Avaya

Avaya Inc.
Public
Traded as
Industry Technology
Predecessor
Founded 2000 (2000)
Headquarters Santa Clara, California, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
  • Jim Chirico (CEO)
  • Patrick O’Malley (CFO)
Revenue US$3.27 billion (FY 2017)[2]
US$137 million (FY 2017)[2]
US$(182 million) (FY 2017)[2]
Total assets US$5.89 billion (FY 2017)[2]
Number of employees
 8,700 (2017)[3]
Website avaya.com
Office seen through glass doors
Avaya office

Avaya (/əˈvaɪ.ə/) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California that specializes in business communications, specifically unified communications (UC), contact center (CC), and services.[4][5][6] Serving organizations at 220,000 customer locations worldwide,[6] Avaya is the largest pure-play UC and CC company, ranking No. 1 in CC and No. 2 in UC and collaboration. The company had FY17 revenues of $3.3 billion, 78% of which was attributed to software and services.

In late 2017 to early 2018, the company emerged with a new leadership team and a revised strategy based on accelerating open, cloud-first architecture; integrating artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and emerging technologies, and transforming the business through increased investment in innovation.

History

Name

In 1995, Lucent Technologies was spun off from AT&T, and Lucent spun off units of its own in an attempt to restructure its struggling operations.[7]

Avaya was then spun off as its own company in 2000. It remained a public company from 2000 to 2007, when it was purchased by private equity firms.

In 2001, the Mark Avaya Interaction Center for customer relationship management began, enabling businesses to draw multi-platform call centers to multimedia, multi-site contact centers. A proposed "converged communications" road map focused on the role that applications would play in making communications improve business performance.

On December 15, 2017, it again became a public company, trading under the stock ticker AVYA.[1]

Acquisition and return to private corporation

In October 2007, Avaya was acquired by two private-equity firms, TPG Capital and Silver Lake Partners, for $8.2 billion[7][8] and the company was delisted on the New York Stock Exchange.[9] The following year, Avaya Speech to Text (enabling voicemail messages to be read on mobile devices or computers) and Avaya Unified Communications (focusing on role-based communications for teleworkers, home agents, small-business mobile workers, branch-office integration, retail stores and branch banking) were introduced, and Kevin Kennedy became the company's CEO and president.[10]

In 2009, the Avaya Aura for integrated communications was introduced, and in December the company acquired Nortel Enterprise's assets for $900 million.[11] The following year, Avaya was the converged-network equipment supplier for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and Avaya Aura Contact Center was introduced. In June 2011, Avaya filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering.[12] On October 4, 2011, the company reported that it was acquiring Sipera Systems for its session border controller (SBC) and unified communications security applications.[13][14] On October 19, 2011, it was reported that Avaya would buy Aurix.[15] Shareholders approved the acquisition of Radvision for about $230 million on April 30, 2012,[16][17] and the deal closed in June.[18]

Bankruptcy (2016–2017)

According to May 2016 news articles[19] citing "internal sources", Avaya's private-equity owners (Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital) considered a sale of the company valued at $6 to $10 billion including debt.[20] During the company's earnings call that month, CEO Kevin Kennedy had confirmed that Goldman Sachs was helping Avaya evaluate expressions of interest received relative to specific assets and explore other potential opportunities.[21] In November, Avaya considered chapter 11 bankruptcy while trying to sell its call-center business.[22] On January 19, 2017 Avaya filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, saying that its foreign operations would be unaffected.[23][24] In its petition, the company listed $5.5 billion in assets and $6.3 billion in debts.[25]

In an effort to monetize its assets during the bankruptcy period, Avaya announced in March 2017 it would sell its networking business and associated products to Extreme Networks for $100 million USD. The sale was finalized in July 2017.[26]

A New Avaya

In late 2017 to early 2018, the company emerged with a new leadership team under President and CEO Jim Chirico and a revised strategy based on accelerating open, cloud-first architecture; integrating artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and emerging technologies, and transforming the business through increased investment in innovation. On December 15, 2017, Avaya again became a public company, trading under the stock ticker AVYA.[1] In mid-2018, the company announced that Avaya was positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, the ninth time that the company has been in a Leader position—and was also positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure for the seventeenth time. Companies in the Leaders quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant are defined as companies that “execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.”

Acquisitions

Since 2001, Avaya has sold and acquired several companies, including VPNet Technologies, VISTA Information Technologies, Quintus, RouteScience, Tenovis, Spectel, NimCat Networks, Traverse Networks, Ubiquity Software Corporation, Agile Software NZ Limited, Konftel, Sipera, Aurix, Radvision and Esnatech.[27] Through Nortel's bankruptcy proceedings, assets related to their Enterprise Voice and Data business units were auctioned. Avaya placed a $900 million bid, and was announced as the winner of the assets on September 14, 2009.[28][11]

In 2018, Avaya acquired Spoken Communications, a leading innovator in Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions and customer experience management applications built on conversational artificial intelligence. The Spoken platform accelerates Avaya’s growth in cloud-based solutions and provides a reliable and highly scalable cloud platform for customers of all sizes.

