Avaya and IBM have expanded their alliance to deliver unified communications solutions backed by newly Avaya-certified security products for enterprise clients and government organizations, worldwide. The two companies also plan to focus support on Avaya Aura -- Avaya's new unified communications architecture -- by incorporating Avaya Aura into existing IBM converged communications services.
As part of the expanded alliance, the companies will jointly deliver unified communications solutions that streamline mission critical and complex communication systems, achieve rapid return on investment and improve productivity by helping to allow users to communicate anytime from anywhere, regardless of device or network. In addition, Avaya has certified the IBM Internet Security Systems' Proventia GX 5208 and Proventia Management SiteProtector SP1001 as compliant with IP telephony solutions from Avaya, enabling IBM to offer comprehensive intrusion protection for Avaya Aura's communication system.
"As more and more companies move toward unified communications, it's important that they take a holistic approach to security that encompasses multi-vendor applications in mobile and virtual environments," said Dan Powers, vice president of brand, strategy, marketing and business development at IBM ISS. "Individual workers will assume security comes from the core, but they can be one of the most vulnerable points of entry if it does not. IBM has created solutions in our Intrusion Prevention Systems designed to help prevent current and emerging threats and help keep unified communications deployments secure."
Today, IBM and Avaya are delivering unified communications and contact center solutions designed to meet the needs of clients in all industries. With this new combination of Avaya Aura and IBM's extensive experience in planning, design and implementation of Unified Communications and Contact Center solutions, customers can benefit from a unified architecture that centralizes and integrates communications in multi-platform, multi-technology provider and multi-modal environments in a cost effective manner.
Leveraging the industry leading, security focused capabilities of both IBM ISS and Avaya solutions, companies are better able to proactively prevent attacks such as denial or interruption of service, VoIP phishing, eavesdropping, malware and overall business interruption. The solutions can assist customers to assess security needs, protect, remediate and even outsource security network operations if desired.
