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ANALYST CONNECTION
Chris Barnard
Vice President, European Telecommunications and Networking
Michael Vorisek
Program Manager, Telecoms & Networking, Central and Eastern Europe

Avaya: Restructuring to Drive Innovation
May 2017
On January 19, 2017, Avaya announced it was filing for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, aiming to restructure its debts and obligations while continuing its daily operations. Against this backdrop, customers and partners worldwide are asking what effect the restructuring will have on them. This Analyst Connection provides IDC's understanding of why the restructuring is happening and how this will affect Avaya's customers and partners.

The following questions were posed by Avaya to Vice President Chris Barnard of IDC's European Telecommunications and Networking research and Program Manager Michael Vorisek of IDC's European Telecoms & Networking group, on behalf of Avaya’s customers and partners.
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Chris Barnard is vice president, European Telecommunications and Networking, at IDC. He is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and is responsible for enterprise-focused region-wide research, as well as country-specific telecoms research in the Nordics, Benelux, France, Spain, and Italy. With a personal research focus on enterprise transformation and the interaction with infrastructure and lifecycle services (consulting/integration, managed services, and maintenance), Chris is the author of numerous white papers and trade press articles on professional services, convergence, unified communications, ebusiness, infrastructure, and networking strategies. He is widely quoted in the international technology and business press. In 2010, Chris was named telecoms analyst of the year by the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR). He is frequently asked to speak at international industry conferences, customer events, and road shows.
Chris joined IDC in 2000. He previously worked for three years at Montreal-based software company Essentus as special projects manager and customer support manager (Europe). Before joining this supply-chain management vendor, Chris was employed by Fast Lane, an Oracle consultancy in the Netherlands. Chris Barnard, who holds a master's degree (cum laude) in social sciences from Stellenbosch University, also has six years' experience as a journalist and editor at various publications.


Michael Vorisek covers markets in the unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) ecosystems of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). His areas of focus include IP telephony, UC&C platforms and equipment, unified communications as a service (UCaaS), and business IP voice services. After joining IDC in 2008, Michael initially focused on the security of telecommunications networks and on fixed business and consumer communications services in Central and Eastern Europe. His focus has evolved to include business communications equipment and services across the broader EMEA region. In addition to his work as an IDC analyst, Michael is a part-time teacher and researcher of the history of sociology. Michael Vorisek studied history and sociology at Charles University, Prague, and social and political science at the European University Institute, Florence. In addition to his native Czech, he is fluent in English and Italian and speaks passable French and German.

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