Locations and support

Avaya's headquarters are at 4655 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California. The company had offices in over 145 countries in 2011.[29] Avaya sponsors a users' group[30] and training programs for IT professional certification in the use of Avaya's products.[31] In 1985, Performance Engineering Corporation (later PEC Solutions) was formed to offer technology services to government customers.[32] On June 6, 2005, Nortel acquired PEC Solutions to form Nortel PEC Solutions.[33][34] On January 18, 2006, Nortel PEC Solutions was renamed Nortel Government Solutions.[35] On December 21, 2009, Avaya acquired Nortel's government business as part of the company's assets sale.[36][37]

Patents

Avaya bought Nortel Enterprise and acquired its patents, including:[38][39]

  • US20050007951 – Routed split multi-link trunking[40]
  • 7173934 – System, device and method for improving communication-network reliability using trunk splitting[41]
  • 6496502 – Distributed multi-link trunking and apparatus[42]
  • UNIStim

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Avaya to Ring Opening Bell, Begin Trading on the New York Stock Exchange". MarketWired. January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Avaya Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2017 Financial Results". Avaya. December 22, 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Wolf, Alex (November 27, 2017). "Avaya Ch. 11 plan, supported by creditors, heads to judge". Law360. Retrieved 6 December 2017. (Registration required (help)).
  4. ↑ "Avaya on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  5. ↑ "company overview" (PDF). Avaya.
  6. ↑ "Avaya at a glance" (PDF). Avaya. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  7. ↑ "Avaya, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Nov 1, 2007" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Investment Firms Pick Up Avaya For $8.2 Billion". Informationweek.com. June 5, 2007. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
  9. ↑ "SILVER LAKE AND TPG CAPITAL COMPLETE ACQUISITION OF AVAYA" (PDF). silverlake.com. Silver Lake. 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
  10. ↑ "Avaya Leadership". avaya.com. Retrieved Jan 23, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Sean Michael Kerner (September 14, 2009). "Avaya Closes Nortel Enterprise Deal for $900M". internetnews. Retrieved Feb 16, 2010.
  12. ↑ Julianne Pepitone (June 9, 2011). "Avaya files for $1 billion IPO". CNN Money. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Avaya, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Oct 4, 2011" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013.
  14. ↑ Larry Hettick (October 4, 2011). "Avaya acquires Sipera". Network World. Retrieved Oct 6, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Aurix Acquired by Avaya". Yahoo!.
  16. ↑ "Avaya, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jun 6, 2012" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013.
  17. ↑ Shoshanna Solomon (15 March 2012). "Avaya Agrees to Acquire RadVision for About $230 Million". Business Week. Retrieved 4 Sep 2012.
  18. ↑ "RADVISION Acquired By Avaya". radvision.com. Radvision. 2012-06-05. Archived from the original on 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  19. ↑ "Avaya's Private Equity Owners Explore Sale". Fortune. 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  20. ↑ "Avaya's private equity owners explore sale: sources". May 20, 2016 – via Reuters.
  21. ↑ "Edited Transcript of Avaya Inc earnings conference call or presentation 16-May-16 9:00pm GMT". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  22. ↑ "Avaya Weighing Bankruptcy Filing, Sale of Call-Center Software Unit". Wall Street Journal. 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  23. ↑ "Avaya Press Release on its decision to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy for its US operations". Retrieved Jan 20, 2017.
  24. ↑ Linnane, Ciara. "Avaya files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  25. ↑ Moise, Imani; Jarzemsky, Matt (January 19, 2017), Avaya Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, New York: The Wall Street Journal, retrieved January 22, 2017
  26. ↑ Natalie Gagliordi (March 7, 2017). "Avaya sells networking business to Extreme Networks for $100 million". ZD Net. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Avaya Acquisitions". avaya.com. Retrieved Jan 22, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Nortel Networks, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Sep 14, 2009" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved Jan 19, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Avaya Worldwide Locator". Retrieved Aug 18, 2011.
  30. ↑ "IAUG". Retrieved Jan 30, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Avaya Professional Credential Program". Avaya Learning. Retrieved Nov 9, 2014.
  32. ↑ "PEC Solutions Inc". Washington Post 200PEC Solutions Inc. 2005. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Nortel Completes Acquisition of PEC Solutions, Inc". Business Wire. June 7, 2005. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011.
  34. ↑ Witte, Griff (April 27, 2005). "Nortel to Buy PEC Solutions For $448 Million". The Washington Post.
  35. ↑ "Nortel PEC Solutions Renamed Nortel Government Solutions". Nortel. January 18, 2006. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011.
  36. ↑ "Avaya/Nortel combination aims for greater growth". Nortel. Dec 21, 2009. Retrieved Jan 11, 2012.
  37. ↑ "Who We Are". Avaya Government Solutions. Retrieved Apr 1, 2011.
  38. ↑ "Avaya Closes Nortel Enterprise Deal for $900M". Internetnews. Sep 14, 2009. Retrieved Feb 26, 2011.
  39. ↑ "List of Patents that have Issued to the Nortel Family of Companies" (PDF). Nortel. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  40. ↑
    • "Routed split multilink trunking". Retrieved Feb 23, 2011.
    • "Routed split multilink trunking United States Patent Application 20050007951". Retrieved Feb 26, 2011.
  41. ↑ "System, device, and method for improving communication network reliability using trunk splitting". Retrieved Feb 26, 2011.
  42. ↑
    • "Distributed multi-link trunking method and apparatus". Patentstorm. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved Feb 26, 2011.
    • "Distributed Multi-link Trunking Method And Apparatus – Patent 6496502". Retrieved Feb 26, 2011.

Further reading

  • David Rohde (July 3, 2000). "Lucent spinoff Avaya plays to its strengths". Network World.
  • Jeffrey Burt (March 15, 2012). "Avaya to Buy Radvision, Ramping Competition with Cisco". eWeek. Retrieved March 17, 2012. Avaya, after months of speculation, is buying Radvision
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