Release to share regarding Avaya and Verizon. I actually recently tested and did a review of Avaya's IP Office for the November issue of Internet Telephony Magazine, which Verizon will now be reselling. Avaya IP Office is a very good product for the small office/home office.

here's the release:

Avaya (NYSE: AV) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) have agreed to collaborate in offering to small and medium sized businesses a suite of communications solutions that include systems, applications and services from both companies.

Merrill Lynch reported that it will install IP PBX and phone gear from Avaya and Cisco with the U.S., Brazil, Australia and Japan headquerters installing an Avaya IP-PBX supporting 10,000 employees and their branch offices using Cisco IP phones with a centralized Cisco IP-PBX that will support 14,000 financial advistors.

When a huge financial firm like Merrill Lynch puts its trust in VoIP and sees it as a secure technology when you consider all the possible liabilities due to the multi-billion dollar transactions they do daily, one has to stand up and take notice...

It is also significant because Merrill dropped Cisco as it's VoIP provider for 7,500+ workers in its New Jersey headquarters and in Japan in mid-2003 due to security concerns. I guess Merrill Lynch got over that mental hurdle or Cisco and Avaya did a great job selling them.

FrontRange and Vegastream partner to help bring integrated VoIP & CRM/contact management to small-to-medium businesses. Frontrange has big plans for VoIP integration into their product line, so keep your eye on Frontrange.

Anyway, here's the news...

The ability of small to mid-sized companies to take advantage of cutting-edge VoIP technology to improve customer communications just got a big boost with the news below that FrontRange Solutions has certified VegaStream's line of Vega gateway products for its IP-based contact center solution (IPCC).

Gateways are devices which bridge conventional telephone networks and equipment to VoIP telephone networks, helping call centers to reduce telephony costs, increase customer retention, and improve agent productivity. FrontRange's IPCC (3.7) can be deployed on a modular basis, either as part of the existing communications infrastructure or as a stand-along solution.

VegasStream's Vega SIP (session initiation protocol) gateways are the first interoperable products certified for FrontRange's IPCC.