Spaces
Generally available since just a few days ago, Spaces marks Avaya's debut into the team collaboration space. It's part of a new suite of services, developed by the company's Zang subsidiary, that includes CPaaS, UCaaS, and soon cloud-based contact center and video conferencing services as well. But strictly speaking, Spaces' origin story begins with Esna Technologies, which had started developing it before Avaya acquired the company in 2015.
Spaces is available in a freemium model characteristic of many other persistent workspace apps. You start with a limited amount of storage, a limited number of meeting participants, and limited access to support... then get more as you pay more.
Spaces supports PSTN connectivity, but only in the form of audio conferencing participants dialing in from mobile phones and land lines. It has no native dialer or integration with a premises- or cloud-based PBX that makes traditional UC functionality available from within the app. That said, Avaya has combined Spaces and Zang Office (the UCaaS service) at an offer level. The backend system recognizes when a user with a Zang Office Power account (costing $32/user/month) logs on, and alerts him or her of the complimentary Spaces Plus account (normally $5/user/month). Ditto with Zang Office's Basic and Standard plans, which come with Zang Basic accounts. (The Basic plan is free, so presumably users could get it anyway.)
And it's my understanding that some Spaces functionality will be baked into Zang Office. So someone subscribing to one of the higher tiers of Office will be able to launch persistent messaging sessions without setting up a separate Spaces account.
Zang Spaces is available in English for now, with localization on the near-term roadmap.
