The SMB Impact Of Avaya Completing Its Nortel Enterprise Solutions Acquisition

Expect consolidation of the Avaya and Nortel IP phone systems. We see no reason for Avaya to continue both solution sets in the medium-term.

Expect pricing aggressiveness from channel partners selling to enterprises and small enterprises. Avaya is going to lavish attention on its channel partners to prevent other vendors like NEC, Toshiba, Panasonic, Cisco and others from picking them off. SMBs will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this little post-holiday gift. 89% of Nortel's go-to-market approach is through channel partners whereas only 57% of Avaya's is indirect.

Expect better functioning of Avaya product over NES networking gear and maybe networking gear irrespective of vendor. VoIP, UC, video-based communications, cloud-based computing -- it all hinges on tight integration of technology products across a well engineered and configured LAN and WAN. Avaya is going to learn a lot from the NES networking teams.