Avaya Software Support: Who Needs It?

If you’re an Avaya CM 5 system owner, you may already be aware that, after August 31 of this year, Avaya will no longer support any versions of CM 5—and that includes its most recent release, Aura® 5.2.1, as well as all prior versions.

According to Avaya’s most recent Product Support Notice announcing the End of Manufacturer Support (EOMS), “After August 31, 2014, no additional corrective content”—i.e., patches and bug fixes—“will be provided to the 5.2.1 release.”

Avaya says the EOMS notice “is due to limitations in our ability to receive support from 3rd parties that provide software components used inside the release,” adding that “these limitations inhibit our ability to provide a quality product going forward.”

We have a different view. We suggest that Avaya’s expressed concern about “3^rd parties” is nothing more than an attempt to “encourage” CM 5 owners to start making plans to upgrade to CM 6.3—sometimes prematurely and at great expense.

The way we look at it, Avaya might be unable or unwilling to maintain your legacy CM 5 systems, but we can, and we do for thousands of system owners—better than the OEM. Here’s one of many such examples.

“The service we have received from our account team since we moved from Avaya maintenance has been incredible. The only thing you could have done to better serve us is to have transitioned us years ago!”

--Kitt Leonard, Operations Manager, Tucson Medical Center

When you choose Continuant as your maintenance provider for Avaya CM 5 systems, we offer the following assurances:

• “No pressure” support: Continuant delivers complete Maintenance and Support to CM 5 system owners with no pressure to upgrade;
• Industry-leading SLAs, including a guaranteed time to restore;
• Parts in stock: We keep all parts in stock for your EOMS systems;
• Uptime, guaranteed: Continuant’s customers with legacy Avaya systems never experience anything close to the extended downtime and disruption that Avaya’s own customers with legacy systems may experience.

Perhaps you are under the impression that you need Avaya Software Support for your CM 5 system. The problem is that Avaya Software Support does not include patches for EOMS software versions. So if you are looking to extend the life of your CM 5 system and think that Software Support will help you do just that, you might want to re-think your assumption. Without patches and bug fixes, Software Support’s value to you is, essentially, zero.

The same holds true for Avaya’s “Best Effort” support.

If you own a system that has reached EOMS, Avaya will tell you that you will receive their “best effort” support. But here’s the problem: In sharp contrast to Continuant’s maintenance and support of Avaya systems, Avaya’s “best effort” support is not really support at all.

• It does not offer customers SLAs or response time commitments.
• It does not guarantee spare parts availability.
• It makes no assurance about restoring uptime.  

If you’re one of the thousands of CM 5 users who, having received the EOMS from Avaya, believe you have no choice but to make plans now to upgrade to CM 6.3 or else buy more support from the OEM, you might want to think again.

Questions? Need more information? 

Schedule a call with one of our experts.