Vox and Avaya
October 5th, 2009To our Valued Customers:
As you know, Nortel and Avaya, in conjunction with the courts, announced that Avaya is the winning bidder for Nortel’s Enterprise division.
Rather than wait on the side lines to see what transpires, VOX has been working diligently to support our Nortel customers and insure that their infrastructure investment will be protected and supported moving forward.
To that end, I am pleased to tell you that VOX is now an official Avaya distributor and we have excellent relationships with the entire Avaya management team. We have already begun interfacing with Avaya to gain a better understanding of what the sale means and will share this information with you on an ongoing basis. The major items we have been addressing with Avaya are product road maps and sales and technical support plans. Based upon our conversations, Avaya understands how critical this information is to our customers.
According to IDC, a telecommunications industry analyst evaluating the Nortel sale to Avaya, “each company’s next-generation products are highly complementary, while the bulk of overlap exists in legacy product lines. Nortel’s customers can be assured that like Nortel, Avaya’s road map seeks to be as hardware agnostic as possible, and IDC expects Avaya-Nortel to seek out areas of interoperability with every relevant vendor and standard in the market. Both Avaya and Nortel customers should expect little disruption on this front.”
Our discussions confirm that AVAYA’s Aura Technology will be a key ingredient for migrating the two platforms and creating a cohesive product road map for both Nortel and Avaya customers moving forward. If you are interested in receiving an executive briefing on the Aura roadmap, please contact your VOX account manager.
On behalf of all of us at VOX, I want to thank you for your continued partnership during this challenging time. While Nortel and Avaya will continue to operate as competitors until the deal is closed, VOX is committed to working with both the Avaya and Nortel management teams and will continue to share information with you as it develops.
If there are any questions regarding this information please conact Nancy Price nprice@voxns.com
Microsoft Business Productivity Online
September 29th, 2009Vox is announcing availability of the Microsoft Online Services. Below you will find a link that you can use to initiate a free 30 day trial. The Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite includes:
Hosted Microsoft Exchange 2007
Hosted Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007
Hosted Live Meeting 2007
Hosted Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
** Business Productivity Online Standard Suite **
Sign up for a 30-day trial! This trial includes 20 user licenses for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online
Move your business to the cloud and save money!
Please contact Chad McGreanor at Vox Network Solutions if anyone has any questions:
EOS: Contact Center 6
September 16th, 2009This post serves as notice to all customers that after September 30, 2009 no new sales of Contact Center 6 software will be made. Nortel previously gave advanced notice of this deadline on June 4, 2009.
Additionally, the Contact Center 6 product will enter end-of-life June 30, 2010 and Manufacture Discontinued on June 30, 2012.
To see the original advanced notification provided by VOX Network Solutions, see this link:
http://support.voxns.com/headlines/index.php/2009/06/05/contact-center-6-software-lifecycle-support-notice/
To receive a quote for Contact Center Upgrade, please contact your VOX Account Manager. If you do not have a VOX Account Manager, please contact Nancy Price via email or by calling 650-989-1015.
Millions Switch from Notes to Exchange
August 4th, 2009“In our last fiscal year (July 2008-June 2009), more than 4.7 million people began the switch to Exchange and SharePoint from Notes”, Exchange marketing director Julia White posts on the Unified Communications blog.
Read more here:
Avaya/Nortel Announcement
July 20th, 2009Today is an important day for Nortel Enterprise Solutions. Following the announcement on June 19th that Nortel is advancing in its discussions to sell its businesses, Nortel announced it has entered into a “stalking horse” asset and share sale agreement with Avaya Inc. for its North American, Caribbean, Latin American and Asia Enterprise Solutions business, and an asset sale agreement with Avaya for the Europe, Middle East and Africa portion of its Enterprise Solutions business, for US$475 million. These agreements include the planned sale of substantially all of the assets of the Enterprise Solutions business globally as well as the shares of Nortel Government Solutions Inc. and DiamondWare, Ltd.
