The consumerization of mobile and new thinking about employee productivity means people are increasingly working remotely – whether it's at home, away, or just in the office but not at a desk – via their wireless devices. Those devices are commonly smartphones, but increasingly tablets, especially the iPad. To address all of the above, Avaya (News - Alert) today is introducing Avaya Flare Communicator for Apple iPad tablets.

As a result, the user experience of the Avaya Flare Experience currently delivered on the Avaya Desktop Video Device now includes the market-leading consumer tablet. This will provide mobile workers with secure connectivity, and unified communications and collaboration functionality, over Wi-Fi and 3G networks. 

 “We’re really enabling an extension of the office now to the mobile knowledge workers," Karen Hardy, director of product marketing at Avaya, told TMCnet.

The solution is targeted at existing Avaya Aura 6.1 customers that want to extend the in-office experience to mobile workers, Hardy adds. It allows those customers to realize faster return on investment, lower their cellular costs, and address the bring-your-own-device trend, she said. 

She explained that it can lower cellular costs by enabling employees to make calls over the Wi-Fi network. And, in the process, employees retain their existing work numbers, enterprise-class voice functionality, contact list, and other features. Users also can manage two simultaneous voice calls using the iPad while mobile, and multi-task on the iPad tablet while reading e-mail, attending a Web conference, or using other applications or functionality.

This iteration of the solution supports voice, instant messaging, e-mail, presence, contacts, and application integration. Hardy says this version does not have video collaboration functionality, but mentions a release in the second half of 2012 will add support for video conferencing.

Customers interested in Avaya Flare Communicator for Apple (News - Alert) iPad tablets can get the Apple iPad application from the Apple App Store free of charge. Avaya does require a $100 license for each user that will connect into the Avaya Aura. However, businesses with Avaya Aura 6.1 or later can obtain up to 50 Avaya Aura client access licenses at no cost to connect users to Flare Communicator during an introductory offer from Jan. 24 through April 30.

Avaya is a sponsor of ITEXPO East 2012. To be held Jan. 31- Feb. 3 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Fla. ITEXPO (News - Alert) is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit Avaya at the show. For more information on ITEXPO registration click here.Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO… Follow us on Twitter.