Alliant Blog 770.441.9999

Zultys Receives Unified Communications® Magazine’s

2009-03-17T20:46:00.018-04:00

MX250 IP PBX Recognized for Outstanding Innovation

Sunnyvale, CA, March 17, 2009 — Zultys, the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP-based Unified Communication solutions for businesses and enterprises, today announced that the company has been recognized with the 2008 Product of the Year Award from Unified Communications magazine (Technology Marketing Corporation--TMC®) for innovations to its family of advanced IP PBX products (such as the MX250 and MX30) and Unified Communications solutions.

“It’s very gratifying to be recognized by Unified Communications magazine
with the 2008 Product of the Year Award for the difference we’re making in
the global Unified Communication Marketplace,” said Steve Rothenberg, CEO of Zultys. “We’ve seen a warm reception by the market to the innovations we’ve made to our all-in-one IP PBX products, and the new features and capabilities we’ve been introducing that make it easier than ever to deploy and maintain organization-wide UC services that really impact a company’s bottom line. We’re continuing the momentum with our upcoming Release 5.0 with features such as “Find Me, Follow Me,” and MXconnect™ -the ability to make any phone, anywhere, your personal business phone, and much more.”

“Zultys has proven they are committed to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace. Unified Communications is pleased to grant a 2008 Product of the Year Award to their MX250 IP PBX and the innovations in their Release 4.0 series of enhancements,” said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Editor-in-Chief of Unified Communications magazine. “We’re pleased to honor their hard work and accomplishments, and look forward to more innovative solutions from Zultys in the future.”

A full list of Product of the Year winners will be published in the March/April, 2009 issue of Unified Communications magazine, http://www.uc-mag.com/.

For more information about TMC, please visit www.tmcnet.com.

About Zultys Inc.
Zultys, Inc. is showing what's possible for Open Standards IP communications, telephony and productivity enhancing collaboration. Our Open Standards IP technology is the building block for our award-winning IP PBX systems. Zultys develops products that enable companies and organizations in over 110 countries and 19 languages to deploy integrated communications systems.

Please visit http://www.zultys.com/ for additional information.

About Unified Communications magazine
Launched in July 2007, Unified Communications magazine is devoted to
educating enterprise decision makers on why and how they need to deploy
unified communications (UC) solutions. Every issue of Unified
Communications magazine features a comprehensive news section; case
studies of successful deployments and lessons learned; interviews with
leading hardware and software companies; and an 'industry' section,
featuring analysis of important mergers and acquisition, partnerships and a
Wall Street perspective on the unified communications market. Unified
Communications has a readership of 100,000.

For more information, please visit http://www.uc-mag.com.

About TMC
Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) is a global integrated media
company helping our clients build communities in print, in person and
online. TMC publishes Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET
TELEPHONY, Unified Communications, and NGN Magazine. TMCnet, TMC's
Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications
and technology industries. TMCnet is read by two to three million unique
visitors each month worldwide, according to Webtrends. Ranked 2,724 by
Quantcast, TMCnet is in the top .03% most visited Web sites in the US. In
addition, TMC produces ITEXPO, 4GWE Conference, DigiumAsterisk World
and Communications Developer Conference. TMC also recently launched new
industry-specific Web sites: IT.TMCnet.com, Cable.TMCnet.com,
Robotics.TMCnet.com, Satellite.TMCnet.com, Green.TMCnet.com.

For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.
Zultys Media Contact: TMC Contact:
Steve Morrison Jan Pierret
Tel: +1 408-328-0450 x114 +1 203-852-6800 x 228
steve.morrison@zultys.com jpierret@tmcnet.com
# # #

Avistar Adds Zultys to Its Growing List of Industry Leading Technology PartnersZultys Licenses the Avistar C3 Media Engine™ – Power