This is the best path forward for Nortel Enterprise Solutions. If successfully concluded, these agreements would enable customers to continue to benefit from Nortel-created technology and innovation. And most importantly, it would provide clarity on the path forward for its Enterprise customers, partners and employees. Nortel hopes to be in a position to close the sale by the end of the calendar year, however they are unable to provide a definitive timeframe as the process involves a number of steps, including the bidding process, obtaining government, administrator and court approvals and satisfying other conditions. We will update you on the status of the process as further information is available.
Nortel has received tremendous support from its Enterprise customers and partners around the globe over the past several months. They have told Nortel categorically that you value the innovation in its technology, the simplicity of its solutions, and the value they bring to your business. If successfully completed, this transaction could enable Enterprise Solutions to help its customers compete in new ways with expanded scale and resources.
Nortel’s Enterprise Solutions portfolio has been the benchmark in the industry in a number of significant areas. Its unified communications solutions are delivering cost savings, efficiency gains and enhanced performance for customers around the world. Innovations in its application and service portfolio are redefining the way in which companies can operate in a multi-vendor environment. Its data portfolio delivers exceptional performance combined with energy efficiency savings which make both sound economic and environmental sense. And Nortel is leading the industry forward into uncharted territory, with virtual world collaboration, the communication-enablement of corporate business processes, and in contact center self service technology.
While Nortel may not have answers to some of your questions on portfolio or transition specifics today, VOX and Nortel remain focused on our customers and continuing to maintain the high service levels our customers are accustomed to without interruption through this process. I will provide you with updates and more clarity as soon as progress is made or further information is available.
I will be contacting you in the coming days to discuss this announcement at greater length. In the interim, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me via email at nprice@voxns.com, or via phone at 650-989-1015. You may also visit www.nortel.com/restructuring for the latest news and information on all of Nortel’s restructuring announcements.
Thank you for your business and continued support.
EOL: Contact Center 6
June 16th, 2009This post serves as notice that in two weeks on June 30, 2010, Contact Center 6 will become end-of-life. Nortel provided advanced notification of this status on June 4, 2009. This software product will become Manufacture Discontinued on June 30, 2012.
To see the original advanced notification provided by VOX Network Solutions, see this link:
http://support.voxns.com/headlines/index.php/2009/06/05/contact-center-6-software-lifecycle-support-notice/
To receive a quote for Contact Center Upgrade, please contact your VOX Account Manager. If you do not have a VOX Account Manager, please contact Nancy Price via email or by calling 650-989-1015.
Contact Center 6 Software Lifecycle Support Notice
June 5th, 2009This post provides advance notification of the lifecycle change for Call Center Manager (CCM) 6.0 for Meridian 1 / CS1000 and SIP Contact Center. A separate notice will be issued for CCM 6 connected to CS2×100 switches. This post applies to CCM Release 6 family of products, namely, Call Center Manager Server (CCMS), Call Center Manager Administration (CCMA), Call Center Multimedia (CCMM) and Call Center Outbound (CCO) and auxiliary products such as CCMS6 for MLS. This post also applies to localized versions of these products. Nortel will update their bulletin as additional dates for language packs becomes available
This advance notice is provided for planning purposes. These dates are in line with the currently published Nortel lifecycle policy. CCM 6.0 lifecycle dates are planned to ensure support and development resources are focused on current and forthcoming product releases, thus maximizing benefits in terms of features and technology for customers. This post also provides recommendations to customers currently using CCM 6.0. Lifecycle dates also changes levels of support provided for these products. This post provides overview of support levels for each of the lifecycle states.
Analysis:
Call Center Manager 6.0 Life Cycle Dates:
| Regions Affected | All Regions |
| Generally Available date | December, 2005 |
| Present lifecycle status | Current |
| Planned End of New Sales date - English * | September 30, 2009 |
| Planned End of New Sales date - Localized versions * | Will be announced at later date |
| Planned Date of Manufacture Discontinued - English * | June 30, 2010 |
| Planned Date of Manufacture Discontinued - Localized versions * | Will be announced at later date |
| Planned date of End of Life (All regions, all languages) | June 30, 2012 |
* As per Nortel lifecycle policy, Contact Center Manager 6.0 End of new sales milestone is 3 months after the replacement is available. Contact Center Manager 6.0 Localized versions ‘End of new sales’ date will be announced at the same time Contact Center Manager 7 language packs dates are announced.
