AVAYA Connections

CONNECTionS Weaving the future How Avaya’s Fabric Connect is enabling businesses across the Middle East to work faster and more efficiently

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Š 2011 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved.

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04 Perfectly provisioned

When the Sochi Olympics needed connectivity, Avaya was on site to ensure that athletes, attendees and fans were satisfied.

06 The world’s largest guest network

One of the largest and busiest venues in the world cannot afford a moment of downtime.

To satisfy a growing group of data hungry guests, Dubai World Trade Centre turned to Avaya.

08 Five-star Fabric

Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates has some of the most demanding customers in the hospitality business. Keeping this hotel buzzing 24/7 is no small task.

10 VIVA Simplicity

VIVA is new on the scene when it comes to Kuwaiti telecoms.

Their young, forward-thinking attitude has them determined to provide the best technology possible to their subscribers.

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sochi

T

he Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games will be remembered for the stunning sunshine and for being the year that slopestyle went mainstream. But in technology terms, Sochi will also go down in history as the world’s largest guest network to date – serving over 40,000 users during the Games and ensuring all of the essential communications to support the delivery of the Games were maintained flawlessly.

Behind this lay Avaya, the Official Supplier of Network Equipment to Sochi 2014, and a tale of pioneering technology, comprehensive long-term planning and relentless attention to detail, not only during the Games themselves but from the earliest stages of network design.

An early start The snow had barely melted in Vancouver, the scene of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, when Avaya’s network architects set to work on the plans for Sochi. From the outset, it was clear that the challenges would be very different.

Sochi was, technologically speaking, a greenfield site – or more accurately, sites: the Games would take place in two distinct clusters, a Coastal Cluster (on the Black Sea coast), and a Mountain Cluster (in the Mountains, some 40km away).

The world’s largest guest network A pioneering platform and rigorous planning ensured a faultless performance from the Sochi 2014 network – thanks to Avaya.

Rewriting the rules for network access More significantly still, Sochi 2014 would be the first Olympic Winter Games of the smartphone era. While smartphones existed in 2010, penetration was still at relatively low levels; today, in many countries it exceeds 60%. Tablets too have become increasingly commonplace, but the iPad was only released in April 2010 – post Vancouver.

In network design terms, this changed the rules. Not only would overall demand for high-speed internet access be far higher than ever before, but the pattern would change: Avaya architects estimated that there would be four times as much wireless access as wired. And user expectations would be higher too, not least amongst the most demanding audience of all: the media.

As Aleksander Vronski, senior VicePresident of Technology for the Organizing Committee for the 2014

sochi

Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (OCOG) explains, “there will be some 14,000 representatives of television and the press attending the Games. Each of them will have a minimum of three devices: normally a smartphone, a tablet, and a computer. And for them, access to the Internet is essential for delivering their work.”

The BYOD Games As the Avaya team digested the implications of this – including the close scrutiny network performance would inevitably be under – two further developments, outside the original scope, added further challenges to the infrastructure. Firstly, OCOG decided that 10Mb Wi-Fi access should be free for the media: in both Vancouver and London 2012, it had to be paid for. Secondly, Samsung – the official Wireless Communications Equipment provider of the Olympic Games – announced it would offer athletes attending Sochi an exclusive Galaxy Note 3.

These two factors not only meant that the bandwidth demand on the network would be even higher than first anticipated, but also that the number of devices used would soar. In short, it went from what had been described as the “Bring Your Own Device Games” to Bring Your Own Devices, plural.

In response, Avaya engineers began the process of installing over 2000 802.11n WLAN indoor and outdoor access points, across competition venues, the athletes’ village, and numerous other sites. A narrow directional antenna was chosen, which meant fewer users would be able to connect to each access point – vital to ensuring a better user experience and faster speeds.

Multiple networks, multiple roles But while wireless Internet capacity was a key consideration, it was far from the only factor shaping the infrastructure, as Vronski explains.

“People talk about the network for the Olympic Games as if it’s all one thing, but in reality it requires the creation of several networks. The first of these is Games – a network specially designed for the most critical applications to work in it. A second is Admin.

Then there are all sorts of other services.

With all of these services in one network, it is obvious that they cannot simply share bandwidth without some sort of division.”

