Avaya Battlecard

OVERVIEW

VALUE PROPOSITIONS

This battlecard focuses on Avayas Unified Communications platforms the Aura infrastructure
and the Agile Communications Environment (ACE) platform.
Aura is a communication platform, supporting UC and Contact Center solutions. Key Aura
components include: Communication Manager, Conferencing (audio and video), Flare Experience
(enables collaboration, including contacts, calendars, e-mail, and documents), Messaging
(including voice, fax, IM, text and email), Presence Services, Session Manager, Application
Enablement Services, SIP, Enablement Services, and endpoint devices, including handsets and
video equipment.1
ACE is a middleware application platform, complementary to Avaya Aura, for integrating multivendor communication infrastructure with business applications via pre-built packaged
applications and developer toolkits. Avaya acquired ACE via their 2009 acquisition of Nortel
Enterprise Solutions (NES).

LYNC SALES GUIDANCE

Overcome Avayas legacy incumbency by:
Highlighting business benefits of Lync e.g. enabling BYOD, improving productivity and
facilitating collaboration
Promoting benefits of Skype federation connect with 350m Skype users
Targeting Avayas legacy Nortel customer base support ending in 2015 for CS1000
Surrounding mission critical Avaya deployments to build proof points and references
Highlight cost and complexity of Avayas solutions and Lync interoperability plug-ins.

How Avaya Positions Lync

Avaya positions Lync as having a higher

TCO than Avaya up to double for
Enterprise Voice.

Suggested Responses
Elevate discussion to promote benefits of Lync
such as increased productivity (via mobility and
familiar UI) and collaboration. Highlight how
Lync can reduce investment in hardware and
real estate and facilities.

Avaya positions Lync as a product with

incomplete Enterprise Voice capabilities

Lync is a full featured Enterprise Voice solution

with functionality including emergency calling
and automated call distribution. It is used by
90% of Fortune 500 companies and has 6
million telephony users.

Avaya encourages customers to ONLY

purchase the Lync Standard CAL, as a
method of reducing Microsoft spend. This
enables Avaya to maintain call control and
limits Lync to only supporting IM/P. Avaya
claims that the user experience is not

Combining the Lync Standard CAL with ACE/ACA

reduces the usability of Lync e.g. loss of
federation, disabled collaboration tools (such as
screen sharing) and reduced conferencing
functionality.
See Avaya integration demo for more informatio

Avaya

Lync

Reduce Cost and Complexity of Infrastructure

Avayas UC solution makes use of clientside integration of third party plug-ins, in
contrast to Microsoft Lyncs server side
integration. Additional servers coupled
with multiple client-side touch-points,
increases the cost and complexity of
infrastructure and IT management, in
contrast to a single touch-point where the
application is executed on the server.

Lync provides on-demand access-anywhere,

scalable communication and collaboration
beyond the firewall, enabling customers to
leverage their existing IT and communications
infrastructure investment.

User Experience
Avaya enables PBX voice calls from Lync,
and promises tight interoperability
between ACE and Lync, but in effect,
reduces Lync to providing a deprecated
IM/P experience while disabling Lync
enterprise voice and video options and
lacking built-in advanced controls and
notifications. Missing and disabled options
lead to a disjointed and confusing user
experience, as multiple clients are
required for the same experience that Lync
provides in a single interface.
Avaya ACE / Lync integration requires
several components, adding to cost and
complexity.2

Lync enables access to contact information,

collaboration and presence from almost
anywhere; integration with Microsoft Office,
Exchange and SharePoint environments
contribute to improved processes and
productivity; simplification and consolidation of
dial plans; desktop sharing enhances
cooperation between users, across multiple
modalities; and a consistent user interface.
Benefits of superior user experience include
reduced training costs, higher user adoption
and increased user satisfaction.

Mobility
Avaya Flare is presently only available on
iPad with future support for additional
mobile devices unknown. Avaya one-X
bundle allows mobile devices to act as an
extension of the corporate network.

Lync makes communications easier with a

consistent and familiar experience available on
Windows Phone, iOS, and Android smartphones.
For PC users the new Lync app for Windows 8
and Windows RT provides a seamless touch-first
experience.

Contact Center
Avaya likes to lead with Contact Center:
Existing ecosystem of solutions e.g.
experience and performance
management

1. Approach jointly with an experienced partner

who has Contact Center references.
2. Deploy Lync in other areas of the business to
surround Avaya in the Call Center and

Avaya Battlecard
STRENGTH

AND

WEAKNESSES

OBJECTIONS

Response

Im already
invested in Avaya
infrastructure

Lync offers a range of UC functionality which operates on top of existing

voice platforms, mitigating the need for rip and replace decisions, and
provides deep integration with Microsoft Office and SharePoint applications.
Customers may choose to enhance existing PBX systems or replace them
with Lync to simplify infrastructure and decrease cost. They can also elect to
use Lync Server in conjunction with PBX phones on a user-by-user basis.

