Santa Clara, Calif. – November 19, 2019 – Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE:AVYA), a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, today announced it has been honored as a 2019 Edison Patent Award Winner in the category of Information Technology, recognizing key inventors for the importance of their patented innovations.
The R&D Council of New Jersey selected its winners for the prestigious award from nominations that were reviewed by a team of R&D Council researchers who evaluated patents for significance of the problem, utility/socio-economic value, novelty and commercial impact. Avaya R&D team members Valentine Matula, George Erhart, and former colleagues David Skiba, Venkatesh Krishnaswamy and Ravi Sethi were recognized for their important work at the annual Thomas Alva Edison Patent Awards Ceremony recently held at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey.
“This recognition is a tremendous honor for us and for our Avaya colleagues, who each and every day are driving innovation that enables our clients and partners to deliver superior customer experiences,” said Valentine Matula, Avaya Vice President of Emerging Products & Technology. “We look forward to delivering further innovation that advances our industry and improves global communication and collaboration capabilities.”
“Avaya’s focus on research and development and innovation is well-known throughout the unified communications and contact center solutions market,” said George Erhart, Avaya Consulting Research Scientist. “To receive broader recognition for our work by a prestigious organization like the R&D Council is, in my opinion, indicative of the impact Avaya technologies are having across the spectrum of the communications and IT ecosystem.”
“Every year, we watch the advances of the research coming from this state and we are overwhelmed by the quality and broad spectrum of work being done,” said Larry O’Connell, chairman of the board of the R&D Council and IBM’s Vice President of Global Technical Leadership. “Congratulations to Avaya and to its distinguished inventors.”
“Avaya has a long and storied history of invention and innovation, and we could not be prouder of this most recent recognition for our distinguished scientists,” said Chris McGugan, Avaya Senior Vice President, Solutions & Technology. “It is indicative of our commitment to continue the breakthrough advancements in digital communications software, services, and devices that propel our industry forward.”
“For our customers and partners around the world, Avaya truly equals innovation, and I am proud to work with these amazing innovators and scientists who are delivering new customer-centric technologies every day,” said Frank Ciccone, Avaya Senior Vice President, North America Sales. “Their inventions are creating experiences that matter for users of Avaya solutions worldwide.”