Avaya buyout speculation causes waves

With speculation that Avaya is in play for an acquisition, things will be different for VoIP users or the overall market no matter what happens. While reports fluttered last week that Avaya is seeking a buyout, either from a private-equity firm or from corporate VoIP rivals Nortel or Cisco, observers say this activity could be a warning sign to IP telephony buyers to sit tight for now. It was also reported that Avaya had already been in talks with Nortel about an acquisition in early May. Observers say a Nortel-Avaya deal would bring a single dominant player to the enterprise VoIP market, similar to how Cisco dominates enterprise routing, switching and security.