Definitions
End-of-New-Sales Definition - “End of New Sales” lifecycle milestone. This milestone is set after the new release of the product is available, and serves formal communication of Nortel’s intent to stop new sales of the product. No further orders will be accepted as of the “End of New Sales” date. At ‘End of New Sales’ milestone, new sales of the product end. Dual stream ordering window, with ability to place “new” orders for the previous release ceases. Expansions of existing systems, e.g. adding additional agents or new optional features are available till “Manufacture Discontinue” milestone.
Manufacture Discontinue Definition - “Manufacture Discontinue” milestone serves as formal communication of Nortel’s intent to manufacture discontinue (MD) the product(s) noted. No further orders are accepted as of the MD date. Customers are expected to upgrade. Nortel Support limited to diagnostics. Product repair may be available on a case-by-case basis. In a MD state customers will NOT be able to place new orders, or upgrades to this release. Orders for upgrades and expansions within the Release are no longer available, and there will be no corrective content such as patches, SU’s, maintenance releases, etc provided. Documentation, training, and certification exams will also not be updated. The MD of these products should not be interpreted as the discontinuance of any Nortel agreements to support the existing field population. Services to the existing product base will continue to be provided until the End of Life (EOL) date shown above.
End-Of-Life Definition - “End-of-Life” milestone serves as formal communication of Nortel’s intent to end the life of the product(s) noted. No further support will be provided. Emergency recovery and/or upgrades may be performed in accordance with customer specific service plans or upgrade agreements as negotiated prior to EOL. Customers are encouraged to upgrade.
Support Levels During Life-Cycle Phases
Customers are expected to purchase an upgrade to the current release to receive full support coverage from the Nortel Support and Design organizations.
For more information please see related document:
Enterprise Lifecycle Management Practice, Issue 3.3 June 2007.
http://www.nortel.com/support/programs/lifecycle/
Please be aware that after Manufacture Discontinue date, Nortel will not monitor and confirm applicability of any future Microsoft Security Hotfixes or Service Packs for CCM6.
LogMeIn Rescue Adds New IP Range
June 1st, 2009If you are using LogMeIn Rescue to work with our Nortel or VOX Network Solutions support engineers and your company has implemented IP based firewall rules to control access to LogMeIn Rescue, this change impacts your ability to use LogMeIn.
Effective May 4, 2009, LogMeIn Rescue adds a new IP Range: 216.52.233.1 - 216.52.233.254
The full list of IP Ranges for LogMeIn will be:
64.94.18.1 - 64.94.18.254
69.25.20.1 - 69.25.21.254
74.201.74.1 - 74.201.75.254
77.242.192.1 - 77.242.193.254
216.52.233.1 - 216.52.233.254
Impact
Customers or Partners that have set up IP based firewall rules to allow their employees to connect to LogMeIn and do not make the change listed above you may receive the following error: “Failed to connect to Rescue Gateway”.
If you are unsure if your company has implemented these IP base firewall rules - please contact your local network administrator and security team for verification.
CallPilot all releases and McAfee Antivirus 8.5
May 20th, 2009Do NOT install McAfee Anti-virus 8.5 on any release of CallPilot. Currently the interoperability with CallPilot is not supported due to the way the McAfee processes run on the Windows machine. Nortel is currently working with McAfee to provide support as soon as possbile.
CallPilot - Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
May 20th, 2009Nortel has NOT approved Internet Explorer 8 for use with CallPilot for any release. DO NOT install Internet Explorer on CallPilot until further notice. Internet Explorer 8 is now being offered as part of Microsoft Windows Update.
