Asia Pacific Hospitality Industry Crossed US$134.2 million with Avaya Leading

• Company experiences double-digit growth and signs on impressive list of new hotel & resort customers including the Taj, Leela, Oberoi and Maurya Sheraton Hotels in India
• Frost & Sullivan report shows Avaya in strong lead in Asia Pacific hospitality industry with region showing growth
• Customer service excellence drives hoteliers to implement latest Unified Communications technologies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 14, 2008

NEW DELHI — Avaya, a leading global provider of business communications applications, software and services, today announced that it has experienced double digit growth in the hospitality industry in 2007 of the company’s fiscal year in Asia Pacific. This is reinforced by a recently published report (Enterprise Communications in the Hospitality Industry for Asia Pacific Region, 2008) by consulting company Frost & Sullivan, stating that Avaya Asia Pacific revenues of enterprise communication sales into the hospitality vertical was US$37.7 million for 2007, excluding Japan, representing a market share of 28.1%.

The current surge in growth has been aided by unprecedented levels of hotel and resort developments due to the booming travel & tourism sector, the 2010 Commonwealth games in India and the increasing communication needs from business travelers. Domestic tourism has seen an upward trend with the number of domestic tourists for 2006 reaching an estimated 462 million and the increase in the Indian middle-class spending power.

Frost and Sullivan estimates that enterprise telephony solutions sales in the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) travel and hospitality industry grew 34.9% in 2007, with a total market value of US$ 208.0 million. CAGR for 2008 to 2014 in this industry is 9.4 per cent, demonstrating growth for business communications providers in this sector.

Frost & Sullivan industry principal, Moaiyad Hoosenally said, “Enterprise communication sales into Asia’s hospitality sector is expected to witness phenomenal growth. Asia is the centre of growth in the global tourism industry and is home to some of the most influential, bustling and largest economies. Rising domestic travel from within the region, the growing affluence of Asians, coupled with the entry of low-cost carriers is expected to encourage travel, especially to countries like China and India, thus boosting demand for hotel rooms. Avaya’s strategy of integrating different technologies is well founded. The trend of evolving from a relatively isolated voice system to a communications portal, integrated with multimedia and room control functions for instance has added much value to communication systems. This is only possible if the system runs on a standard protocol, which is exactly what IP solutions aim to achieve.”

Some of Avaya’s customers who have begun implementing hospitality solutions include, Taj, Oberoi, Leela, Maurva Sheraton hotels in India. These solutions include integrated solutions for unified communications like softphones, wireless, mobility, voice and IP telephony. These solutions provide a host of benefits such as consistent connectivity and mobility for guests and employees, increase in productivity and efficiency of employees, getting weather updates, city tour guides, navigation facilities, taxi booking etc on their devices. Some hotels are equipping their employees with wireless handhelds to more promptly serve guests, help staff understand a guest’s likely preferences, and improve other operations. All of these solutions are on an open standard platform with an extensive partner ecosystem that includes top suppliers from the industry.

“The Asia Pacific hospitality industry is seeing healthy growth and the contribution made by the Indian market is immense. New large-scale projects, business and leisure travel are expected to boost traffic within and into the region. This has forced hoteliers to reconsider their business strategies as the adoption of technology will impact consumer expectations of their hotel experience. Avaya is seeing hoteliers view technology not only as a critical component of their business strategy, but also a critical part of guests’ experience. Communications is no longer regarded as a mere utility. Our solutions give a myriad of competitive advantages that span revenue growth, cost efficiencies, and brand differentiation for the hospitality industry. There has been a significant trend towards offering guests more personalized services, as a differentiator. We are very excited with this surge in growth and banking on this sector for more growth,” said Anil Nair, President, Avaya GlobalConnect.

About Avaya

Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®, use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centers and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large. For more information visit the Avaya Web site, www.avaya.com.

Media enquiries:
Anjali Kakkar
Avaya GlobalConnect
Tel: 0124 - 4093332
anjali.kakkar@avayaglobalconnect.com

Mitali Darbari
20:20 MEDIA
Tel: 0120 - 4642020
mitali@2020india.com