A Telstra spokesperson said the new sale covered about 30 staff, customer relationships and equipment. The telco would continue to support Touchbase Avaya customers, some of which are already Telstra customers for other IT-based services.

"The acquisition of the Touchbase's Avaya customer base and associated staff is a significant demonstration of the importance Telstra is placing on the development of solutions in the IP telephony space," the spokesperson said. "It allows Telstra to deepen its relationship with existing and new customers."

Telstra also has existing partnerships with other vendors such as Cisco, NEC, Ericsson, Nortel and Mitel.

"IP telephony is one of many next-generation solutions that Telstra is investing in to expand its capability and range," he said. "With this [Touchbase] acquisition, Telstra is best placed in the market to provide the broadest range of IP telephony solutions to enterprise and government customers."

Touchbase parted ways with Avaya after five years due to a contractual dispute. At the time, managing director, Magnus Maynard, told ARN that the integrator had refused to sign a new contract relating to Avaya's Partner Support Services program because it restricted the level of services it could provide to its customers.