2009-03-16T20:50:00.001-04:00

San Mateo, Calif., March 11, 2009 -- Avistar Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: AVSR), a leaderin unified visual communications solutions, announced today that Zultys, Inc., a leading providerof all-in-one unified communication solutions, will integrate Avistar’s C3 Media Engine and makeit available to its customers around the world. Through this agreement, Zultys customers willhave the ability to add best-in-class desktop videoconferencing to their unified communicationssystems. Zultys plans to launch the integrated solution in the fall of 2009.Simon Moss, CEO of Avistar, said, “After a thorough and competitive review, Zultys selectedAvistar. Zultys is recognized for its innovative, open standards IP communications andtelephony products. Avistar C3™ will help Zultys open new revenue streams and provideimportant new videoconferencing features that will strengthen its positioning in its marketsworldwide.”“Videoconferencing provides the ROI our customers are looking for as part of their unifiedcommunications solutions, especially in a down economy, where travel is well scrutinized,” saidSteve Morrison, Vice President, Product Marketing, Zultys. “Avistar C3 augments our line ofVoIP and web conferencing products, empowering our customers to collaborate and takeaggressive action to remain competitive.”Avistar C3 Media EngineBased on the award-winning Avistar C3 Desktop™ solution, the Avistar C3 Media Engineprovides a business class desktop videoconferencing experience to technology partners whorequire a visual communications experience within their applications. Business-classvideoconferencing is recognized as a valuable communications tool that provides corporationsserious cost savings, improved productivity and ROI. According to a recent WainhouseResearch study, one third of those polled see the use of videoconferencing accelerating giventoday’s economy, as it reduces the need and cost for travel plus improves collaboration anddecision-making. At a fraction of the cost of typical videoconferencing solutions, Avistar C3makes videoconferencing easy and approachable for both advanced and novice businessusers.About ZultysZultys, Inc. is showing what's possible for Open Standards IP communications and telephony.Its Open Standards IP technology is the building block for its award-winning IP PBX systems.Zultys develops products that enable companies and organizations in more than 110 countriesand 19 languages to deploy integrated communications systems. For more information visit:www.zultys.com.Avistar and Zultys2About Avistar Communications CorporationAvistar (Nasdaq: AVSR) is a unified visual communications solutions, providing provenbusiness-class technology. Avistar's desktop videoconferencing installations include more than100,000 committed desktop seats worldwide, bringing together business users anytime andanyplace. Companies such as IBM Corp., Sony Corp., LifeSize Communications, Inc. andPolycom Inc. use Avistar technology to power their unified communications solutions. Avistarworks with leading-edge technology partners and resellers including CityIS, Beyondis, Datamartand Fontel in more than 40 countries. For more information, go to www.avistar.com.###Contact:Angela Smith John CunninghamAvistar Zultys, Inc.+1 650-525-3388 +1 408-328-0450 x116asmith@avistar.com john.cunningham@zultys.comMargaret BonillaBirnbach Communications for Avistar+1 603-548-0693mbonilla@birnbachcom.com

ASK Staffing selects Premise-Based IP Communications System from Zultys

2009-03-16T13:33:00.002-04:00

Off Premise Phones and Low Total Cost of Ownership Key in Choosing Converged Phone System

ATLANTA, GA., March 4, 2009 – Zultys, Inc., a Silicon Valley company known for its open standards IP communications and telephony products, today recognized an innovative solution devised by Alliant DataTel, Inc. for a major Georgia staffing company.
ASK Staffing, Inc. ( http://www.askstaffing.com/ ) recently needed to replace its aging telephone system during an office relocation. Alliant DataTel, Atlanta, Georgia ( http://www.goalliant.net/ ), a Zultys value added reseller since August 2004, was selected by Michael Dukes, ASK Staffing’s VP of Operations, to displace an out-dated Avaya Partner phone system with a Zultys MX30 media exchange.

Michael Dukes explains; “Michael Kirchhoff, of Alliant installed our office Category 5e cabling, network switches and the MX30 in a couple of days, held training sessions before we went live on the system, and was here throughout the deployment. He was available to us when we needed assistance. In addition to an enhanced phone system with dynamic features, we have already started installing remote Aastra 53i IP phones. We have an IM (instant messaging) feature that is available to the users of the company. From an administrative standpoint, Michael has been very helpful in answering questions, allowing me to learn the various features. I now can now make changes to the phones, add, edit and delete users without waiting on a tech to arrive on site, which saves us money. We have increased the response time to our customers and improved the efficiency of our employees with this great new technology. As a matter of fact, with being able to assist our clients more efficiently we are already expanding and adding more employees.”

“Our new system simultaneously manages both the data network and our voice communications. I am most excited about the unified management dashboard. Just by looking at the presence icons, I know when anyone on my team is speaking with a client or engaged in a meeting. This is possible anywhere we have an Internet connection, so we are now much better equipped to provide reliable service to our customers."

“We will realize our nominal initial investment in three to four months. This whole voice-over-IP project came off exactly like Alliant promised. The PSTN voice quality on a Cbeyond PRI is excellent and we could not be happier with our decision in selecting Zultys and Alliant.”
Zultys' award winning IP PBX systems offer an all-in-one turnkey system with pre-loaded software that does not require additional or external servers. It supports PC, Mac, and Linux equipment. Companies interested in learning more how they might benefit with a Zultys MX may contact Alliant at 1-770-441-9999.

About Alliant DataTel Inc.
Alliant DataTel, Inc., an Atlanta based company is a Zultys dealer. It was founded in 1996 to provide telecommunication and computer networking integration services to small - medium sized companies. The IT professionals at Alliant are committed to providing excellent service, quality products and valuable solution resources that help companies achieve their corporate goals.

Alliant is a one stop VAR from planning to deployment. Whether you are a Fortune 500 firm or an emerging organization, Alliant can help you plan, design and implement a robust IT infrastructure that grows with you. Find out more at http://www.goalliant.net/.

