Avaya is rolling out a host of new enterprise-level networking tools
designed to help businesses more easily handle the growing number of
bandwidth-eating video and unified communications applications.
Avaya will show off the new offerings at the Interop 2010 show, which kicks off April 26 in Las Vegas.
The new products, which include a switch, a wireless
LAN solution and management software, come four months after Avaya
completed its $915 million acquisition of bankrupt Nortel Network’s enterprise business, which includes its UC (unified communications) products.
They’re also part of what Avaya officials are calling
a “fit for purpose” push to give businesses more options in picking the
products they need rather than having to buy bulky and complex packages
of solutions that include technologies they may not want.
“The days of ‘one size fits all’ network solutions
are over,” Avaya President and CEO Kevin Kennedy said in a statement.
The company is putting itself in position to lead the industry to
“redefine the IT value proposition and offer the best return on
business communications.”
The new Ethernet Routing Switch 8800 is designed to
consolidate hardware and software technologies to unify the core and
edges of the network and the wired and wireless solutions. With the
consolidation, the new switch will enable an easier transition to
virtualized applications and greater capabilities for handling video
traffic.
It also offers 150 percent more memory capacity and
uses 33 percent less power than the current 8600 switch models,
according to Avaya.
The WLAN 8100 Series offers 802.11n capabilities
combined with a new architecture that is aimed at supporting the idea
that wireless is becoming the top choice for users accessing the
network. Thanks to Avaya’s “split plane” architecture, the WLAN 8100
Series—built for large and midsized enterprises—reduces the bottlenecks
and complexities of current overlay wired/wireless network networks and
lets businesses more easily support UC, voice and video apps.
The WLAN 8100 Series will be available in mid-2010.
The company’s COM (Configuration and Orchestration
Manager) software is the latest addition to Avaya’s Unified Network
Management portfolio. The network configuration management also offers
provisioning and troubleshooting capabilities for enterprise
technologies such as multicast, routing, VLAN and VRF (virtual routing
and forwarding).
Avaya’s COM includes intuitive wizards and templates
that make it easier for network administrators to address those
technologies.
The Advanced Gateway 2330, due early in the summer, is a tool that
will enable businesses to extend their UC applications to remote
workers and branch offices. It interoperates with Avaya’s Aura platform
and other SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) systems, and enables
enterprises to consolidate communications devices onto a single
platform.
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