[October 6, 2004]

Inter-Tel and Avaya Keynote at IT Conference & EXPO

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Inter-Tel Chairman, Steve Mihaylo kicked off yesterday�s keynote at the Crystal room of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel during the second day of Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO. It seems that everyone agrees that the most important feature of VoIP is the value it adds to voice services. Mihaylo said �there will be more opportunity in VoIP�s future than we have seen so far.�

�The mission of our industry is to be profitable, and the point is to show not the transport (IP), but the applications, this is the way we show our competitors and our employees why VoIP works,� he added. �We have to build a good reason for our customers to adopt the technology, and that is value.� He argued that VoIP technology should not replace PBX systems, instead, converge into one solution.

He believes that the convergence of data and telecom apps have positioned VoIP products and services into a commodity, and �just marketing it as such does not work, instead you have to be able to show were the benefits lie. The value of these products services lies in the ability for companies to run their business with less people and have better management of their communication services,� he added.

Susan Bailey from Avaya continued the keynote by highlighting convergence of voice and data apps as the main reason for customers to adopt VoIP. She gave the audience an overview of Avaya�s services and products as they work in the call center environment. She noted that a lot of Avaya�s clients are looking to add productivity to users that work remotely, and increasing their collaboration efforts with conferencing capabilities. �IP in the contact center is the software layer that will be eventually bringing in the revenue, that�s where the value of VoIP is.