About Zultys Inc.
Zultys, Inc. is showing what's possible for Open Standards IP communications, telephony and productivity enhancing collaboration. Our Open Standards IP technology is the building block for our award-winning IP PBX systems. Zultys develops products that enable companies and organizations in over 110 countries and 19 languages to deploy integrated communications systems.
Please visit http://www.zultys.com/ for additional information.
###

SOURCE: Alliant DataTel, Inc.
Alliant DataTel, Inc.
Michael Kirchhoff, CEO
1.770.441.9999 ext. 307
1.877.GO ALLIANT
michaelk@goalliant.net

New Support Center and Information Technology Product Showcase Opens in Atlanta

2008-12-28T19:42:00.007-05:00

Alliant DataTel expands operations by offering more Voice over IP phone system choices

ATLANTA, GA., December 29, 2008 –-- Alliant DataTel Inc., today announced an expanded office suite and the launching of several new marketing websites/blogs including http://www.phonesystemsatlanta.wordpress.com/ and http://www.cablingatlanta.wordpress.com/. Since 1996, Alliant DataTel an Atlanta, Georgia company has specialized in business phone systems, computer networks, cabling and PSTN circuits like PRI and T-1. Alliant’s new sales and support office at a prime location, 1200 Abernathy Road, Northpark Town Center is a mixed-use complex, located in Atlanta's Central Perimeter business district. Here the company will conduct various business seminars, host “How to Choose an IP-PBX Luncheons,” plus perform demos on all offered business solutions to prospects and current clients utilizing the brand new live product showcase. The luncheon portion is complimentary and optional yet the hands-on mini-seminars require registration as the classes are small and expected to fill quickly. Visiting the http://www.goalliant.net/ website can provide upcoming dates and times to RSVP for the 2 hour seminar luncheons or call Alliant’s main number 770-441-9999 for more information.

Alliant DataTel has recently increased its product lines to include Aastralink Response Point and Sutus Business Central BC200 dealerships. The company’s core information technology services include designing, implementing and managing Voice over Internet Protocol phone systems known as VOIP or Voice over IP business phone solutions. Most systems offered have the ability to plug an IP phone into any broadband Internet connection, anywhere in the world, allowing seamless connectivity to the IP-PBX base system. From a single location to multiple sites around the world, both voice and data networks can be connected to a telecommunications infrastructure that can deliver many features including auto attendant, voicemail, Wi-Fi phones, headsets, door phones, access control, and call center applications to name a few. Alliant DataTel can integrate many systems into existing computer networks and can e-mail voicemail messages and incoming faxes directly to email clients, such as Outlook & Groupwise. In addition, voicemails and faxes can also be sent directly to cell phones. Cell phones such as Blackberry’s, devices utilizing Windows Mobile 5 & 6, & Symbian phones work seamlessly with most IP-PBX systems.

Alliant DataTel is a certified partner for Samsung, Zultys, Microsoft Response Point, Xblue Networks and Sutus. "Our primary objective is to inform businesses about features available in ‘Voice over IP' phone solutions as well as TDM systems;" said Michael Kirchhoff, CEO of Alliant DataTel. “We educate business owners & decision makers in what to look for in purchasing the right system and setting up their complete infrastructure for their current and long term objectives.” When asked, Michael Kirchhoff says, “Many businesses are not aware of the amazing advancements that have occurred in telecommunications. It is not unusual for clients who need office cabling done during a move or renovation need a new updated phone system. There seems to be a lot of confusion with this upgrade between circuit providers, phone systems and their company’s data infrastructure,” said Kirchhoff; “when you add the new technology of VoIP on top; it becomes a major mountain in their eyes.” Kirchhoff continued, “The sticker shock for new technology first takes them by surprise. What we want to do is educate the end user to what their options are, utilizing their current requirements, budget, as well as their long range goals allowing them to run efficiently, while providing a cost effective solution. If their budget can’t handle everything at once, we break them down in mini-projects they can get their arms around. There is no sense in doing it half way; technology only works if you know how to use it.”

About Alliant DataTel Inc.

The IT professionals at Alliant are committed to providing excellent service, quality products and valuable solution resources that help companies achieve their corporate goals. The corporate website, (http://www.goalliant.net/) currently in redesign by http://www.3by400.com/ will be an interactive web portal that will make it easy for consumers to learn about the many options available when shopping for VoIP phone systems. Consumers will also have access to a knowledge base filled with guides on facilitating the buying process. The site will have detailed information about phone systems offered, along with their features and specifications. It is focused on educating the consumer about the technological advancements of phone systems.

Sutus surges ahead with Green office technology

2008-12-15T20:16:00.002-05:00

Sutus surges ahead with Green office technology

Award-winning office-in-a-box product helps small businesses reduce carbon footprint

September 10, 2008, Vancouver, B.C. - The Sutus Business Central™ is a multi-service business gateway (MSBG) that provides Small Businesses with a fully integrated data, networking and telephony solution. In addition to its business operational features, the power consumption, design and advanced remote support of Business Central dramatically reduces a small business' carbon footprint compared to a piecemeal solution that provides equivalent business functionality.

In the course of a year, the Business Central requires 350 kw/hrs power*. This is 1261 kw/hr lower than the power usage of the combined products used by most small businesses to match the functionality of the Business Central. The power difference is equivalent to .98 metric tonnes of CO2 per year. That's the equivalent of parking the car for 60 days a year or replacing a twenty year old fridge with an 'energy saver' model.

