Interop: Avaya CEO touts lasting impact of SIP

Interop keynote address stresses SIP innovation is just beginning

By Tim Greene, Network World
April 27, 2010 02:46 PM ET

Session Initiation Protocol will remain the driver of innovation in unified communications for the next decade, putting it on par with TCP/IP as a networking game changer, Avaya's CEO told an overflow crowd at his Interop keynote address Tuesday.

The signaling technology will enable applications and endpoints to control the delivery of content via voice, video, data, instant messaging and even context, says Avaya CEO Kevin Kennedy.

Kennedy also used his speech to announce a new core switch (from Avaya's Nortel acquisition), a wireless LAN switch, an SIP gateway and new configuration software. He urged listeners to stay tuned for more announcements later this year.

During a video demonstrating some of what he was talking about, a phone call was set up with voice-activated dialing using only the recipient's first name Kevin. Using a combination of data gathered from directories, e-mail, calendaring and Facebook, Avaya software concluded which Kevin the caller meant, injecting context into the communications equation.

The video also showed dragging and dropping participants out of a conference call so they could continue a side conversation separately from the rest of the group. It also showed dragging and dropping a PowerPoint presentation onto one participant's smartphone during the conference call.

Kennedy says the four goals of his company are to support seven times the resiliency of its competitors, 20 times better performance, cut total cost of ownership in half and lower energy consumption by 40%.

Read more about voip & convergence in Network World's VoIP & Convergence section.