Avaya is a
traditional voice
vendor whereas
Lync is a new
telephony/UC
solution

Weaknesses
Mobility Disjointed mobile experience with multiple apps depending on which server is
used and inconsistency across devices. Flare is only available on iPad. Current lack of
Windows 8 support.
Legacy Nortel Nortel CS1000 nearing end of life (end of manufacturer support in
2015), legacy blue customers are paying maintenance but no ongoing roadmap
available.
Maintenance Requirements Traditional or non-IP enabled PBXs often require
personnel on-site during break/fix situations, increasing maintenance costs and
reducing uptime.
Product complexity Avayas acquisition of NES resulted in a large and complex product
offering, complicating upgrade compatibility. The complexity can be seen in Avayas
recent decision to revert back to the Avaya Call Center after having committed to the
NES solution because of incompatibilities.
UC immaturity - Avayas UC is evolving following the NES takeover, and is changing from
hardware to software-oriented. Avayas developer ecosystem is not as well developed
as that of Microsoft and does not have the same reach.
Financial Uncertainty Avayas financial standing has been called into question as their
CY13 voice and Contact Center revenue declined 18%, net loss increased from $162m to
$192m and an IPO originally planned for 2012 is on hold.
Channel restructuring Avayas partner base consolidated following the NES acquisition
and confusion and uncertainty among partners over role of partners and Avaya in
support.
H.323 Avaya is moving from H.323 to SIP-based products, although H.323 still
dominates.
Technical Weaknesses Technical deficiencies reported in ACE include:
Telephony: Support for only one primary line, and ACE cant control rollover lines.
There is also no option for in-call device transfer as offered by Lync. Dual Tone - Multi

RESPONSES

Objection

Strengths
Reputation Avaya has established brand awareness and time in market providing voice
solutions and leverages data networking capabilities against other data, voice and UC
vendors.
Relationships Avaya has legacy relationships with client-side networking and voice
advocates, and is entrenched in enterprises and SMBs, in deployed infrastructure and
mind-share.
Contact Center has an ecosystem of third party applications focussed on running and
management of Contact Center
Session manager- Is the latest application in the Avaya Aura Communication platform. It
is SIP based that allows multi-platform integration, single routing /dial plan control and
centralized application deployment.

AND

The entire go-forward Aura architecture has less time in the market than
Microsoft LCS/OCS/OCSR2/Lync. Lync is the latest incarnation of a solution
that dates back more than a decade. Lync is currently used by 90% of
Fortune 500 companies and there are over 5m Lync telephony users. For
more case studies see here.

I am concerned
about Lync voice
reliability

Lync Server architecture supports high availability, redundancy and

scalability applicable to voice, IM, and conferencing. Lync offers support for
site-to-site failover, resilient voice to branch locations, and through Direct SIP
, Microsoft's interconnection with PBX systems. Lync interoperates with
products from many vendors (including Avaya and Cisco).

PBX, UC and
business
application
interoperability

Some businesses are concerned with the interoperability of UC solutions and

existing legacy telephony platforms. Lync operates alongside traditional
telephone voice networks, and the added UC functionality provided by Lync
can be implemented as needed and later scaled up.

PBX solutions
cost less to
license

Proprietary phone systems often require specific hardware to access

extension modules and other advanced features. Additionally, vendor lock-in
periods of 7-10 years, concealed costs of network upgrades, servers,
devices, and additional user licenses all add to overall TCO. Presents an
opportunity to provide a POC and to highlight Lyncs TCO to customers.
CAPEX savings from Lync include lower handset costs, and reduced server
footprints. OPEX savings include PRI consolidation, lower helpdesk costs,
lower support costs, and lower licensing costs for qualified OCS customers.

Lync lacks
Contact Center
functionality

Lync integrates with a growing list of applications from ecosystem partners;

e.g. Aspect Software, Interactive Intelligence and Clarity Connect all offer
integration solutions between their contact center products and Lync.

Endnotes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Microsoft has well documented protocols and there is an established ecoMicrosoft

Lync
Avaya Aura Communications Manager Fact Sheet 3
4
5
system
of developers.
Link to
API or
and
Lync
lacks
prebuilt
E.g. Avaya UC Engine 6.1
and Avaya
ACE with Avaya Comm.
Server
Avaya
Aura SDK.
Comm. Manager with Avaya Aura Application
Enablement
APIs Services
http://lync.microsoft.com/en-us/get-lync/partners/Pages/find-a-lync-partner.aspx?ref=0
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=10566
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=18898