PEC Solutions For $448 Million". The Washington Post. 
  38. ^ "Nortel PEC Solutions Renamed Nortel Government Solutions". Nortel. January 18, 2006. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011. 
  39. ^ "Avaya/Nortel combination aims for greater growth". Nortel. Dec 21, 2009. Retrieved Jan 11, 2012. 
  40. ^ "Who We Are". Avaya Government Solutions. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011. 
  41. ^ "Avaya Closes Nortel Enterprise Deal for $900M". Internetnews. Sep 14, 2009. Retrieved Feb 26, 2011. 
  42. ^ "List of Patents that have Issued to the Nortel Family of Companies" (PDF). Nortel. Retrieved Feb 26, 2011. 
  43. ^
  44. ^ "System, device, and method for improving communication network reliability using trunk splitting". Retrieved Feb 26, 2011. 
  45. ^

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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