To help address this, Avaya created

seven different Layer 2/3 Virtual Service Networks – Games and Admin, plus wireless LAN, IPTV, Voice, Media and a management network. These were then further segmented by user type: athlete, staff, etc. Access to each was tightly controlled using the Avaya Identity Engines portfolio, which allows access management at a granular level – not only by role, but also device type.

A further advantage of Avaya Identity Engines is that it makes creating a guest account straightforward. This was vital for the smooth running of the Sochi network, given the sheer number of ‘guests’ that were present.

Next-generation core The ability to create these multiple VSNs on a single physical infrastructure was greatly enhanced by the underlying technology deployed: Fabric Connect.

Avaya Fabric Connect is a pioneering solution that transforms the way networks are deployed, implemented and operated.

It uses Shortest Path Bridging to render physical topology irrelevant: the optimal route between different points on the network is automatically, instantaneously calculated, and recalculated at sub-second speed if there’s any delay or a fault. At the time the plans were being put in place for Sochi, Fabric Connect was still relatively unproven, but Vronski and his team immediately saw the potential. “The technology proposed by Avaya, Fabric Connect, allows for various sub- networks to be controlled within one network – quickly and conveniently – without interfering with one another.”

For example, the voice network was essential to Games operations, and for the media. Avaya set up a separate L3 VSN, using Avaya Aura Communication Manager, to ensure quality of service. Over 6500 IP Phones were installed across multiple locations and a simple rate-card service was provided for the media to make calls or use conferencing services.

Intelligence at the edge Underpinning the whole network, Avaya put in place a 54 Terabit backbone between the two clusters enabled by four Virtual Service Platform (VSP) 9000 switches, running Avaya Fabric Connect.

The switches were located in each of the two technical operations centers and each of the

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two points of presence in the mountain cluster.

This provided not only the capacity the Games needed, but also an unprecedented level of flexibility: by adding some 50+ Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch 8800s at the network edge, the entire infrastructure could be virtualized, and services provisioned at the edge, literally in minutes.

Not only did this allow intelligent routing of traffic, resulting in faster network speed, it also meant that as further demands were added – including the additional Wi-Fi requirement, and the need to support 36 IPTV channels broadcasting to screens around the Games venues – they could be simply absorbed. In fact, Fabric Connect proved an ideal platform for the broadcast- quality video needed for the IPTV, as it meant there was no need to introduce complex protocols like Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) to deliver the video traffic. It was the first time that IPTV had been trusted to provide on-site broadcasting, and meant greater simplicity and significant cost savings for OCOG, without compromising broadcast quality.

The value of experience The ability to deal with changes to scope was not only a result of the technology selected, but also Avaya’s previous experience of supporting Olympic Games, and other events of similar scale, such as the FIFA World Cup. That experience directly influenced the choice of an underlying, flexible platform. But it also meant Avaya had the resources in place ready to respond to scope changes. The team worked closely with local partners and provided detailed knowledge transfer to OCOG staff and others on configuring and managing Avaya solutions. In fact, several of the Avaya team from Vancouver moved directly on to Sochi.

For Vronski, this was a great advantage.

“We need people with experience and knowledge of what the Games are all about.

In Avaya, we were able to find such people.”

One crucial aspect of this was that Avaya clearly understood the nature of the deadlines involved. “Normally, when a service is launched, it will be refined slightly, then it can be debugged on the first clients.

That is not so in our case,” Vronski confirms.

“The Games have to begin immediately, and everything must start to work at the very moment it is supposed to.”

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DWTC

Perfectly provisioned

Avaya VENA Fabric Connect technology transforms the way Dubai World Trade Centre digitally enables exhibitors – saving at least half the time involved in this crucial activity.

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t exhibition venues around the world, the few hours between major events and shows are a fraught and frantic period. As previous exhibitors finish tiredly clearing their stands away, the next wave arrives; after all, the show must go on. Stands must be assembled, equipment configured and tested. Increasingly, that means advanced IT and communication systems have to be in place, enabling exhibitors to run demonstrations on the stands and keep in contact with colleagues all over the world.

The logistics of this can be incredibly complex, with hundreds of different organisations – many of whom may be in direct competition with each other – all seeking to set up networking equipment in those few short hours before the show opens. So for the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), the largest exhibition venue in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia) region, and one of the biggest in the world, that used to mean a massive effort from the in-house IT team.

Configuring exhibition networks Days of planning would go into optimising the configuration for each show – including mammoth events like GITEX, Gulf Food and Arab Health. Then, during the changeover period, technicians would be rushing from stand to stand to support the client exhibitors, all the while trying to ensure that the additional equipment being plugged in was operating in an optimised manner.

