North American Communications Resource (NACR), Inc., has been named a Platinum BusinessPartner by Avaya (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of communications networks and services to businesses.

The Platinum certification is an industry-recognized designation that NACR has met Avaya’s most stringent criteria in technical expertise, customer support and customer satisfaction as measured by an independent survey organization. Avaya has one of the industry’s leading programs to certify technical professionals in IP telephony products and solutions.

The Platinum certification means that NACR has retained some of the best qualified and most experienced staff in the industry — technical professionals who understand Avaya and solutions from multiple vendors, and understand how they help customers improve business performance with more efficient and effective communications.

“This certification tells our customers and the industry that NACR is among the most qualified and knowledgeable communications providers in the country,” said Tom Roles, president and chief executive officer, NACR. “Our company’s success as an Avaya BusinessPartner is based on our excellent staff. We hire people who want to strive to make our company better, we empower our employees and we value and take action on their input, so they know they’re making a real difference in the company while achieving their personal goals.”

NACR also continually invests in technology and training, to ensure that NACR’s IT specialists have the latest systems and the highest levels of certification available. A national Avaya BusinessPartner and one of Avaya’s largest dealers worldwide, NACR provides communications systems and design and implementation services for enterprises across the United States.

The Avaya BusinessPartner certification program was launched in April 2002 for FY2003 and has three levels of distinction — Silver, Gold and Platinum. For NACR to achieve the Platinum rating, the company had to meet specific requirements in three key areas:

Business Engagement — Requires BusinessPartners to meet revenue performance targets in four solution areas (voice, data, applications, and convergence). In the past year, NACR increased its purchases from Avaya by 70 percent.
Customer Support and Service — Avaya Business Partners must deliver a specific level of support for their customers and score 85 percent or higher when their customers were asked “How satisfied are you with this BusinessPartner?”
Competency — Requires Avaya BusinessPartners’ employees to complete a rigorous exam and elective courses to earn the designation “Avaya Certified Specialist.”Of the 1,100 Avaya BusinessPartners in the U.S. who are eligible to participate in Avaya’s certification program for FY2003, 90 achieved certification by the October 1 deadline; eight dealers, including NACR, have been designated Platinum.

NACR has consistently received top honors from Avaya, including BusinessPartner of the Year for the past three years. NACR is also a designated Avaya “Diamond Dealer” and has received a number of awards from Avaya, including the President’s Award for Team Excellence, DEFINITY® Dealer of the Year, the Alexander Graham Bell Excellence Award, and awards for outstanding growth and individual sales excellence.

“NACR is a highly valued BusinessPartner that has aggressively and intelligently grown its business,” said Jan Burton, vice president, Global Channel Strategies and Distribution, Avaya. “The company has an exceptional strategy for bringing more sales, support, and technical expertise into the business — with the result that NACR receives excellent ratings for customer satisfaction as well as for growth.”

NACR was previously a member of the Avaya BusinessPartner Dealer Council and the Avaya Quality Breakthrough Team, and holds a seat on the board of the North American Association of Telecom Dealers (NATD). For two consecutive years, its Avaya distributor, Catalyst, was also named NACR Dealer of the Year.

About NACR
NACR provides communications solution throughout the United States, including design and implementation plus full service offerings complemented by Avaya system maintenance services. NACR offers the entire Avaya product line, including Avaya DEFINITY® systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Messaging, Voice over IP (VoIP), Voice and Video Conferencing, and Data solutions. The company distinguishes itself in the marketplace through its ability to preconfigure and stage its communications systems prior to delivery to the customer, as well as a willingness to tailor its processes and procedures to individual customer needs.

NACR is headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota. Launched in 1993 with only five employees, NACR has grown to more than 230 employees and 55 locations across the country. For 2002, NACR was named one of the top 50 fastest growing private companies in the Minneapolis⬜St. Paul metropolitan area by The Business Journal. In the third quarter of 2002, NACR posted growth of 292% over third quarter revenue for 2001, setting a new “personal best” and standing out as a success in an otherwise sluggish telecom industry.

For more information about NACR, call 1-888-321-NACR (6227) or visit its Web site at nacr.com.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications — and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services — Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com
The Avaya Professional Certification Program was developed to ensure that qualified individuals are supporting Avaya products and solutions in the marketplace. Professional Certification leads to global consistency for customers and allows Avaya and its BusinessPartners to exceed customer expectations with high degrees of technical proficiency.
The Avaya Professional Certification Program is a progressive program with Associate, Specialist, and Expert level credentials.

Each level of Avaya Certification requires passing one or more exams or learning activities in the required areas. Exams cover a range of topics spanning converged technology and Avaya product/solution knowledge.

Exams are translated into multiple languages and are globally available at Pearson VUE Testing Centers around the world.