DALLAS -- Symphony Spend Management Solutions (SMS), a provider of software and outsourcing solutions that help clients effectively manage expenses, assets and workflow processes, today announced that its Integrated Data Collector (IDC) call detail recording application is compliant with key IP telephony solutions from Avaya (NYSE: AV), a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.

Symphony SMS' IDC application helps businesses ensure reliable collection of the IP telephony call detail records needed to manage telecommunication expenses—no matter where those records reside. It eliminates the need for expensive, time-consuming hardware devices, allowing companies to collect records in real-time, speeding the expense analysis process and enabling companies to reduce costs, improve productivity and increase operating profitability even faster than before. With its recent "Avaya compliant" rating, Symphony SMS' IDC application can now be used seamlessly with Avaya's Communication Manager 3.1.2 IP telephony software.

"By incorporating Avaya's innovative, standards-based technology into our enhanced data collection solution, we have been able to eliminate unneeded and costly hardware for our joint customers, while improving data capture and support for transmission protocols," said Alan Harlan, president of Symphony Spend Management Solutions. "Avaya customers can now benefit from Symphony SMS' full suite of telecom expense management solutions."

One of the organizations benefiting from the interoperability of Avaya and Symphony SMS is the investment banking division of a global investment firm. Historically, call records produced by the company's Avaya communication servers were transmitted via serial port to buffer boxes, where they were temporarily stored until polled by call accounting software. Located at company offices around the world, the buffer boxes created multiple points of failure and had to be reset, sometimes manually, creating significant log jams. With the new Symphony SMS IDC call detail recording application in place, the investment firm has a far more reliable collection mechanism. Unnecessary hardware has been eliminated and collection and management costs have been significantly reduced—all while providing an enhanced Web reporting tool for the company's employees worldwide.

Symphony SMS is a gold member of the Avaya DeveloperConnection program—an initiative to develop, market and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company's investment in its network. Members of the program are eligible to submit products for compatibility testing by the Avaya Solution Interoperability and Test Lab, located in Lincroft, N.J. There, a team of Avaya engineers develops a comprehensive test plan for each application to verify whether it is Avaya compliant. Doing so ensures businesses can confidently add best-in-class capabilities to their network without having to replace their existing infrastructure—speeding deployment of new applications and reducing both network complexity and implementation costs.

"By offering compliance testing to the members of our DeveloperConnection program, Avaya promotes fully interoperable solutions that help businesses unleash powerful new possibilities," said Eric Rossman, vice president, developer relations and technical alliances, Avaya. "Innovative companies like Symphony SMS are able to use intelligent communications to connect employees and customers to information from wherever they are, over whatever device they have available—getting more out of their multivendor network and delivering new value to their bottom line."

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. For more information on the Avaya DeveloperConnection Program, visit www.devconnectprogram.com.

About Symphony Spend Management Solutions

Symphony Spend Management Solutions (SMS) monitors, manages and minimizes clients' indirect telecom and technology costs through proprietary software and outsourcing services. The company's full suite of flexible solutions provide clients with a global view of costs generated by assets, work orders, usage and service provider invoices, as well as the key business processes associated with them, such as vendor invoice management, provisioning and billing/chargeback. More than 300 clients across financial services, manufacturing, hospitality, retail, consumer products and pharmaceutical industries utilize Symphony SMS to gain control of expenses, improve their bottom line and optimize performance. For more information, please visit www.symphonysms.com.

Copyright (C) 2007 Symphony SMS. All Rights Reserved. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contacts

Symphony SMS
Alan Harlan, 972-581-7365
aharlan@symphonysms.com
or
Avaya
Mary Thiele, 908-953-6152
mthiele@avaya.com