But since late 2013, those technicians have enjoyed a much more manageable, less stressful existence. Instead of having to plan and manage the reconfiguration of the network at the access layer, distribution layer, and core layer for each show, they can simply click on a location, select a service and deploy. Now technicians can be confident that all individual components can connect. The reason? In late 2013, DWTC updated its infrastructure with a new solution based on the Avaya VENA Fabric Connect technology The role of Fabric Connect These benefits are empowered by the

sochi

way Avaya Fabric Connect technology works. Being a fundamentally different technology, Fabric Connect delivers network virtualisation that abstracts the physical layout of a network from the services that need to be provisioned. It creates a unified, converged solution that can connect every single point of the infrastructure in the most efficient way possible.

Fabric Connect is an extended implementation of the Shortest Path Bridging standards, with the Avaya value-add focused on integrating support also for Layer 3 and IP Multicast traffic. Once the network core is in place, services can be configured and devices added at the network edge only, without ever needing to re-configure the core nodes – perfect for the exhibition centre environment. Massive numbers of separate virtual networks can then be created (more than 16 million in fact), and access to services is authorised and managed centrally, with minimal resource effort.

“In order to service several megaevents throughout the year, we seek to implement the highest quality infrastructure and services to maximise return-oninvestment for exhibitors and visitors,” explains Usama Nouri, Head of Networks at DWTC. “To this end, we proactively seek out best-in-class solutions to enhance our existing infrastructure and ensure the user experience is optimised. We worked with Avaya to plan and build a network that would allow exhibitors to use a simple plug-andplay capability for their equipment, ensure that other network users are all connected, and reduce the requirement for highly skilled people to manage the provisioning process.

With Fabric Connect, we’ve achieved all three goals.”

Now, if an exhibitor sets up equipment on its stand incorrectly, the rest of the network will be unaffected: each Fabric Connect node is able to act intelligently to isolate individual virtual networks, and redirect traffic around points of failure in under a second, via the shortest available path.

From the provisioning perspective, Avaya Professional Services developed an application for DWTC which allows their IT to step away

from the process altogether. Instead, show managers can enter an exhibitor’s networking requirements into the online tool, and an optimal configuration is automatically generated. They can then schedule in the time and date when this configuration should be activated – and the Avaya solution does the rest.

Risk and reward This bespoke software tool was part of Avaya’s extensive support for DWTC, which Farid believes was integral to the project’s success. “We secured Avaya’s commitment to implement the network using its own people,” he says, “and the implementation was excellent. We received exactly what Avaya promised: full support on-site during implementation, testing and go-live, plus additional support for some of the bigger shows while we adjusted to the new solution.”

The implementation was a sizeable project which necessarily took place over a number of months. Not only is DWTC a huge site, with over a million square feet of exhibition space plus a host of other facilities, but it has a packed calendar: there were no quiet windows in which the network could come offline, which made ripping and replacing a functioning network something of a risk.

“Everything had to be done while live, around our existing commitments,” Usama confirms. “There could be no interruption to events. Avaya therefore put together a clear plan, including some trials at smaller shows, and this gave us the confidence to progress.” The first Switches were replaced in October 2013, focusing first of all on the equipment needed to support provisioning for exhibitors, and by March 2014, the final stages were completed.

Now, DWTC has a network based around two Avaya Virtual Service Platform 9000 systems in the core, with a further 18 Ethernet Routing Switch 8800 systems connecting the major venues within the centre. Eight Virtual Service Platform 7000 Top-of-Rack Switches support the onsite Data Centre, and over 140 instances of the Virtual Service Platform 4000 product provide access throughout the site.

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Meeting everyday needs As well as transforming provisioning, the move to a next-generation network virtualisation solution has also increased overall capacity on the network enormously.

The multi-terabit core now comfortably meets all DWTC’s demands, not only today but also as it expands. This additional bandwidth has delivered benefits to some of the services that DWTC needs to run.

“In addition to connecting customers, our network supports digital signage across the site, converged CCTV video surveillance and of course the everyday IT usage of DWTC staff,” explains Galal El Tahan, Head of Infrastructure and Operations at DWTC. “Running video surveillance would sometimes cause problems for ordinary users, because of the bandwidth demands. Now with Avaya Fabric Connect-based network those problems are eliminated: it’s much easier to comply with our public safety requirements.”

