BASKING RIDGE, N.J., May 2, 2005 -- Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV), a leading global provider of business communications applications, services, and systems, today outlined its strategic roadmap and announced new products to help businesses make the transition to a new era of Intelligent Communications. The new products are part of an emerging software and services category called business communications applications, a global market estimated to be $30 billion in 2006.(1)

Avaya also announced it intends to expand its relationship with Juniper Networks, Inc. The company also said it has provided a new Avaya-led intelligent communications solution to Wynn Las Vegas.

Intelligent Communications seamlessly connects communications applications and business applications, giving workers, customers and processes the ability to be linked to the right person, at the right time, by the right medium -- voice, text and video -- over any network. This right-time, right-choice communications gives businesses and workers increased agility through greater speed, responsiveness to customers and control over communications.

"We're living in a rapidly-evolving IP world," said Don Peterson, chairman and CEO, Avaya. "Ten years ago the question was, are you ready for an IP network? Today, the question is, what are you doing with it? Through our unique capability to bring people and processes together, we will help businesses turn networks into engines of competitive value."

The new Avaya products support the company's MultiVantage(TM) suite of business communications applications. Included is a new release of Avaya IP telephony software, Avaya Communication Manager 3.0, which features higher levels of availability across an entire business.(2) Availability is the continuous, reliable and secure operation of mission-critical applications in an "always on" 24/7 world.

The company also introduced an open Web Services-based applications enablement suite, which will simplify and stimulate the design of new business communications applications by software vendors and Avaya customers. To date, 140 consultants, independent software development firms and alliance partners, including AT&T, Extreme Networks(R), HP, Juniper Networks and Polycom have announced support for this approach, which creates an open applications environment.

In another move designed to lead the transition to intelligent communications, Avaya announced it has expanded its membership in OASIS-an industry organization developing standards for Web Services-by joining the Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WSBPEL) technical committee to work towards enabling real-time communications services to be easily embedded in business applications and processes.

Avaya said Wynn Las Vegas has chosen an Avaya intelligent communications solution to deliver the ultimate guest experience. The solutions feature products from Avaya DeveloperConnection partners Citrix, Juniper Networks, NICE Systems and SDC.

Avaya and Juniper Networks said the companies intend to expand their relationship to jointly develop and deliver secure converged communications solutions to businesses worldwide. The focus is on complete converged campus and branch solutions that tightly integrate Avaya business communications applications with Juniper Networks routing and security technology. The combination will foster innovation by two technology leaders, and give customers a clear migration path to intelligent communications.

The emerging market category of business communications applications for software and services includes: telephony, audio and video conferencing, instant messaging, presence, contact centers, voicemail, collaboration, unified communication, email and more, integrated through communications Web Services on any network and phone. To operate in a global, distributed, 24/7 environment, these applications will have to be open, highly available and secure. Avaya is building on its heritage as an innovator in voice, IP telephony and contact centers, and its delivery of reliable, secure solutions that work on any network, to lead the transition to this new era of intelligent applications.

"To remain competitive, the real-time enterprise will combine intelligent, real-time communications with business applications," said Jeff Snyder, vice president, Gartner, Inc. "Enterprises will accomplish this by embracing open standards-based communications applications, combining voice and other communications tools in order to enhance their business processes." In the near future, for example, with Intelligent Communications, a factory delivery process, stalled by an inventory problem, will automatically locate, notify and conference the right decision-makers to put the process back on track. A salesperson will be able to customize rules about how and when you can reach him so he is "off limits" during a staff meeting, but willing to make an exception for a critical customer call. These capabilities are already under development at Avaya Labs.

"The market has been waiting for the killer application in IP telephony," said Ravi Sethi, president, Avaya Labs. "The killer application is the ability to embed voice into processes and applications to create the next great leap in agility and flexibility for businesses. The result is new levels of speed that will improve productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction."

New Avaya Investments in Research and Development Support Intelligent Communications Through a Service-Oriented Architecture

Avaya is leveraging its experience in technical innovation from Avaya Labs, committing 90 percent of its research and development investments to ongoing software development.

Some examples under development at Avaya Labs today include:

* A Session Initiation Protocol-enabled virtual personal assistant that lets workers choose how they prefer to be reached (i.e. voice, IM, email), along with who is allowed to reach them and when. Automated voice-driven "communications assistants" can alert workers to priority callers with a high level of specificity. Workers who answer a phone call at a particular time can use the assistant to provide ideal call-back times that synchronize with the worker's business calendar.

* Expanded agent support that enriches the experience of an online customer who wants to talk to a live agent. When the customer hits a "click-to-talk" button, the agent will receive, along with the call, information about products the customer has viewed online or purchased in the past. Then, SIP-enabled presence can let the agent immediately see the availability of experts in any location, find the right one to serve a customer's specialized needs, and quickly connect the expert to the customer in real-time.

Avaya also is working with the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business to build on previous collaborative research to extend communications in radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor networks into supply chain management and healthcare scenarios, and in event-triggered conferencing for crisis situations. Past Avaya-Smith research in this area has resulted in significant advances in enterprise supply chains beginning with a project for the United States Air Force in 2000, as well as for the State of Maryland.

For more information on new Avaya products please visit: http://www.avaya.com/media. Avaya solutions will be on display at Avaya Booth #639 at the Networld + Interop 2005 event being held in Las Vegas from May 2 through May 5.

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500(R). Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable IP telephony systems and communications software applications and services. Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications -- and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services -- Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya website: http://www.avaya.com.

(1) The market estimate for business communications applications is from Avaya analysis based on various industry analyst reports. This market includes software ($13B) and surrounding services ($17B).

(2) For more information, see accompanying Avaya press release issued today on new products.

SOURCE Avaya

Web Site: http://www.avaya.com

http://www.avaya.com/media