Comms Australia joins Avaya ranks

Avaya has signed up Communications Australia to its unified comms portfolio. 
 
Communications Australia is a Perth-based integrator with expertise in voice and data technology.  
 
The integrator was a Nortel enterprise partner (which was acquired by Avaya in October) for a number of years. 
 
Alf Harding, sales director of Communications Australia told CRN the relationship will allow Avaya to strengthen its existing service offering. 
 
According to Harding, Nortel's financial problems over the past year put a number of end-users in limbo when it came to spending money. 
 
"Clients weren't sure of what to do - whether or not to purchase new products or move onto a new vendor," he said, 
 
"Avaya buying Nortel now gives customers the ability to make a decision to continue with the vendor or look for new products." 
 
However Harding believed there were still a number of questions up in the air over the survival of Nortel products. 
 
"Some customers still find it hard to spend money because they're using a product that could be short term," he said 
 
"Somewhere along the line the vendor will integrate the product lines." 
 
Harding claimed the integrator will continue with Avaya because it had a large Nortel customer base. 
 
"[We have] one of the largest and we need to look after it," he claimed. "It made sense to migrate and [jump on] board with Avaya." 
 
Communications Australia is based out of Melbourne and has offices in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.  
 
It had about 150 employees and worked extensively in the corporate and governmental sectors. 
 
The integrator was able to expand its national footprint with the purchase of Commander's enterprise networking assets in August this year.