“We made sure that users would benefit from the full speed that the Avaya solution provides,” Galal adds. ”They may not notice the difference in their everyday tasks, but it means we can now do more with video and voice, using IP telephony. That will help drive savings when we extend to additional sites.”

Such extensions will be easy to add with Fabric Connect. The capability and capacity is already in place, so the DWTC team can simply install a new or relocated Fabric Connect node at the network edge, wherever it is required – on new sites, or to meet a specific demand, such as extra wireless access points, on the existing site.

It’s a flexible and future-proof platform, but most importantly of all, it’s helping DWTC deliver the experience its exhibitor customers – and event visitors – expect in a mobility- and BYOD-driven world.

“Networking services are vital to a successful show,” Farid concludes. “The old network wasn’t necessarily preventing us from delivering them, as our customers would testify, but for a site of this calibre like DWTC, we invested in the latest technology as we wanted to be able to provide those services in an easier way; it’s all about efficiency and simplicity. Avaya has helped us do that: the solution completely fits the type of business we’re in.”

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kempinski

Five-star Fabric

The guests of Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates are some of the most demanding in Dubai. The need to enable high quality Multimedia communication, along with the million mobile devices that pass through the hotel’s walls each year mean the network quality has to be impeccable. Enlisting Avaya’s Fabric Connect technology, the hotel has managed to enable first-class infrastructure for a faster network.

W

ith over 300,000 guests from around the world visiting annually, five-star Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates has a duty to provide a first-class stay for its guests. This includes everything: food, room quality and service, and, now more than ever, IT. Prasanna Rupasinghe, Director of Information Technology, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, appreciates that being based in Dubai – a world leader in terms of hospitality and service – brings added pressure and expectation to the business. “Most hotels around the world can’t compete with what

Dubai can offer,” he says. “Even the best that the U.S. and Europe can offer is often not up to our standard. In that vein, we’re aiming to be the first-to-market for new technologies; to be a next-generation representative of top class hospitality, which can provide the best guest experience possible.”

With this in mind, guests expect seamless high-definition TV services, as well as premium, complimentary wireless Internet. Throw in a huge demand for gaming services, and the fact that broadcast services are delivered through IPTV - a system through which TV is delivered through a LAN, rather than cable – and huge demand is placed on Kempinski’s network.

Prasanna Rupasinghe, Director of Information Technology, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates

kempinski

“If you consider that the average guest brings with them three devices, that means that roughly a million pass through this hotel every year,” Rupasinghe says. “We wanted to put everything on the network to enable ourselves to grow with the technology evolution. We had to reduce complexity in our IT operations by provisioning a simplistic network. Our legacy infrastructure could not handle its previous demands.” In addition to the guests’ entertainment needs, Rupasinghe also needed to factor the hotel’s 600 IP CCTV surveillance cameras into the complex equation.

Central to his plan was the need to enable simple, high-quality IP multicast around the hotel. Multicasting is designed to make more efficient use of bandwidth on corporate networks by allowing packets to be sent simultaneously to multiple network-connected devices. This is what drives the ability to deliver these online TV services that guests demand, as well as the hotel’s need to push digital advertising to guests’ TV screens and to deliver robust CCTV operation.

Given Kempinski’s need to avoid downtime, as well as the overall scale of the project, staffing would be an issue. With only five IT engineers on board, Rupasinghe would have to manage the team’s time wisely.

Throughout the implementation this could have been a banana skin, given the nature of the hotel business as a roundthe-clock service provider to its guests.

“At most, we could have allowed for 10-20 minutes of downtime at any particular point,” Rupasinghe says. “We could not allow guests to lose access to the Internet, and the hotel’s communications, including our security cameras, could not go down. On top of this we had to keep our ERP system up and running. If any of these services went down for too long, customers become dissatisfied and that runs the risk of losing the hotel money.” Fortunately, Rupasinghe and his team underwent rigorous planning procedures to ensure that downtime never went below minimum acceptable levels.

High bandwidth was an essential end goal. Without it, customers’ TV quality could be pixelated, an unthinkable option for perfectionist Rupasinghe. In addition, it was important that PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards were adhered to. In order to do

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Most hotels around the world can’t compete with what Dubai can offer.

