Avaya Americas Partner Conference: Five Questions I’m Asking

Well, hello Cancun. After the beating New York and New Jersey took from Hurricane Sandy, jetting to the Yucatan Peninsula for the Avaya Americas Partner Conference is a welcome trip. And despite the dark clouds hovering over the Hotel Gran Melia promising rain, my outlook on this three-day event is downright sunny.

But before I get mesmerized by watching the waves of the bright blue ocean (hands down the most beautiful ocean I have ever seen), here are five questions I’m hoping to get answers to:

How’s the Radvision Acquisition Working Out? Avaya’s purchase of Radvision in March bolstered the unified communications and collaborations vendor’s videoconferencing portfolio, and Avaya announced all of its Connect partners will be able to sell the Radvision Scopia technology starting in January 2013. So what is Avaya hearing from its channel partners about the Radvision technology?

What’s Going On with Collaborative Cloud? We wrote about it when it was announced in March, but since then we’ve heard nada. Are channel partners warm or cold to the cloud service? Is Avaya seeing new business stemming from its cloud foray? In short, what’s the deal?

Where’s CEO Kevin Kennedy? Rumor has it he and a handful of other Avaya execs won’t be enjoying the warm ocean breeze along with the rest of us. What’s that about?

Is the Long-Planned IPO a No-Go? I asked this question last year to Channel Chief Tom Mitchell, who essentially said the IPO would happen when the time was right. A year later and still no IPO. What might this mean?

How’s Basking Ridge After Hurricane Sandy? New Jersey was one big disaster area after the hurricane, and I know some Avaya employees were still without power or connectivity as of late last week. Did the headquarters make it through Sandy well enough? Has the electricity come on for everyone?

I’ll have my work cut out for me over the next few days. Perhaps the most difficult part of the event, however, will be keeping my attention focused on the goings on rather than the ocean. Wish me luck.