Building On Success

Avaya CTO Laurent Philonenko says its competitors Cisco Systems and Microsoft have "rudimentary" and less scalable solutions in the unified communications space compared with those of his Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

Avaya was recently named a leader in the unified communications space by research firm Gartner alongside Cisco, Microsoft and Mitel, thanks to its Avaya Aura Platform -- the company's flagship UC product for enterprises -- as well as its greater flexibility and openness in the space, which Philonenko says he plans to build on.

Philonenko talked to CRN about Avaya's technology road map for the future, its UC technology compared with that of the big competitors, and how it is helping channel partners drive sales through UC-as-a-Service.