This month's Westcon Avaya Enterprise launches in London and Dublin mapped out a big change in direction for the distributor and its channel partners.

The key message that came across loud and clear was that data and SIP based solutions on the back of Avaya's upgraded Aura 6.0 system, call centre and data networking platforms were the way forward for resellers seeking to maximise margins and offer cost savings for enterprise customers.

Avaya's Business Development Director Roger Jones told the London audience of 110 partners: "Do we carry on being voice people? No we have to change. A core part of our vision is how SIP will help customers lower costs. Many enterprises are deploying or evaluating SIP. Lowering the cost of bringing trunks into buildings is fundamental to the enterprise. Our vision is to exploit these benefits and take them to customers.

"Aura represents a centralised infrastructure to drive savings and simplicity. We can connect a variety of applications via SIP and drive them to a combination of comms devices."

Westcon is putting a heavyweight marketing and training programme behind the drive to data and Helen Briggs, Head of Sales for Westcon Avaya, announced a comprehensive list of reseller support programmes, including a series of Data Boot Camps, product, pre-sales and certification workshops, plus UC Solutions and SIP School courses.