As well as having low power requirements, the Business Central enjoys a very streamlined design with dimensions of 9" by 11" by 4". This is little bigger than a Microsoft Xbox and is considerably smaller than the combined dimensions of a competing piecemeal solution. In addition, advanced remote support and management features built into the Business Central mean that the device can be remotely monitored, upgraded and repaired without the need to send out a technician or for the small business staff member to spend long periods on the phone.

The Sutus Business Central has been developed specifically for businesses of up to 25 employees and comprises a wide array of advanced data and networking functions such as: file server, email server, router, firewall, wireless access point, VPN remote access server, automated backups, and a business-class phone system with the ability to simultaneously support both standard phone line and VoIP connections.

The Business Central is also a gateway for hosted services and is ideal for businesses that promote remote working or those with employees in numerous locations.

Shawn Chute, EVP of Sutus, commented, 'People are rapidly becoming more conscious of their effect on the environment and this is starting to show in some of their business decisions. Small business owners in particular have the advantage of being able to change the way their company operates in many ways according to their preferences. The Sutus Business Central enables them to improve business functionality while helping the environment by utilizing our "all-in-one" energy efficient complete office solution.'

*Assumes constant power 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

About Sutus
Sutus (www.sutus.com) provides small businesses with an enterprise quality all-in-one solution that delivers office network and telephone infrastructure that is affordable, robust and extremely flexible. The Sutus Business Central™ is the winner of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine's 2007 product of the year award and IT Expo's 'Best Newcomer' award. It is designed specifically for offices with up to 25 users providing all core IT infrastructure as well as on-demand turnkey VoIP and other advanced phone and data services through Sutus business partners. The Business Central significantly improves a reseller's ability to easily service small business customers with locations of 25 users or less.

For more Sutus-related media information or images please contact:

David Matthews
Distinct Public Relations
davidm@distinctpr.com
+1 778 855 2335

Jon Paul Janze
Sutus Inc.
jpjanze@sutus.com
+1 778 371 5286 x2103

Zultys: Industy Solutions

2008-12-15T20:14:00.002-05:00

Zultys: Industy Solutions

Zultys delivers a highly flexible suite of features which may be readily customized to suit the needs of specific industries. From healthcare providers to law firms, service industries to financial providers, the Zultys MX30 and MX250 systems deliver the functionality you need today and the flexibility you will need tomorrow to support your changing business requirements.

Healthcare providers, such as clinics and other small healthcare providers, communication is a critical part of keeping patient and practices healthy. Traditional telephone systems cannot deliver the personalized service that ensures a higher level of care and increases patient trust and loyalty. Because the telephone itself is blind to patient data, such as medical history, primary care physician and insurance coverage, answering the phone has become an increasingly challenging activity. Answering the phone can require staff to handle the caller, and a PC to access patient data and an appointment calendar at the same time.

Law firms need to be able to route calls and gather call detail reporting to maximize customer service. In most law practices, the limitations of the phone system are a challenge to efficient and consistent client service. Calls should to be answered promptly and clients connected with lawyers quickly. Long hold times, busy signals and calls routed to the wrong person (or worse, dropped calls) cause client concern. Administrative time spent logging phone time and creating reports increases costs.

Service industry companies such as restaurants and restaurant chains, car dealerships with sales, service and financial departments require maximum flexibility in call handling so that calls are routed to the right group or person, minimal efforts to manage the phone system, integration into and with PCs, reservation/customer/CRM applications, fax and e-mail, and the ability to seamlessly answer calls wherever you are on multiple types of “phones.”

Real estate companies with agents and brokers who work both in the field and in different offices have more unique needs. Answering every sales call "live" means more new business, smoother transactions and more satisfied customers. To make the most of every sales opportunity agents need instant access to contact information and contact databases; the ability to conference customers and colleagues quickly; and ensure they can communicate with clients and prospects at any time, from any location. Answering and routing a high volume of inbound calls can frustrate even the most seasoned employees, while long hold times and misdirected calls annoy both current and prospective sellers, buyers, owners and tenants.

Financial services companies and banks with multiple offices, simply offering the best product is no guarantee of success. To acquire and retain customers, banks, credit unions and mortgage providers must also offer a consistently high level of prompt, friendly, personalized customer service. The phone is the initial, and often primary, tool. But the phone used alone does not display client data, account information, appointment calendar entries and client history.

Zultys MX250

2008-12-15T20:08:00.003-05:00

MX250

The MX250 is an IP PBX platform that integrates multimedia communications for businesses, large and small, into a single server compact system. All connections are made through standard interfaces. The MX250 integrates the functions of many applications into one Unified Communications platform without the requirement of several disparate adjunct servers. By integrating these functions into a single unit, Zultys delivers a cost effective, easy to provision, easy to use system that is also easily managed and expanded.

The MX250 combines the functions of an Internet gateway (switch and router) with classic PBX functionality: PSTN line interfaces, analog circuits, auto attendant, call routing, voice mail, and Automatic Call Distribution. It further adds support for video calls and multi-media files, such as text-to-speech announcements, automatic conversion of voice mail messages into WAV files, and MXIE, Zultys’ award-winning unified communications client application. The system uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to communicate with IP devices on the LAN or across the WAN. This industry standard protocol permits the connection of desktop phones, conference phones, and other SIP endpoints from many manufacturers. Administrators use a single intuitive GUI on a PC to configure and monitor every aspect of the system.

