Image Gallery: Avaya Engage

More than 2,300 partners, customers, analysts and others attended the Avaya Engage conference, Feb. 12-15, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Nearly a month ago, Avaya filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reduce its debt load of about $6.3 billion, and said it has no plans to sell its call-center business. Conference attendees were anxious to hear more about the company’s plans to work through and emerge from chapter 11.

The event included presentations by Avaya’s top executives, breakout sessions for individual groups of attendees, the Solutions Expo and entertainment.

Click through our gallery for highlights and a recap. We bet you’ll see someone you know.

Our coverage from the event includes:

• The company appointed two new channel chiefs for the United States and globally. Read the Q&A. 
• Competitors are trying to move in on Avaya’s territory.
• A new product promises a “Surge” in IoT opportunities for partners.
• Congratulations to Avaya’s partner and vendor award winners.
• Avaya execs took to the stage to assure partners and customers that the company will survive bankruptcy — and thrive.

Follow contributing editor @EdwardGately on Twitter.

The Avaya Customer/Partner Welcome Reception draws a big crowd at the Talent & Directors Pool.

Jim Chirico, Avaya’s chief operating officer, chief restructuring officer and head of sales, tells attendees his company is an organization “committed to winning, knows how to win” and will emerge from chapter 11 bankruptcy a stronger company.

Kevin Kennedy, Avaya’s president and CEO, said that by filing for chapter 11, the company can cut in half its debt, reduce its debt service by 50 percent and obtain more free cash flow to invest in M&A and additional R&D. In the meantime, Avaya has transformed “just about every piece” of the company.

“We had to disassemble, reinvent and reassemble,” he said.

Gary Barnett, Avaya’s senior vice president and general manager of engagement solutions, gave an update on a number of the company’s products, including the Avaya Breeze platform, Equinox and Oceana. He also announced an expanded alliance with Salesforce Service Cloud, and a strategic co-development partnership with Spoken Communications.

Avaya executives and conference attendees headed to Topgolf for dinner and recreation after a full day of sessions.

Mark Castleman, Avaya’s vice president of corporate strategy, and Jared Shawlee, COO of the San Jose Earthquakes, the MLS soccer team, talk about Avaya Stadium, which includes a “complete end-to-end solution for a stadium.”

Marc Randall, senior vice president and general manager of Avaya networking, unveiled Surge, a new partner-led Internet of Things (IoT) security and management offering that runs on any vendor’s network.

Avaya’s booth draws a big crowd in the Solutions Expo.

Windstream’s booth in the Solutions Expo. During the conference, Avaya recognized Windstream as its Cloud Partner of the Year.

Zang, an Avaya subsidiary, gave demonstrations of its new Zang Office, a cloud-based business phone service, and Zang Spaces, a cloud-based persistent team collaboration and meeting offering, in the Solutions Expo.

Plantronics, the provider of audio communications for businesses and consumers, demonstrated its latest devices in the Solutions Expo. Plantronics’ audio devices with remote call control are compatible with Avaya desk phones, IP phones and softphones.