Black Box Named an Avaya Channel Partner

Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX), an industry-leading provider of voice communications, data infrastructure, and product solutions, announced today that it has become a Silver-certified Avaya Channel Partner. As such, Black Box's team of highly skilled technicians are authorized to design, install, and maintain Avaya's state-of-the-art business communications systems, helping enterprises of all sizes greatly enhance their business operations with advanced unified communications, collaboration, and contact center solutions.

"Avaya Channel Partners are critical to the success of our business," said Carol Giles Neslund, vice president, North American Channels, Avaya. "They deliver value, innovation, and service to Avaya customers. Black Box is well known for its deep technical expertise, extensive coverage, and high client satisfaction rate and will play an important role as we grow our channel sales. Avaya's channel certification program helps us ensure that customers have a consistent, quality experience from purchase through implementation and ongoing support."

The Silver-certified status of Black Box recognizes its capabilities in the sale, design, implementation and maintenance of Avaya systems, software, and solutions. In addition, Silver-certified Channel Partners must meet rigorous service delivery and customer satisfaction criteria, develop comprehensive marketing plans, and meet annual revenue commitments for the sale of Avaya solutions and services.

Black Box believes that diversification is a key element in today's multi-vendor environment. Communications integrators with diverse portfolios, like Black Box, can offer clients more choices, which in turn can lead to more effective technology decision-making, planning, and implementation.

"Integrators are a vital component of the enterprise communications value proposition," said Christine Tenneson, Research Director at Gartner. "The strength of the relationship between the client and the integrator not only translates into an invaluable asset to the client but also the manufacturer. Integrators who can maintain strong customer relationships while fostering solid manufacturer partnerships can often offer clients the best options."

"We are very excited to become an Avaya Channel Partner," said Terry Blakemore, Black Box's president and chief executive officer. "As a market leader in the enterprise communications space, the addition of Avaya's cutting edge solutions to our portfolio creates another very compelling technology option for enterprise customers. Our relationship with Avaya backed by Black Box's global footprint, diverse capabilities, 30-plus year history, and deep commitment to outstanding support make this partnership a winning combination."

About Black Box

Black Box is the world's largest technical services company dedicated to designing, building, and maintaining today's complicated data and voice infrastructure systems. Black Box services more than 175,000 clients in 141 countries with 194 offices throughout the world. To learn more, visit the Black Box Web site at http://www.blackbox.com.

Black Box(R) and the Double Diamond logo are registered trademarks of BB Technologies, Inc. Any third-party trademarks appearing in this press release are acknowledged to be the property of their respective owners.

About Avaya

Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service, and competitiveness. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

SOURCE: Black Box Corporation

Black Box Corporation 
Gary Doyle, 724-873-6788 
Director -- Investor Relations 
E-mail: investors@blackbox.com

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