With the MX250, workers are accessible on a central communication system from any location with an Internet connection. Direct connectivity among all users is easily achieved, regardless of their location within a building, campus, city, region, or country. Users of the system have full access to all system features when logging in at the office, from home, while traveling, or from a different site, while retaining their own personal user identity.

All users, regardless of their role within the organization, enjoy a high quality voice system with access to productivity tools designed to increase their ability to get more done in less time. The system offers powerful applications such as presence, instant messaging, unified messaging, call handling, screen pops, and detailed call logs. These tools can operate on a single system or among multiple MX systems of varying sizes for a centrally managed platform that painlessly scales to support large enterprises.

The MX250 connects to a standard Ethernet switch, along with the connection of computers and IP phones. The connection to the LAN is made through one or two 10/100Base-T Ethernet ports on the MX250 main board, thereby providing redundancy. Additional redundancy is available with dual hard discs in a RAID 1 configuration, and AC and DC power inputs.

The MX250 provides three module slots that support the connection to the PSTN, legacy PBXs, and analog telephony devices.

SIP and Open Standards From The Beginning
The MX250 was designed and built from its inception to be an open standards IP PBX platform. Most similar products were either originally designed with IP in their core with telephony services added on top, or they are traditional PBXs designed with telephony at their core with VoIP added in later development. Systems of these types typically use proprietary phones and have closed architectures. Conversely, the architecture of the MX250 has been optimized to combine voice and data technologies while using standard interfaces and phones.

Key Features
2U rack-mounted system
Expandable in capacity and function without purchasing additional hardware
Interconnect up to 32 boxes to support up to 10,000 users (MXgroup Application)
Switches and routes voice, data, fax, and video
Up to two T1 or E1 circuits, 24 analog circuits, 12 ISDN BRI circuits, or any combination
Integrated IVR (Interactive Voice Response) function with text-to-speech capability
64 automated attendants
400 hours of voice mail
24 simultaneous accesses to auto attendant or voice mail
Up to 4,000 hours of call recording storage
64 operator groups
64 ACD groups
Integrated call center application for up to 240 configured agents of which 60 may be actively logged in simultaneously
64 paging groups
Connects to phones and fax machines with up to 26 analog circuits
Automated configuration of phones
50 VPN sessions directly support users over the Internet
Standards based QoS support
Built-in fax server for up to 16 simultaneous fax sessions
Moves, adds, and changes are performed in minutes
SIP protocol — allows connection with standard SIP phones, soft phones, Internet Telephone Service Providers (ITSPs), or other SIP servers
G.711 or G.729 codecs
Interoperates with any standards based network infrastructure
Based on highly stable embedded Linux operating system
Upgrades entail software downloads exclusively – no hardware forklift changes required
MXcluster

The MXcluster application provides an easy means of multiplying the system’s capacity of users, resources and services. Up to four MX systems may be connected together to create a single IP PBX for the support of up to 10,000 users in a single system. Once clustered, all systems are managed as a single system through the Administrator UI application. An additional MX system may be configured to provide full-scale redundancy for a

Zultys MXmeeting™

2008-12-15T20:02:00.002-05:00

Web Conferencing (Expected in Jan 2009)

Zultys MXmeeting™ optional appliances are powerful productivity tools for the MX IP PBX platforms. There are 4 models in the MXmeeting family. The M200 and M500 offer exceptional functionality and flexibility in a small appliance. Measuring only 9” x 6” x 1.4”, (230mm x 152mm x 35mm) the Zultys MXmeeting appliance quickly and easily connects to the MX30 or MX250 platform. MXmeeting operates in both PC and Mac environments.

The M200 starts with 10 conference attendees in 2 concurrent meeting rooms and is expandable to 20 conference attendees in 4 concurrent meeting rooms. The M500 starts with 20 conference attendees in 5 concurrent meeting rooms and is expandable to 100 conference attendees in 20 concurrent meeting rooms

MXmeeting delivers unmatched return on investment by equipping clients with the collaboration tools they need today. The ability to connect with multiple remote workers, screen-share during projects, and provide real-time online support for customers transforms MXmeeting into one of an enterprise’s most valuable assets.

Like all Zultys products, MXmeeting is easy to configure and even easier to use. Create meetings on-the-fly instantaneously. Join a scheduled meeting within 5 seconds. Send invitation directly to attendees’ Outlook Calendar. Make presentations more interesting through interactive audience participation. And much more…

MXmeeting is a web-based conference device that offers a full array of sophisticated features for a surprisingly low investment. MXmeeting allows clients to –

Conduct web conferencing with participants anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice via the Internet

Provide sales presentations and product demos via screen share sessions with one or multiple customers

Meet and collaborate worldwide

Offer training or e-learning for employees or clients
Deliver remote support in real-time

Take control of a remote computer with one click of the mouse from your client interface

Enhance IT efficiency through the ability to transfer files and reboot remote computers

Provide remote access and maintenance to customers
Access office or home computers remotely without cumbersome applications like PC Anywhere or TelNet

Conduct web seminars as an alternative to the cost and stress of travel
MXIE, Zultys’ desktop unified communications client application, is fully integrated with the MXmeeting environment. Start new or join existing web conferences without ever leaving the MXIE user interface screen or launching a browser. Set up an audio conference session in seconds without distributing a bridge number to your invitees or having to dial into a new phone number each time. Zultys MXmeeting provides web conferencing that is truly and fully integrated with the MX IP PBX system.

