Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Why was Android used to implement Avaya Flare?

Network world reported in his article “New Avaya device takes on Cisco (Apple, too) in tablet war" on Avaya Flare. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/091510-avaya-tablet.html

They call it “a powerful  Android-based touchscreen tablet that support new communications software to rival Cisco’s recently announced communication tablet Cius”.  And move on to describe the user experience “Members are drawn in from a Rolodex of contacts listed on the right of the screen and dragged into a spotlight at the center, representing the conference”.
In the comments section at network world readers asked: why was Android used to implement Avaya Flare? The reasons are
1)   Android is an open platform. The tablet thus can run 10.000’s of standard applications off the shelf
2)   There is a large Android developer community – so it’s easy for an Avaya customer to find someone building special applications for the customers business context. In addition leveraging Avaya Ace no special telecom skills are needed to write applications.
3)   Android did give my development team a jumpstart. Many functions we had to develop in projects before were available right out of the standard Android load.
4)   Last – but not least – its fun to develop with new technologies. Our developers love to learn new things and apply it to our customer’s business environment. As a consequence we have a motivated and energized team.
Let me know what your thoughts on the use of Android are! Here as well as on the Avaya blog at http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/2010/09/title-why-was-android-used-to-implement-avaya-flare.html
Christian von Reventlow, VP new Products at Avaya, Inventor of Avaya Flare.

Tags: Contextual Collaboration, Business collaboration, Collaboration software, Project collaboration, Team collaboration, Web based collaboration, Collaboration tool, Collaboration, Collaboration strategy, Collaboration management, Collaboration strategies, Collaborate, Online collaboration, Collaboration technology, Collaborative tools, Hosted collaboration, Collaboration open source, Group collaboration, Document collaboration, Google collaboration, Web collaboration

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Just released my baby: the Avaya Flare User Experience and the Avaya Desktop Video Device. An Android tablet with HD Video conferencing

Avaya yesterday released the results of my work from the last year: the Avaya Flare User Experience and the Avaya Desktop Video Device. Its an Android tablet with HD Video conferening. iI got created through my MoJo project which some of you know.

It's build to make collaboration really easy:
1) A user experience that is intuitive, fun and easy to use. It has consistently rated 8.5+ out of 10 in wow factor and 9+ our of 10 in ease of use. And it takes less than 5 seconds to figure out how it works.
2) It integrates stereo voice, HD video conferencing, Web conferencing & document sharing, email, instant messaging, Facebook, Linked_In, PC screensharing, remote access to your office PC and desktop virtualization.
3) It brings contextual collaboration to life - automatically showing information relvant for the specific context. For example for people it shows previous communication you had with that person, documents you might have worked on or where the person lives.

Special thanks to all of you - customers, business partners, Avaya Associates and friends and family who helped and worked day and night to create Avaya Flare - both the user experience as well as the Android based HD video collaboration tablet!
Check the user experience out at Guided tour of the Avaya Flare user experience.

Plus see how our customers use the device in the videos:
An executive using Avaya Flare,
Higher customer satisfaction in financial institutions using Avaya Flare and
Using Avaya Flare in a doctors office to solve medical issues faster

I want to evolve the user experience and capabilities of Avaya Flare. Thus please let me know what you like and what you want to get improved. Plus let me know new ideas you might have. Pls post a comment so that we can discuss.