Even the best that the U.S. and Europe can offer is often not up to our standard. In that vein, we’re aiming to be the firstto-market for new technologies; to be a nextgeneration representative of top class hospitality.” this, financial transactions within the network would have to be segregated into a secure private zone.

Following the implementation of Avaya Fabric Connect, Rupasinghe has now been able to “eliminate complexity and simplify the hotel’s architecture” through the use of open standards-based platform, which has allowed for much more efficient multicast.

“That was the main thing we had to achieve,” Rupasinghe says. Avaya Fabric Connect’s Shortest Path Bridging technology means that the network is able to self- heal in 50 milliseconds, ensuring service continuity - users now only experience a 20-50 millisecond wait - it had been 800 - between pushing a button on a device and waiting for a network-based action to be completed.

Although not yet fully realised, Rupasinghe believes the greatest benefit of implementing Fabric Connect will be the doors it can open for the hotel’s IT team. He says it has laid the foundations for moving to virtualisation, and then software-defined networking, “There would be no point in moving to SDN with our previous legacy infrastructure,” he says.

“Infrastructure is key to everything our IT is about, so it would be unwise for us to sweep this issue under the carpet when the time came to move to SDN. Avaya Fabric Connect has done a lot to ease this transition, and for now effectively acts as a private cloud within the property; it is basically a mini service provider. Our IT is now simpler to manager, configure and maintain. We plan to start with end-to-end virtualisation, which will soon lead to the move to SDN.” This scalability is one of the huge benefits Avaya Fabric Connect has brought to Kempinski, and could lead to further improved use of the third platform. “It will

have huge benefits for our data centre,” Rupasinghe says. “It is crucial for the network to support virtualisation, with virtual servers moving across locations. We also want to have the power to exploit Big Data in the near future; to use the vast database we have of guest profiles.”

Avaya Fabric Connect has also enabled seamless high quality video conferencing services across the hotel. This is largely due to the fact that that it can provision up to 16 million different network services, which can now be enabled at the network edge. “We are now able to move services across the facility without any hassle,” Rupasinghe says.

“There is no longer a need to configure each room for a meeting. If a customer has a video conference in one room at 9am then another in a different room at 10, we can effortlessly provision that service.”

Looking to the future, Rupasinghe feels the addition of Fabric Connect will prove to be an essential step towards the hotel’s preparations for Expo 2020. With 20 million visitors expected to descend on Dubai for the exhibition, he is confident that Fabric Connect is an important part of the groundwork needed to provide impeccable service. “Kempinski is a leading hospitality brand, and we need to remain ahead so that we can provide the best possible services further down the line.”

Rupasinghe speaks highly of the support he has received from Avaya and Alpha Data, Avaya’s partner in this project, since the implementation, “We can always contact them in case of a problem,” he says. “They offer round-the-clock support and have always worked beyond their contractual obligations. Technology can only take you so far so support is key; we’ve had no worry in that respect.”

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VIVA KUWAIT

VIVA Simplicity VIVA is Kuwait’s newest and fastest growing telecom operator in the country. With a rapidly expanding subscriber base, when the new kid on the block needed a data centre solution, they looked to Avaya’s Fabric Connect.

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aunched in December 2008, VIVA’s Kuwait arm has taken off quickly. Already one of the largest telecom operators in the country, VIVA Kuwait is taking its role as “new kid on the block” as an opportunity to solidify its position as the most technologically advanced provider available. As such, VIVA has implemented a state-of-the-art virtualised network using Avaya Fabric Connect technology to further enhance network robustness and agility, while addressing the additional time-toservice demands of the fastest growing subscriber base in Kuwait.

The project was implemented in partnership with Avaya Connect channel partner Middle East Telecommunications Company (METCO), the leading integrator of telecommunication and information technology solutions in the Middle East and Africa. The roll out included a data centre enhancement that will enable VIVA to provide the highest standard possible of service to its subscribers.

“VIVA came to us because they knew we could provide three, very important things,” says Maan Al-Shakarchi, Sales Director, Avaya Networking Solutions, Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India. “They needed

resiliency, security and simplicity.” In addition, VIVA realised that with a such a rapidly growing customer base, their data centre solution needed to be scalable and the roll out itself could not result in any downtime for their end users.

“VIVA is a company of achievement and aspiration,” explains Eng. Meshaal Al-Munaikh, IT Director, VIVA. “Avaya helped us establish a network solution which allows us to maintain critical business continuity and focus on delivering the innovative services that our customers demand. The Avaya Fabric Connect solution is flexible and future-proof, which allows us to easily add

VIVA KUWAIT

new services precisely when our customers need them.”

