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Avaya (News - Alert) is handing out updates left and right, as it released the newest version of the Avaya Aura Unified Communications Platform and the expansion of the Avaya Flare Experience to iPad tablets and Windows computers, as well as greater mobility capabilities for the Avaya Communications Server 1000. The main announcement, though, was the release of the latest version of Avaya Aura Conferencing.

With Avaya Aura Conferencing 7.0, users can run session-based voice and web collaboration from a variety of devices, including most computers, tablets and smartphones. It comes with improved scalability and security, allowing for up to 75,000 conferencing sessions while supporting a BYOD environment. Bandwidth is managed by a built-in intelligence and open architecture, adapting as needed to keep the network and budget within reasonable ranges.

It’s a clientless solution, needing nothing more than a web browser to use, while still containing all the features and capabilities of a solution that needs clients. Among its many collaboration and communication capabilities are voice, document sharing, instant messaging, and more.

The Avaya Flare Experience supports iPad tablets and Windows PCs, while the next release is intended to support Android (News - Alert) devices. It’s supported by Avaya Aura 6.2, and is used to connect the supported devices to Avaya Aura Communications Manager or Avaya CS 1000 systems. There’s also an iPhone (News - Alert) collaboration app for iPhones, providing users with document sharing, messaging, and more.

For customers of Avaya CS 1000, there’s the Collaboration Pack, a single server solution that provides them with Avaya Aura’s SIP capabilities, along with Avaya Flare Communicator and Avaya one-X Mobile SIP for iOS.

Avaya Aura Conferencing is available at a cost of $140 per user with the Collaboration Agent browser interface. It can also be purchased with the addition of the Avaya Flare Experience at $190 per user.

It seems to me like Avaya is really attempting to step up to the next level. By making version 7.0 interoperable with far more devices, and increasing its scalability to thousands of simultaneous conferences, it’s proving to be just what businesses need in these days of BYOD. This wave of releases and updates should prove to be great news for Avaya’s customers and partners, who I’m sure will benefit from all that it has to provide.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

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