Avaya Extends VPN, Video Features To VoIP
The new integrated VPN client, dubbed Avaya VPNremote, is available now via software upgrade for the Avaya 4600 family of IP phones. Users need only plug into a broadband connection and enter their log-on information to tie into the corporate VPN vs. the multi-box solution Avaya offers now for its softphones, said Saied Seghatoleslami, vice president of product management for the communications appliances division of Avaya, Basking Ridge, N.J.
“Teleworkers need a more comfortable, better experience,” Seghatoleslami said. “Plus, some users don&'t have the technical expertise to deploy a softphone and keep it running,” he said.
For channel partners, the new VPNremote solution draws on technical knowledge they already have around VPNs, Avaya&'s Communication Manager call control software and networking, he said. “It&'s a product they can make money on without [making] an incremental investment,” he said.
Initally, VPNremote only works with Avaya&'s own VPN solutions. The company plans to add support for three third-party VPN vendors with the next version of the software, slated to go into trials next quarter and ship in the second quarter of 2006.
The software upgrade adds $330 to the price of Avaya&'s 4600 family of IP handsets, which range from $395 for the 4610SW to $649 for the 4625SW.
Separately at the conference, Avaya extended its decade-long partnership with Polycom to now include integration of Communication Manager VoIP platform with Polycom&'s lineup of VSX group videoconferencing systems and MGC multimedia bridges. Avaya already supports integration with Polycom&'s desktop systems.
In addition, the new Avaya Desktop Video Edition 2.0 embeds Polycom&'s PVX PC conferencing software with Avaya&'s IP Softphone. The combined application enables PCs or laptops to function as both an office telephone and a videoconferencing station, incorporating user and device presence information, IM capabilities and tie-in with Microsoft Outlook.
With the integration, users will be notified when callers have Polycom video capabilities on the other end and will be able easily to turn a voice call into a video call if desired.
The overall goal is to make video calls as easy to set up as voice calls, said Jonathan Davies, director of field alliances at Polycom, Pleasanton, Calif.
“In order for videoconferencing to become ubiquitous, it has to be just like a phone call, and this is a major step toward that,” Davies said.
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