KeithD

Keith Doucette

KeithD@commprod.com

CPI & Presidio, Inc. Awarded Five-Year, $50 Million Contract to Provide Avaya Communications to the U.S. Coast Guard

Posted by Keith Doucette
Sep27
KeithD

Indianapolis, IN – The U.S. Coast Guard awarded Communications Products, Inc. and teaming Partner Presidio, Inc.  a five year, $50 million contract to provide Avaya IP telephony products and services in support of the Coast Guard modernization efforts to improve their IT and telephony infrastructures throughout the United States and abroad.

Under this multi-year contract, Communications Products, Inc. will continued to support over 250 Coast Guard stations from Guam to St. Paul Island, Alaska. The Coast Guard selected Communications Products, Inc. and teaming partner Presidio, Inc. based on our combined history and past performance of delivering mission-focused telephony solutions to the Agency over the past ten years.

Under the contract, Communications Products, Inc. will design, install, manage and maintain the Coast Guard’s IP telephony and Unified Communication infrastructure for the entire West Coast which includes, Guam, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

“CPI is committed to continuing our work with the Coast Guard and supporting the newly formed C4&IT organization that has the overall responsibility to optimize the Coast Guard IT and Telecommunication assets.  On a daily basis, we will be tasked with supporting the mission critical telephone systems that are used throughout the 650 locations and provide essential dial-tone and telephony applications that support over 89,000 military, civilian and auxiliary employees.”

“Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.”

Posted by Keith Doucette
Jul1
KeithD

It’s hard to comprehend the impact that Alexander Bell’s historic statement, made during his first experiment with the telephone in 1876, would impact the world’s communications.

Over the last decade, Alexander’s invention has become much more sophisticated. During that time, CPI has had the opportunity to build phone systems that support hundreds of thousands of government employees nationwide.

Today, we are  now listed on the Government Executive.com’s Vendor Solutions Center. And look forward to the next decade of supporting our Governments communications…

Can You Pass on Avaya’s PASS?

Posted by Keith Doucette
May13
KeithD

Someone asked me the question “Can I pass on getting a PASS Agreement from Avaya?”

Well, the answer is yes.  Avaya is about to announce an alternative to those customers that are not interested in the receiving the benefits of a 1, 2 or 3 year PASS Agreement.

The option that will be available July 1, 2010 for non-PASS customers to receive Avaya OEM emergency technical support is:

Avaya will offer “bridged” support if a customer is in need of emergency support services which requires the customer to pay the following fees:

–    Will include a $3,900 upfront fee

–    $425 per hour T&M rates for the time Avaya applies to the individual support case

–    $10,000 purchase order required (actual will be billed towards the $10,000 customer Purchase Order)

The upfront $3,900 fee may be credited toward the purchase of a new PASS Agreement

–    Will back bill the PASS Agreement contract from June 30, 2010

–    The T&M charged against the case is not refundable

–    The PO for the maintenance contract must be received within 30 days of initial sales contact

Give us a call to have a discussion about this and other PASS agreement options that may work for your enterprise.

Avaya Partner Assurance Support Services (PASS) goes in effect July 1, 2010

Posted by Keith Doucette
May12
KeithD

Starting July 1, 2010 Avaya will institute a new services policy which requires all customers to purchase a PASS contract. This contract provides some key elements that ensures that your telephony systems and critical voice applications continue functioning optimally, helping you improve employee productivity and get more from your technology investments.

PASS Summary:

Partner Assurance Support Services for All Nortel Products

•         Avaya Emergency Technical Support (Tier3)
•         Software Upgrades to the newest Software Release
•         Avaya Remote technical assistance and emergency recovery

This important investment will increase the reliability  of your organization’s critical voice infrastructure and assure access to important Avaya emergency technical support. In addition, it will keep your telephony systems and applications on the most current software releases.

As more information around this topic is released from Avaya, we will continue to keep you updated.

From Grey to Green on CPI’s Largest Avaya-Nortel Implementation

Posted by Keith Doucette
May6
KeithD
Avaya-Nortel Implementation

We’re well under way with one of our largest Avaya-Nortel IP telephony deployments.  200 pallets of equipment later, containing over 7,500 IP telephones; 200 Ethernet switches and enough racks and power backup units to fill over 45 telecom closets.

We’re racking and stacking and beginning the equipment build-out in preparation to start the programming of the IP telecommunication system and redundant core data infrastructure.

We have the green lights in most of the grey cabinets which means all systems go for the next phase of the project.

CPI Achieves Avaya Gold Business Partner Status

Posted by Keith Doucette
Feb12
KeithD

Today, Communications Products, Inc is proud to announce the achievement of the Avaya Gold Business Partner status. The Avaya Gold certification is an industry recognized designation that indicates that CPI has met rigorous criteria to ensure superior technical competency and the ability to deliver best-in-class customer service and support. CPI designs, engineers, and implements Avaya telecommunication systems to businesses and the federal government across the United States.

Communications Products, Inc. has been successfully implementing advanced, mission-critical communication solutions for nearly three decades. CPI specializes in engineering, implementing, and maintaining advanced business phone, contact center, and structured cabling solutions for customers worldwide. With an unwavering commitment to the success of their customers, CPI has been chosen to solve the most challenging communication questions by many Government agencies and industry-leading businesses.

CPI Achieves AVAYA Gold Status

CPI to provide Monumental Multi-Million Dollar Nortel + Avaya VoIP Communications Solution for the U.S. Department of Defense

Posted by Keith Doucette
Jan28
KeithD
Department of Defense

Communications Products, Inc. was just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to provide a monumental Voice over IP telecommunication solution for the Department of Defense (DoD). CPI was chosen over six other solutions as the best overall value weighted by:

Past experience

Technology

Solution

Price

With over 7197 end users this is the largest Department of Defense Nortel + Avaya new, pure IP deployment to date. CPI will be providing complete implementation and integration services, comprehensive project management, end user training, and ongoing maintenance.CPI will also be providing the DoD with a Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC) certified communication solution. This JITC certified solution will ensure complete interoperability of the new voice and data network with other DoD communication systems.

For over 26 years CPI has been engineering Nortel enterprise telephony solutions. And, with the recent Avaya acquisition of Nortel, CPI has been welcomed into the Avaya family with the distinction of Gold Partner. This is a great opportunity for CPI as we build our new relationship with Avaya. This large project validates our position as a trusted Avaya Gold partner and accelerates our ability to deliver value to customers using our deep portfolio of IT products, professional services, and enterprise communications systems.

Avaya’s Long Purple Tail

Posted by Keith Doucette
Jan20
KeithD

What happens when you mix the color Red (Avaya) which represents energy, strength and determination with the color Blue (Nortel) which represents reliability, trust and loyalty?  You get Purple which combines the reliability of Blue and the energy and strength of Red.

Avaya-Nortel Roadmap

The Avaya-Nortel Roadmap

We have been a Nortel Partner for the past 25 years and recently undertook the on-boarding process as an approved Avaya Partner based on the fact that Avaya purchased the assets and intellectual property of the Nortel enterprise portfolio of products and personnel.

After participating in the Avaya partner and public technology roadmap presentations we are excited about the direction the new Avaya is heading. Instead of dealing in just one primary color, Nortel Blue, we now have another primary color, Avaya Red plus an exciting secondary color, Purple. We believe this decision to integrate and blend the two most trusted technologies in the industry together positions Avaya as a leader in the next generation telecommunication and unified messaging market.

Whether you are an existing Avaya, Nortel or a new customer, having a pallet of technology options from one vendor should put you at ease as you look forward to your own technology decision roadmaps for the coming years and for many years to come.