[singlepic id=12 w=320 h=240 float=left]Combat Networks Director of Convergence Services, Greg Curry, took advantage of a special and unique invitation from Avaya to visit Avaya’s product development centre in Denver. Mr. Curry spent the better part of a week amidst some of the smartest minds in VoIP in the world today and took the opportunity to meet with the Avaya Session Manager Designers, Engineers as well as Avaya’s Executive Briefing Centre team.
Combat Networks has been an exclusive Nortel partner with specific expertise in Nortel Voice and Nortel Data technologies and since February 2009 an Avaya Voice technology partner. It was because of these credentials, Avaya and Combat Networks decided that Combat Network’s technology leader should visit the R&D site in Denver to engage in a 2 way knowledge transfer session. Where Combat would receive some great insider information on Avaya’s incredible new Session Manager Application, and Combat Networks would add to the discussion based on our extensive Nortel expertise.
The goal was to discuss interoperability issues with current Nortel Enterprise solutions. The trip was spawned by Combat Networks and Avaya working together to integrate the Avaya Session Manager and Nortel CS1000 utilizing both SIP and QSIG trunking so that Combat Networks and Avaya would be able to address the integration of these products.
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Combat Networks has had a keen interest in Session Manager from the first time it was presented at the Combat Headquarters building in Ottawa. Avaya Session Manager protects our customers current investments in Nortel technology while providing them a vehicle to migrate to the latest and greatest applications. For Combat Networks customers, a rip and replace strategy did not make sense, but being able to leverage the investments already made in Nortel just makes good economic sense.
At Combat Networks, we won’t deploy any kind of technology without a serious look behind the marketing curtain and having a chance to kick the tires. Our customers expect nothing less. After spending the week with Avaya in Denver, Greg Curry’s two cents as follows……
“Avaya has hit a home run with this application and has positioned itself as a leader in the emerging SIP enabled applications arena. While meeting all the people involved, it became very apparent to me that Avaya’s willingness to listen, understand the requirement and come back with a solution that works for the existing Nortel customer base sets them apart from anyone else.
During my visit we discussed many customer configurations that Combat Networks customers have deployed in which they could come across and the benefits that could be provided to the customer by adding further functionality. Every time additional functionality was discussed, the Product House owner of Session Manager, Steve Durney, would join the conversation and document the requirement to feed back into the design community. Very Impressive!!”
What was truly exciting to myself and Combat, and what really made the trip worthwhile was the time that we (Avaya and I) spent testing Nortel’s CS1000 integration with Session Manager! This is so important to Combat and our customers – with the majority of our clientele running Cs1Ks it was imperative that we were able to have Session Manager supporting our clients install base. We are now confident now, in speaking with our customers and showing them that their investment in Nortel can be leveraged going forward with Avaya.
Combat Networks would like to thank for Avaya for taking the time to demonstrate the technologies that make up Aura Product Suite lineup and based on what we have learned Avaya and Combat are well positioned to help customers plan, deploy and integrate Session Manager into existing Nortel infrastructures.
- Greg Curry and the Combat Team