“It is true, there were other vendors to choose from,” recalls Al-Shakarchi, “but in the end, VIVA realised that only Avaya could provide what they needed both now and in the future. We have the technology now, and can implement a solution in a timely and efficient manner.”

With a tall order ahead of them, VIVA and Avaya embarked on their partnership.

Avaya began with a network assessment to isolate areas where legacy technologies and techniques were bogging down the company’s processes. “The planning process is a key part of Avaya’s partnership with any vendor,” says Muhammed Areff, Managing Director, GCC, Levant, Iraq and Pakistan. “With VIVA, we spent more time planning the roll out than actually implementing the solution. We wanted to be absolutely sure that the process would go smoothly and seamlessly.”

In addition to detailed planning, Avaya also brought in their top players for the project. “We had some of the same team members that worked on the Sochi Winter Olympics on the ground in Kuwait working on this project,” recalls Al-Shakarchi. “We even had our Chief Networking Architect, Paul Unbehagen – who is based in California – available to answer questions regardless of the hour in Silicon Valley.” In all, the planning process leading up to the implementation took around two months, whereas the implementation itself was rolled out with shocking speed - one month from

start to completion.

“It was important to VIVA, as well, to remain flexible,” says Al-Shakarchi, “not only in terms of scalability, but in terms of our open standards as well.” The team at Avaya realises that the world of ICT is undeniably changing. Companies are merging and technology is a constantly growing industry. “We want our customers to be able to change with the times, without feeling trapped with one vendor or product,” explains Areff. “As such, Fabric Connect maintains open standards – we aren’t afraid to maintain that flexibility.”

The result of careful planning and a keen eye for detail was obvious and immediate. Avaya’s Fabric Connect solution has provided VIVA with a fully virtualised network, delivering high availability with integrated self-healing and disaster management capabilities. For VIVA’s subscribers this means improved service levels, faster recovery times and, ultimately, an increased level of overall satisfaction.

Fabric Connect is undoubtedly a nextgeneration solution. It is based on the Shortest Path Bridging standard and allows companies such as VIVA to enhance availability, performance, agility and time-to-service, giving them the edge in a flooded market to remain on top, competitive and dynamic.

“Avaya Fabric Connect technology is helping forward-looking companies like VIVA to change the way they think about their networks. Simplifying the network by allowing rapid additions and changes to be

Avaya helped us establish a network solution which allows us to maintain critical business continuity and focus on delivering the innovative services that our customers demand. The Avaya Fabric Connect solution is flexible and future-proof, which allows us to easily add new services precisely when our customers need them.”

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Eng. Meshaal Al-Munaikh, IT Director, VIVA

made just once is making a significant impact by speeding time to deployment, almost eliminating network downtime and ensuring end customers are the real beneficiaries of technology innovation,” says Areff.

The project would not have been possible, say all parties involved, without unparalleled service from METCO. “In the midst of the competitive telecommunication field, we aim to distinguish our clients with the latest cutting edge technologies and products,” says Krikor Tutunjian, Director of Sales, METCO. “This in return would strengthen the ties and yields new fruitful and promising collaborations. And we couldn’t be more proud of this productive cooperation with VIVA and our strategic partner Avaya.”

The partnership between VIVA and Avaya has continued after the implementation and will continue into the future. “We want to grow with our customers,” says Al-Shakarchi. “We don’t just provide a service and walk out. We provide continuing support to our customers, throughout the process and afterwards.”

Avaya’s Fabric Connect solution has allowed VIVA to roll out a state-of-the-art data centre that meets the needs of a rapidly growing customer base. Careful planning and a partnership attitude resulted in a seamless implementation of a technology that can grow with the company. As VIVA grows, Avaya plans to be there for them every step of the way.

Virtualization is as easy as 1.

Avaya Virtual Enterprise Network Architecture (VENA) provides everything you need to create an enterprise-wide private cloud infrastructure, built on open standards. With the touch of a button, you can provision next-generation applications, easily giving your users access to the tools they need, anywhere and everywhere. Your network will be more powerful and scalable, with dramatically improved performance and reliability. To learn how Avaya can help bring your business into the collaborative age, visit avaya.com/vena.

Š 2011 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved.