Avaya Partner System, is it still relevant?

One question a lot of our long time customers in Austin and Tampa ask is if their old system is still usable, or still relevant. Many of these customers have old ATT, Lucent, or Avaya Partner systems. The Avaya Partner system was produced under these different corporate logos for quite some time, almost 20 years. Originally an ATT product, the Partner system migrated to Lucent and finally Avaya. During this time it evolved into one of the most comprehensive, and price competitive, small business phone systems on the market. Available voice mail (in several versions), T-1/PRI, and a modular design made it one of the most popular business phone systems on the market.

But times and business change. Is the Avaya Partner system still usable in the current business climate? Well, yes and no. If your business desires to take advantage of current technologies that can save time and money, such as SIP trunks (telephone lines over the internet) and remote VoIP telephones the Partner system may not be your best option. If you are a growing business it also may not make sense to put money into a system that is not being produced any longer by the manufacturer and new parts are increasingly difficult to find. A better option may be to upgrade to an Avaya IP Office, which can support all the new technology mentioned as well as most of the old Partner telephones, so upgrades can be less costly than replacing everything.

Alternatively, it may be a good idea to look at cloud or “hosted” telephone systems. It really just depends on your business model. CSM can help you with this decision in Austin, Tampa, or any city we have staff in.

Avaya Partner Family of Phones