Avaya Flexes Its Video

In 2009, Cisco announced its intent to acquire Tandberg. At the time an SVP at Cisco said, "It really enables us to build out our portfolio." The acquisition was the formalization of video (or "TelePresence") as a part of UC. It also began a period of turmoil for both Radvision and Avaya.

For Radvision, it meant the end of a successful partnership with Cisco. Cisco was rebadging Radvision technology - representing about 40 percent of Radvision's revenue. Radvision quickly went into the red, and many questioned its survival. Avaya also had a problem - its one and only video phone was made by Tandberg. It developed multiple video solutions including One-Touch Video, the Flare Experience, and specialized firmware for LifeSize room systems. While Cisco rolled out a wide-range of video endpoints - Avaya only offered its Android-based mobile desktop, the Avaya Desktop Video Device.

It took a while, but eventually the two firms found each other. Avaya closed on its acquisition of Radvision just last summer. It quickly rolled out video to its employees and began integrating the products. Fruits of that effort were released this week.

Let's take a look:

• Scopia XT5000. This is a room system solution that now offers tighter integration with the Avaya IP Office. Any IP Office user can participate in multipoint audio or video calls with room-based participants. The XT5000 also now offers an embedded MCU up to nine ports.
   
• The Scopia Mobile client is now available for Android (previously only supported on iOS).
   
• A new desktop system called Scopia XT Executive 240 offers simultaneous HD video and content sharing. Supports 264 SVC and High Profile and an optional MCU.
   
• The Avaya Client Applications (ACA) allows Lync users to access Avaya voice and video from within Microsoft's Communicator client, Microsoft Office, and Internet Explorer.
   
• To better integrate with Cisco, there's the new Scopia TIP Gateway which integrates and utilizes all three Cisco screens. That means Radvision now officially supports integrations with Cisco, LifeSize, and Polycom TelePresence systems.
   
• Radvision also announced a completely new Scopia Management System.
   
• Avaya upgraded its Aura Conferencing and Flare Experience solutions to support multipoint video with the Radvision solution. New clients are available for iOS and Windows desktops.

These are impressive and necessary updates, but not the best timing as both Cisco and Polycom have experienced a drop in demand for high-end video solutions. Also, there were two notable items missing from the announcements: a video service and support of WebRTC.

LifeSize has already launched its video service called Connections. Cisco relaunched its service now called WebEx Telepresence, Polycom's CloudAXIS was announced a few months ago, and Vidyo intends to offer a service called Vidyoway. Avaya Radvision is the only major enterprise video solution with no plans for a video service offering. The firm believes that service providers are better suited to offer this, and claims Scopia is highly attractive to them. Orange, Telstra, and Glowpoint are providers offering services based on Scopia. To make the product even more appealing to providers, Scopia now offers improved scalability, multi-tenancy, and improved management features.

WebRTC will soon cause an explosion in the number of video-enabled endpoints. The technology will allow most web browsers to natively support video communications. While Avaya Radvision hasn't indicated WebRTC support yet, some video solutions already have. For example, Vidtel's gateway service can currently connect WebRTC-enabled browsers to multiple endpoints including those from Avaya, Cisco, and Polycom. Avaya is actively involved with WebRTC, and expects to support the technology after the standard is finalized.

Avaya's acquisition of Radvision has been swift and impressive - from announcement through close to integrated solutions. The company also has an aggressive roadmap for future enhancements.