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Avaya is rolling out a host of new enterprise-level networking tools designed to help businesses more easily handle the growing number of bandwidth-eating video and unified communications applications.
Avaya will show off the new offerings at the Interop 2010 show, which kicks off April 26 in Las Vegas.
The new products, which include a switch, a wireless LAN solution and management software, come four months after Avaya completed its $915 million acquisition of bankrupt Nortel Network’s enterprise business, which includes its UC (unified communications) products.
They’re also part of what Avaya officials are calling a “fit for purpose” push to give businesses more options in picking the products they need rather than having to buy bulky and complex packages of solutions that include technologies they may not want.
“The days of -one size fits all’ network solutions are over,” Avaya President and CEO Kevin Kennedy said in a statement. The company is putting itself in position to lead the industry to “redefine the IT value proposition and offer the best return on business communications.”
The new Ethernet Routing Switch 8800 is designed to consolidate hardware and software technologies to unify the core and edges of the network and the wired and wireless solutions. With the consolidation, the new switch will enable an easier transition to virtualized applications and greater capabilities for handling video traffic.
It also offers 150 percent more memory capacity and uses 33 percent less power than the current 8600 switch models, according to Avaya.
The WLAN 8100 Series offers 802.11n capabilities combined with a new architecture that is aimed at supporting the idea that wireless is becoming the top choice for users accessing the network. Thanks to Avaya’s “split plane” architecture, the WLAN 8100 Series-built for large and midsized enterprises-reduces the bottlenecks and complexities of current overlay wired/wireless network networks and lets businesses more easily support UC, voice and video apps.
The WLAN 8100 Series will be available in mid-2010.
The company’s COM (Configuration and Orchestration Manager) software is the latest addition to Avaya’s Unified Network Management portfolio. The network configuration management also offers provisioning and troubleshooting capabilities for enterprise technologies such as multicast, routing, VLAN and VRF (virtual routing and forwarding).
Avaya’s COM includes intuitive wizards and templates that make it easier for network administrators to address those technologies.
The Advanced Gateway 2330, due early in the summer, is a tool that will enable businesses to extend their UC applications to remote workers and branch offices. It interoperates with Avaya’s Aura platform and other SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) systems, and enables enterprises to consolidate communications devices onto a single platform.