AVAYA WINS $30 MILLION CONTRACT TO PROVIDE WORLDWIDE COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS FOR NEWS CORPORATION.

Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV), a global leader in corporate networking solutions and services, has announced a two-year, $30 million agreement with News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) to provide comprehensive networking solutions that will be implemented throughout the company. News Corporation is a leading global media company, whose holdings include 20th Century Fox Films, the Fox Broadcasting Company and 23 owned-and-operated television stations, in addition to cable channels, newspapers, magazines and other media around the world. This agreement represents one of the single-largest implementations of network technology within the entertainment industry by Avaya.

By implementing Avaya solutions that include the no compromise Enterprise Class IP Solutions (ECLIPS) suite of products using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), in addition to voice switching systems and messaging applications, News Corporation will be able to significantly enhance its ability to communicate efficiently and effectively across its enterprises. The Avaya solutions also allow News Corporation to standardize its communications infrastructure on a single network. This is often difficult to accomplish within the entertainment industry, in which companies are frequently hindered in establishing network standards due to the complexities of running applications with significantly different operational requirements.

"We've been trying to migrate our systems into a single corporate infrastructure for a period of time," said Loran Fite, senior vice president, CIO, News Corporation. "Avaya was the only vendor who we were confident had the technology and expertise to allow us to standardize, consolidate and communicate across the many businesses that comprise News Corporation. We will be able to communicate better, while leveraging technology and reducing expenses associated with managing multiple platforms."

The first step towards this goal was the establishment of a global voice and messaging network based on Avaya's industry-leading asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology linking News Corporation's five principle locations of Los Angeles, New York, London, Sydney and Hong Kong. Avaya and News Corporation designed a global dial plan to facilitate communications between News Corporation's major business centers at reduced costs and implemented a voice messaging hub to enable exchange of messages among its various companies around the world.

"News Corporation recognizes the need to consolidate and build a standard for all of its systems, even in an industry that typically is reluctant to standardize," said Dan Evatt, Avaya vice president, Multinational Accounts. "By choosing Avaya as its enterprise-wide platform, News Corporation is confident in Avaya's ability to leverage our solutions across its enterprise in a manner that is flexible enough to consider the needs of each of the operating business entities."

News Corporation's selection of Avaya as its preferred supplier of communications technology represents the second significant agreement between the two companies this year. In February, Avaya was selected to provide state-of-the-art contact center solutions for News Corporation subsidiary British Sky Broadcasting. BSkyB is a leading provider of sports, movies, entertainment and news in the United Kingdom and Ireland with more than nine million viewers.

By implementing Avaya solutions that include intelligent call routing and interactive voice response systems (IVRs), BSkyB will be able to more efficiently handle the 135,000 calls it receives daily for requests for digital satellite reception equipment, pay-per-view programming, billing inquiries and sales.

According to Mike Hughes, managing director of BSkyB services, "Avaya's advanced communications solutions will make a valuable contribution to our drive to lead innovation in customer service and maintain BSkyB's digital industry-leading levels of customer retention."

Avaya, headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., USA, is a leading provider of communications systems for enterprises, including businesses, government agencies and other organizations. Avaya offers converged voice and data, customer relationship management, unified communication, messaging, voice multi-service networking and structured cabling products and services. Avaya is a worldwide leader in sales of messaging and structured cabling systems and a U.S. leader in sales of enterprise voice communications and call center systems. Avaya intends to use its leadership positions in enterprise communications systems and software, its broad portfolio of products and services, and strategic alliances with other technology and consulting services leaders to offer its customers comprehensive eBusiness solutions.