Public Technology Institute Connects Distributed Workforce with IP Telephony Solution from Avaya and Juniper Networks

Business Wire, July 12, 2006

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. & SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Avaya IP Office and Juniper Networks J-Series Routers Enable Secure, Reliable Converged Communications to Improve Staff Efficiency and Service for PTI Members

The Public Technology Institute (PTI) is using Internet Protocol (IP) solutions from Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV) and Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:JNPR) for secure, high quality voice, data and converged communications. PTI is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the benefits of technology to all cities and counties in the United States.

"Our previous system was plagued with dropped calls. We repeatedly had to dial out four to five times for a single connection," said Alan Shark, executive director, PTI. "With the Avaya/Juniper solution in place, not only do we have a cost effective VoIP service that works, we have a solution that can scale to meet our future needs."

PTI's migration from a traditional telephony service to a VoIP-enabled solution from Avaya and Juniper Networks has allowed it to take advantage of features previously unavailable with its traditional voice system. With the Avaya/Juniper solution, PTI can increase productivity and customer responsiveness by supporting expanding mobile work styles, including road warriors, campus roamers and teleworkers with secure and assured access to applications, anytime, anywhere.

"State and local government institutions look to PTI for guidance in the field of information technology," said Haywood Talcove, vice president of Government and Education, Juniper Networks. "Utilizing the Avaya/Juniper solution allows PTI to demonstrate best-in-class converged solutions, showcasing industry-leading performance and security."

PTI deployed the Avaya IP Office - a secure, intelligent, and easy-to-use converged voice and data system for small and medium businesses -- and Juniper Networks J-series router in its network.

"Every organization, no matter what its size or mission, has a need to serve its clients or members with excellence while keeping a lid on expenses," said Patricia Hume, global group vice president, Small and Medium Business Solutions Group, Avaya. "PTI and many of our small and medium customers have told us they need many of the same capabilities as larger enterprises, at a price point they can afford. That's exactly the need the Avaya IP Office and Juniper Networks J-series solution was designed to meet."

PTI Leverages Built-In Conferencing Feature of IP Office for Increased Efficiency, Communication, J-series Routers for Quality of Service

Leveraging the Avaya IP Office built-in conferencing feature to efficiently and economically convene conference calls with their members, PTI is able to share news, updates and membership status, connecting with up to 23 locations simultaneously. With their former system, they could conference in only three sites. PTI employees are also using the IP Office PhoneManager Pro feature that displays employee availability. As a result, they can get in touch with each other more easily because they've reduced the time they play "telephone tag," and have networked messaging so they can share information across the organization.

PTI has also incorporated IP Office VoiceMail Pro into its operations, with an auto attendant the organization can customize to quickly fill its members' requests -- such as for literature or additional information on a particular technology -- enabling PTI to serve its members while keeping overhead costs down.

For its routing needs, PTI chose the Juniper Networks J-series router, in which can handle multiple data and voice packets while maintaining quality of service (QoS). The J-series routing platform improves bandwidth utilization and minimizes latency, jitter and packet loss to ensure superior performance of both voice and data traffic. In addition, this solution transparently extends communication applications to mobile workers, giving every worker the same consistent set of capabilities, while maintaining centralized management and control. All Juniper Networks infrastructure products are designed to work with Avaya mobility applications and IP telephony systems.

The solution for PTI was designed by Strategic Products and Services (SPS), an Avaya certified Platinum BusinessPartner and a Juniper Networks Elite partner.

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500(R). Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications -- and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services -- Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya website: www.avaya.com.

About Juniper Networks, Inc.

Juniper Networks is the leader in enabling secure and assured communications over a single IP network. The company's purpose-built, high performance IP platforms enable customers to support many different services and applications at scale. Service providers, enterprises, governments and research and education institutions worldwide rely on Juniper Networks to deliver products for building networks that are tailored to the specific needs of their users, services and applications. Juniper Networks' portfolio of proven networking and security solutions supports the complex scale, security and performance requirements of the world's most demanding networks. Additional information can be found at www.juniper.net.