Need more power? To accommodate larger conferencing requirements, Zultys MXmeeting is also available as the M800 and M1000 models. The M800 starts with 100 conference attendees in 25 concurrent meeting rooms and is expandable to 200 conference attendees in 50 concurrent meeting rooms. The M1000 scales even larger and starts with 200 conference attendees in 50 concurrent meeting rooms and is expandable to 2,000 conference attendees in 200 concurrent meeting rooms.

Pain Solutions Treatment Centers chooses Premise-Based IP Phone System from Zultys

2008-10-28T21:03:00.003-04:00

Doctors Realize Significant Productivity Gains and Rapid ROI after Linking Offices with Zultys VoIP Solution

ATLANTA, GA., October 28, 2008 – Zultys, Inc., a Silicon Valley company known for its open standards IP communications and telephony products, today recognized an innovative solution devised by Alliant DataTel, Inc. for a four office medical practice in metro Atlanta, Georgia.

Pain Solutions Treatment Centers., Inc.( www.painsolutionscenters.com ) with a network of north Georgia offices needed to quickly replace its communications system while maintaining its investment in Polycom IP telephone sets. Alliant DataTel, Atlanta, GA ( www.goalliant.net ), a Zultys dealer since August 2004, was selected for the project.

Donna Rice, Pain Solutions Treatment Centers, Director of Admin Operations stated; “our hosted Digital Agent telephone system was becoming expensive and difficult to administer. We chose a Zultys MX250 and MX30 media exchange after a couple product demonstrations and validating provided Zultys references. Donna went on to explain; “Michael Kirchhoff, of Alliant installed the hardware, worked diligently and was an asset to get all running smoothly. He held multiple training sessions before we went live and was here throughout the deployment. In addition to an enhanced IP-PBX with dynamic features, we have presence icons. I know when anyone on my team is speaking with a patient, engaged in a meeting or at lunch.

From an administrative standpoint, Michael has been very helpful in answering questions, allowing me to learn the various features. We can now make routine changes to the phones, add, edit and delete users without waiting on a tech to arrive on-site. We have increased the response time to our patients with centralized appointment scheduling and improved the efficiency of our employees.”

By deploying an IP telephony solution from Zultys, Pain Solutions Treatment Centers solved its business communications issues between their four practices. As a result of the cost savings with the Zultys solution, Pain Solutions should pay for their investment in four to six months. The MXIE interface on the PC enables operators and co-workers to view the presence and availability of schedulers regardless of their location. Each individual staff member can set up rules governing how their calls are handled, allowing the Zultys system to locate them for important phone calls even if they are away from their desk.

“We are thoroughly pleased with our investment in the Zultys solution,” said Dan Hurd, Telecom Manager for Pain Solutions Treatment Centers. Zultys MXGroup breaks down the barriers of distance between our offices and allows us to operate as one efficient organization. The PSTN voice quality via Paetec SIP trunks is excellent and we could not be happier with our decision in selecting Zultys and Alliant.”

Zultys' award winning IP PBX systems offer an all-in-one system with pre-loaded software that does not require additional or external servers. It supports PC, Mac, and Linux equipment. Companies interested in learning more how they might benefit with a Zultys MX may contact Alliant at 1-770-441-9999.

About Alliant DataTel Inc.
Alliant DataTel, Inc., an Atlanta based company is a Zultys value added reseller. It provides telecommunication and computer networking integration with the highest level of customer service. The IT professionals at Alliant are committed to providing excellent service, quality products and valuable solution resources that help companies achieve their corporate goals.

About Zultys Inc.
Zultys develops products that enable companies and organizations to deploy integrated communications systems. Our products are designed to maximize investment, interoperability and usability. Companies and organizations around the world are experiencing the benefits of an Open Standards IP platform for their communications needs. Find out more at www.zultys.com.

Why Record Your Calls?

2008-10-13T18:43:00.001-04:00

Why Record Your Calls?

In today’s global economy with ever-increasing pressure to compete and improve performance while maintaining compliance with stringent laws and regulations, call recording just makes sense. While large enterprises could generally afford the technologies to meet these needs, smaller organizations were shut out of the market. Now, SIP Print offers every businesses a world-class yet affordable solution to meet and overcome these challenges:

Regulatory Compliance
Businesses of all types face growing regulatory requirements. Today, many businesses are simply required to record phone calls for an undisputable record of transactions. Others find that implementing a call recording solution offers the most effective and affordable way to demonstrate a pattern of compliance.

Enhance Customer Satisfaction
It's easier to keep existing customers than to find new ones. That's why so many companies use SIP Print to coach call center employees and other front line employees with recorded examples of high-quality customer interactions.

