Avaya (News - Alert), a global player in enterprise communications systems, software and services, has appointed Stephen J. Gold as senior vice president and chief information officer.

Officials with Avaya said that Gold in his new role will be responsible for all aspects of Avaya's technology strategy, as well as driving IT excellence across Avaya business operations and systems globally.

Company officials said that this includes identifying and prioritizing strategic IT initiatives to ensure Avaya remains at the forefront of technology while driving efficiencies across business functions.

Gold joins Avaya from GSI Commerce (News - Alert) where he served as executive vice president, CIO and corporate chief technology officer, and was responsible for directing overall product and technology strategy for GSI's eCommerce business.

Prior to joining GSI, Gold was vice president and divisional CIO for Merck & Company's US Human Health and Worldwide Vaccines divisions. 

"Steve's deep expertise in IT and reputation for streamlining business structures will be a key asset in executing Avaya's mission to enable the future of real-time communications," said Jim Chirico, chief restructuring officer and president, operations, Avaya, in a statement.

Chirico said that the role of chief information officer is critical to making sure the company has the very best resources to support the customers and partners.

TMCnet recently reported that Avaya is helping hospitals improve patient care and reduce costs by integrating real-time, intelligent communications into healthcare software applications.

Officials with Avaya said that these healthcare applications, which are powered by Avaya Agile (News - Alert) Communications Environment and IBM's Health Integration Framework, can help hospitals boost safety, efficiency and enable faster, more accurate clinical decisions.

According to company officials, Avaya ACE is a service-oriented architecture (SOA) -based application that uses Web services to help healthcare providers integrate communications from nearly any vendor with clinical support applications.