Is Avaya up for sale … once again?

During the latest quarter’s earnings call in August, Avaya’s CEO, Jim Chirico, mentioned that the company is looking at “strategic alternatives” with regard to its current financial situation. After announcing in 2017, a global resolution in Chapter 11 restructuring, it appears that Avaya is once again up for sale.

One of the most credible options (or “rumor” depending on the point of view) is a possible buy out from Mitel.

Of course, Mitel and Avaya are good phone system manufacturers. This possible merger nevertheless raises a number of concerns as the two players are, after all, competitors at heart.

Among the first concerns, if you currently are a Mitel or Avaya user, you should ask yourself which phone system architecture will survive the merger, and which one will be abandoned and declared end-of-life. And what will happen with your existing phone system which will overnight become obsolete?

Among other concerns, one has to think of all the efforts that will be devoted to the merger – efforts that will distract the company of its core business and endeavors that will curtail its roadmap plans.

Lastly, but maybe more importantly, Avaya and Mitel remain customer premise equipment manufacturers. Solutions as these do not benefit from all the advantages provided by true cloud-based unified communications solutions such as those offered by IP4B. In a recent blog post, we explained how to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a hosted IP telephony solution compared to a traditional PBX system like those from Mitel and Avaya.

Whatever the outcome is, if you are a Mitel or Avaya PBX user, it clearly is a situation to watch closely.