Using SIP Print to increase customer satisfaction drives operational efficiencies, reduces costs and reduces employee attrition. SIP Print empowers managers to:

•Evaluate and improve the effectiveness of customer service policies
•Ensure employees provide the promised level of customer service
•Create the positive customer interactions that are at the heart of a successful business
Limit Legal Liability
Recorded telephone activity provides a degree of legal protection to both the company and the consumer. SIP Print helps companies limit liability by documenting verbal requests and authorizations, verifying contractual compliance and arbitrating disputes.

In regulated industries, SIP Print play a key role in many companies' ability to verify compliance with: the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other regulations that require comprehensive information security planning by affected companies.

Improve Employee Productivity
SIP Print's call monitoring and recording software solution has proven effective in evaluating and improving employee productivity. Reviewing recorded calls with employees provides managers with a powerful training tool and a concrete, objective measure of employee performance. SIP Print allows managers to coach customer service agents with real-life examples of high-quality customer interactions to ensure that employees are operating at peak productivity.

Increase Security
The majority of security threats are created by employees intentionally or unintentionally distributing confidential information. Workplace monitoring and recording encourages employees to be more aware of what they are saying and doing, and helps prevent unauthorized verbal or electronic dissemination of confidential information.
SIP Print helps prevent abuse by encouraging employees to rise to a new level of vigilance. In the event of a security violation, SIP Print provides an undisputable record of activity to help identify the source of the problem and prevent recurrence.

United Seal & Rubber selects Premise-Based IP Communications System from Zultys

2008-10-06T09:13:00.003-04:00

ATLANTA, GA., October 6, 2008 – Zultys, Inc., a Silicon Valley company known for its open standards IP communications and telephony products, today recognized an innovative solution devised by Alliant DataTel, Inc. for a minority supplier of custom and standard rubber products.

United Seal & Rubber Co., Inc. (http://www.unitedseal.com/ ) recently needed to replace its aging phone and voice mail platforms. Alliant DataTel, Atlanta, Georgia ( http://www.goalliant.net/ ), a Zultys value added reseller since August 2004, was selected by Shirley Waters, United Seal’s controller, to displace an out-dated Tadiran Coral PBX and Callware Callerga voice mail server with a Zultys MX250 media exchange.

Shirley Waters explains; “Michael Kirchhoff, of Alliant installed the hardware in a couple of days, held training sessions before we went live on the system, and was here throughout the deployment. He was available to us when we needed assistance. In addition to an enhanced phone system with dynamic features, we can also send and receive fax information to our desktops. We have an IM (instant messaging) feature that is available to the users of the company. Also, some users now only answer their phone through their PC without touching the stylish Aastra handset. At this point, we are considering wireless headsets for them. From an administrative standpoint, Michael has been very helpful in answering questions, allowing me to learn the various features. We now have real time history reports available. I now can make changes to the phones, add, edit and delete users without waiting on a tech to arrive on site. We have increased the response time to our customers and improved the efficiency of our employees with this technology.”

“Our new system simultaneously manages both the data network and our voice communications. It provides secure instant messaging between colleagues, advanced voicemail, fax, and call recording features. I am most excited about the unified management dashboard. Just by looking at the presence icons, I know when anyone on my team is speaking with a client or engaged in a meeting. This is possible anywhere I have an Internet connection."

“We will realize our nominal initial investment in four to six months. This whole voice-over-IP project came off exactly like Alliant promised and clearly in a speedy manner. The network and PSTN voice quality is excellent and we could not be happier with our decision in selecting Zultys and Alliant.”

Zultys' award winning IP PBX systems offer an all-in-one turnkey system with pre-loaded software that does not require additional or external servers. It supports PC, Mac, and Linux equipment. Companies interested in learning more how they might benefit with a Zultys MX may contact Alliant at 1-770-441-9999.

About Alliant DataTel Inc.
Alliant DataTel, Inc., an Atlanta based company is a Zultys dealer. It was founded in 1996 to provide telecommunication and computer networking integration services to small - medium sized companies. The IT professionals at Alliant are committed to providing excellent service, quality products and valuable solution resources that help companies achieve their corporate goals.

Alliant is a one stop VAR from planning to deployment. Whether you are a Fortune 500 firm or an emerging organization, Alliant can help you plan, design and implement a robust IT infrastructure that grows with you. Find out more at http://www.goalliant.net/.

About Zultys Inc.
Zultys, a Silicon Valley company founded in 2002, is showing what's possible for Open Standards IP communications and telephony. The company's Open Standards IP technology is the building block for its award winning IP PBX systems. Companies and organizations around the world are experiencing the benefits of an Open Standards IP platform for their communications needs. Find out more at http://www.zultys.com/.
###

SOURCE: Alliant DataTel, Inc.
Alliant DataTel, Inc.
Michael Kirchhoff, CEO
1.770.441.9999 ext. 307
1.877.GO ALLIANT
michaelk@goalliant.net

Zultys Introduces New ONE Pre-Packaged IP PBX Systems

2008-10-01T12:01:00.004-04:00

Zultys Introduces New ONE Pre-Packaged IP PBX Systems
ONE Simplifies the Purchase Decision for Small to Medium Sized Businesses

Last update: 11:17 a.m. EDT Oct. 1, 2008
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Zultys, Inc. today announced a new line of hardware and software packages that make it easy for small to medium sized companies to purchase IP PBX enterprise systems. A Zultys ONE system is simple to buy and deploy, and scales in capacity as a company grows.

