West Australian Businesses Embrace IP Telephony

14-Aug-2006 - WESTERN AUSTRALIA – Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services says Western Australia (WA) is embracing IP telephony, with smart companies such as the West Coast Eagles, WA’s premier AFL football club, among a growing number of small to medium size enterprises making the transition from traditional telephone systems.

Using IP telephony, which is sweeping the globe, businesses can make subscriber trunk dialing (STD) calls – both national and international – at local call rates, and reap efficiency and productivity benefits.

Brad Giles, Business Development Manager and co-founder of Exabit communication, a WA-based Avaya BusinessPartner, said Avaya IP Office provides West Coast Eagles with a secure, intelligent and easy-to-use converged voice and data system specifically designed for small and medium businesses.

“IP telephony is part of converged technology,” Giles said. “Put simply, this means voice becomes an application running on a data network, instead of the parallel network required with traditional telephony. The result offers huge cost savings, plus new ways of addressing business models and customer service. Western Australia’s geographic isolation from other business hubs in Australia and globally and the high cost of STD calls makes IP telephony the perfect solution for cutting costs"

For the West Coast Eagles, using IP telephony means its Subiaco head office is now connected to the Melbourne office through an IP trunk over their Wide Area Network (WAN) connection, which links the two systems and allows them to act as one. When a call then hits the PSTN (public switched telephone network) via the Melbourne office, it incurs only the cost of a local call.

West Coast Eagles IT Manager Digby Moullin said the new Avaya IP telephony system and call centre solution, installed by Exabit communication in May, had been extremely well received by staff and is helping to provide better service to customers.

“The way any club communicates with its members and the general public - as well as its own players and staff – is very important,” he said. “There are times during the year when we are literally inundated with calls, so the system will continue to make things a whole lot easier for both our staff and our customers.”

Previously, the West Coast Eagles used a simple keystation telephone system, which made it difficult to handle the volume of incoming calls during busy periods and provided very few additional features that could enhance communication.

Now, the IP Office system allows the West Coast Eagles to use audio, wired and wireless voice all over a single network and centralise all calls through the one centre. Calls may be forwarded and retrieved by either location and, during busy periods, ring at the other location where staff can then assist with “overload” situations.

Players and staff can also make and receive telephone and fax calls in either location from the same extension number. In other words, the system treats their calls as if they were all made from the same location no matter if they are in Perth or Melbourne.

Exabit communication also recently installed the same Avaya IP Office with contact center capabilities for Internet based travel agency Best Flights, a Leederville call centre with over 60 agents. This installation recently won Exabit an award from Avaya.

Avaya has been responsible for some of the world’s biggest IP telephony installations including the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™ and 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ soccer events.

An Avaya representative will fly to Perth to co-host a special breakfast with Exabit communication for the Perth business community at the Rydges Hotel this Tuesday 15 August.

West Coast Eagle David Wirrpanda will be a special guest speaker.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (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.

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Linda Motherwell

Media Relations

Avaya Inc.

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