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Avaya Earns Third Edison Award for Innovation in Collaboration and Communications

  • 2013 Edison Award received for patent enabling continuous communications during an emergency or network outage now built into Avaya Aura® communications core
  • Win highlights Avaya’s ongoing focus and investment in communications and collaboration solutions that meet the changing demands of business
  • Third consecutive year R&D Council of NJ recognizes patents from Avaya’s portfolio of nearly 6000 patents and patent applications worldwide

Santa Clara, CA — Avaya announced today it has won the 2013 Edison Award for telecommunications from the R&D Council of NJ, validating the company’s ongoing focus in research and development of highly innovative solutions in collaboration and communications for enterprises. This is the third consecutive year that Avaya has been recognized with an Edison Award for a patent within its portfolio of nearly 6,000 patents and patents pending worldwide.
This year’s award was given to Avaya for unique capabilities of disaster recovery now available in the Avaya Aura® communications core: “Disaster Recovery via alternative terminals in partitioned networks” (Patent 7983148B1), entails an innovative method to keep communication lines open during a network outage or natural disaster. The method enables the registration endpoints across multiple partitions as well as use of an alternate device, such as a cell phone, in the event all partitions are lost or compromised. The inventors include Sandra Abramson, Stephen M. Milton, Emil F. Stefanacci, David L. Chavez, and Albert D. Pessot.
The recognition comes on the heels of the company being awarded several key new patents that reinforce Avaya’s leadership in communications and collaboration software and services. For example, Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) in contact centers has been complex and expensive to implement.  Avaya’s latest patent describes how SIP-based contact centers can cleanly integrate with the web-based information of their customers, so that agents can use straightforward web tools instead of complex CTI applications when providing service. This method will reduce the cost of implementing contact centers going forward and is especially significant as customers increasingly ask for agent help from web sites, SMS messages, emails, as well as phone calls.
Taken together, these achievements highlight the impact of Avaya’s ongoing investments in R&D to redefine how companies communicate and collaborate among their employees and with customers and partners. Avaya’s R&D investments of more than 17 percent of product revenue continue to outpace the industry average of 14 percent.  Avaya has consistently ranked among the top 20 telecom and communications companies for number of patents issued each year; for 2013 the company has already received nearly the same number of patents acquired for all of 2012.
This year’s award follows the 2012 Edison Award received by Avaya for a unique method of collaboration that enables people to simultaneously and dynamically manage conferencing sessions, including creating sub-sessions within a larger conference and joining multiple conferences into one. The patent is a key product attribute of the Avaya Flare® Experience. Prior to that, Avaya was honored in the telecommunications category for the ability to link desktop telephone extensions to end user’s mobile devices – a patent that became the foundation of the company’s worldwide leadership in mobility.  Today Avaya technologies can turn nearly any mobile device, home phone, smartphone or remote off-site phone into an extension of a single office number (video).
The Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award is granted each year by the R&D Council of New Jersey to honor the noteworthy efforts of scientists and inventors, as well as their organizations. Thirty other inventors and 12 New Jersey companies and universities will be recognized at the organization’s 34th Patent Award Ceremony & Reception that will take place on November 7, 2013 at the Liberty Science Center.

Quotes
“As a company, Avaya is committed to identifying emerging trends that affect how work gets done, and creating the technologies that enable companies and end users to meet the changing demands of business. Avaya continues to develop powerful, easy-to-use communications tools—from contact centers to collaboration—that drive companies forward.”
Brett Shockley, senior vice president and CTO, Avaya

Additional Resources
For more information on Avaya Innovations and Avaya Labs, visit:www.avaya.com/usa/about-avaya/our-company/innovation/

Tags
Avaya, unified communications, patents, innovation, labs, Avaya Aura, Edison Award, R&D, New Jersey

About Avaya
Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, networking and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.
Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “should” or “will” or other similar terminology. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to Avaya’s filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov . Avaya disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.