Participants Design Solutions for ‘Succeeding in a Hybrid World’

Avaya , a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, announced the winners of its TADHack Mini-Orlando – a communications technology hackathon – themed “Succeeding in a Hybrid World” and sponsored by Red Hat, Subspace, Telnyx, Toolwire, and Avaya Experience Builders™.

This is the first time in two years the TADHack event has been held at Avaya ENGAGE due to the pandemic, and organizers incorporated this into the theme. To enhance the authenticity of joining face-to-face and virtual engagements, hackers were challenged with bringing hybrid experiences to life – making each feel genuine – finding connections as we often do at work, in social environments or in the communities in which we live.

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“All of the hackathon participants deserve congratulations for their efforts facing a unique challenge and delivering viable solutions using Avaya’s composable communications technology.”

At TADHack Mini-Orlando, participants including customers, channel partners, and programmers were tasked with using Avaya application programming interfaces (APIs) such as Avaya Social Connections, Avaya Spaces, Avaya OneCloud™ CPaaS Communication APIs, and Avaya OneCloud™ Orchestration APIs (conversational intelligence). In addition to Avaya tools and resources, hackers also had access to APIs from Google, Red Hat, Subspace, Telnyx and Toolwire. Hackers received support from the Avaya developer team, as well as Avaya software developer kits (SDKs). Mentors from Google, Red Hat, Subspace, Telnyx and Toolwire also were available to provide support.

The hackathon is another facet of Avaya Experience Builders™ – Avaya’s network of Avaya experts, partners, developers, and customers—working together using pre-built frameworks and unique tools to solve complex problems. Nearly 50 teams pitched their ideas representing universities, businesses, channel partners, and private programming enthusiasts while participating in TADHack Mini-Orlando both in-person and remotely. Winners were selected at the close of the hackathon and had the opportunity to showcase their ideas to Avaya ENGAGE attendees.

“We are in a unique period where monolithic applications no longer satisfy experiences for customers and employees in a cloud-based world; experiences must be composed,” said Simon Harrison, SVP and CMO at Avaya. “All of the hackathon participants deserve congratulations for their efforts facing a unique challenge and delivering viable solutions using Avaya’s composable communications technology.”

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The winning hacks and their creators are as follows:

First Place

Hack name: Meeting Minion
Team name: ConvergeOne
Members: Kevin Kramer, Brent Bailey, and David Matthiesen.
Used Avaya CPaaS to dial into a meeting bridge to cover for a participant who is unable to attend the meeting. Using Google Dialogflow, the minion will transcribe the meeting in real-time and listen for questions from their “boss.” If a question is asked during the meeting, the system will send a text message to the boss who will respond with the answer and then it will be read to those in attendance. If a participant requires that person to join the meeting, the minion will transfer them into the conversation.
Resources used: Avaya OneCloud CPaaS, Avaya Spaces, and Google Dialogflow

Second Place

Hack Name: Smart rescue, powered by Avaya fly monitor
Team Name: Spaces Rescue Squad
Members: Alok Kulkarni, Tejas Bramhecha, and Kalyani Bhate
Developed a solution to communicate with people impacted by natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and more by showcasing how Avaya solutions can play a vital role in rescuing and helping people in affected areas. Avaya Spaces allows the admin team to continuously monitor responses collected by telephony bot while using a drone Spaces call to remotely obtain assistance from specialists who assess the damage with real-time information.
Resources used: Avaya OneCloud CPaaS, Avaya Spaces, Google Dialogflow, Telnyx, Spaces Learning, and Toolwire

Third Place

Hack Name: Metashop
Team: Genesis Barrios
MetaShop is a 3D interactive web store built with Node.js, Babylon.js, and Avaya APIs.
Resources used: Avaya OneCloud Orchestration and Avaya Spaces

Fourth Place

Hack Name: Bender
Team Name: TeamZero
Members: Ebtesam Al Haque, Muntaser Syed, Javier Carrion, Derrick Wilson-Duncan, and Chris Woodle.
An AI-powered robotic bartender.
Resources used: Avaya OneCloud CPaaS, Avaya OneCloud Orchestration, Google Dialogflow, Subspace, and Red Hat

Fifth Place

Hack Name: Telepaper
Members: Jared M, Ashcraft and David Sikes
Augments the distance learning and collaboration experience by allowing users to seamlessly write notes to each other in real time with a tablet and stylus. Each user would have a tablet and the notes would appear between tablets in real time. Since the tablets are separate devices, screen sharing is unnecessary, and the face-to-face aspect of communication would be retained.
Resources used: Avaya Spaces, Subspace, and Red Hat