Avaya Releases Collaboration Pod 2400 Series

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

Avaya (News - Alert) is tackling the communications issues of midsize businesses with the latest updates to its Collaboration Pod 2400 Series software which contains a number of tools—“pods”—for managing applications, data storage units, servers, and networks.

In the company announcement, Avaya notes that its goal with this release is to address the needs of both its customers and channel partners who will be able to deliver the Collaboration Pod in only a matter of weeks. This is compared to months that some other engagement products may take to find complete usage. Channel partners will have access to the tools they need to install and manage future support and upgrades for any enterprise customer's installation. Therefore, customers will only need to deal with one channel partner for all their needs regarding use and management of the Avaya software.

Liam Kiely, the vice president of networking infrastructure at Avaya, noted that midsize firms often have restrictions concerning their finances and IT skill. The rollout of the newest Collaboration Pod intends to conquer those hurdles by making deployment easy and by involving vendors in installation and support.

“Midsize enterprises understand the strategic value of technology, but typically have more financial and skills support restraints than larger enterprises,” Kiely said. “The Avaya Collaboration Pod 2400 is perfect for their needs, enabling them to rapidly utilize our Engagement Solutions via a significantly streamlined deployment model and improving customer and team engagement throughout their business.”

The latest version of Collaboration Pod, the 2400 model, comes off the heels of the larger version, 4200, which was released with larger enterprises and cloud service providers in mind. That larger model has seen success with that intended audience, so there is an expectation that this similar product, scaled down, should do just as well for the population it means to serve.

Avaya's latest software package is meant to work with other unified access platforms in Avaya's portfolio that address networking and mobile engagement. The use of these products will come together in Collaboration Pod Elite workshops for channel partners that Avaya will conduct this July in the U.S., this October in the U.K., and this November in Singapore.