"We've been listening to customers in the marketplace," said Steve Rothenberg, CEO of Zultys, Inc. "Most business owners want to focus on their mission, not on technology. They asked us to develop a streamlined process for purchasing an integrated suite of pre-packaged, pre-configured systems that would work seamlessly together, and would be easy to administer."
The ready-to-use packages start with the award-winning MX250 platform. Customers then purchase a kit sized for the number of users in their organization. ONE packages will support up to 250 people without adding equipment, and can be extended to as many as 10,000 users across an entire system.

The entry level ONE Essential is built on the MX 30 platform for 10 users and is expandable to 30 users. Additional ONE packages available include the ONE/20, ONE/50, ONE/100, and ONE/200, and they include every necessary component for a state-of-the-art IP PBX communications system, except for the phones themselves.

Zultys, a Silicon Valley company known for developing innovative, open standards IP communications and telephony products, will offer the ONE systems through its national network of distributors and value-added resellers.

"I'm very excited to provide my customers with a simplified method of evaluating, selecting, and installing powerful phone systems," said George Richardson, CEO of CT Distributing based in Greenville, South Carolina, one of Zultys' largest U.S. distributors. "ONE kits come complete with the most requested features, like call forwarding, call routing, faxing, and centralized administration."

"We've designed the ONE bundles to aggressively improve our competitive position in the small to medium size business market, and we expect to see an increase in sales as a result," said Rothenberg.

Richardson continued, "CT Distributing prefers to recommend Zultys' ONE because it is based on solid, open standards IP technology, which provides smarter, and more affordable, enterprise-level communications systems."

Zultys' award winning IP PBX systems offer an all-in-one turnkey system with pre-loaded software and do not require additional or external servers. The platform supports PC, Mac, and Linux equipment, so installation and maintenance are less complex, deploy faster, and are more cost effective than with other brands.

Companies interested in learning more about Zultys ONE and reseller opportunities may contact the company at 1-408-328-0450, Ext. 800.

About CT Distributing

Computer Telephony Distributing is a value-added distributor of products within the computer telephony and VoIP technology space. It provides full service sales engineering and technical support services, product warehousing and fulfillment, and reseller-oriented professional services. Coupled with over 30 years of traditional telecommunications and networking experience, its VoIP-centric expertise enables the company to help its resellers develop the VoIP solutions that they require to meet the needs of their customers. For more information, visit http://www.ctdistributing.com/.

About Zultys Inc.

Zultys, a Silicon Valley company founded in 2002, is defining what's possible for Open Standards IP communications and telephony. The company's Open Standards IP technology is the building block for its award winning IP PBX systems. Companies and organizations around the world are experiencing the benefits of an Open Standards IP platform for their communications needs. Find out more at http://www.zultys.com/.

SOURCE: Zultys, Inc. Zultys, Inc.
Jack Irving, 1-408-328-0450 ext. 206
Marketing
jack.irving@zultys.com

Zultys et al Ring in Wireless Telephony at Eisteddfod

2008-08-04T17:40:00.001-04:00

Zultys et al Ring in Wireless Telephony at Eisteddfod
Zultys, Firetide Wireless Communications Network to serve as Cable Alternative at Ancient Welsh Festival

ROYSTON, Hertfordshire (England) or SUNNYVALE, California (USA) - Zultys Technologies and its U.K. partners, Ethnet Limited and SiraCom, have banded together this year to ring in the ancient Welsh tradition of Eisteddfod in Cardiff, Wales, with a groundbreaking communications infrastructure that offers an easy-to-deploy alternative to the cumbersome task of laying down cables throughout the vast, expansive space required for the weeklong outdoor festival.

"We are very pleased to be supplying a cost-efficient solution to the National Eisteddfod," says Barry Lieberman, Managing Director of Ethnet Limited. "They had a need to reduce cables and provide resilience in what can only be described as a large field before the build. This allowed us to showcase our satellite broadband solution, which when combined with the wireless mesh system produces a platform that eradicates the need for multiple ground-based cables. Previously, they had the usual problems running cables across fields on a very busy site with exhibitors and traffic which can damage cables in the build; therefore causing a breakdown in the service at various points throughout the ten days."

SiraCom, a long-time U.K. Zultys distributor, and Ethnet Ltd., a broadband-via-satellite ISP providing Internet access, communications and point-of-sale (POS) systems for the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Cardiff, have chosen Zultys' flagship MX communications system to power the extensive wireless communications network. Through Ethnet's integration, event organizers, merchants and participating artists will be able to access a site-wide wireless network built on technology from Firetide, a leading provider of wireless mesh and access networks.

According to Leiberman, by providing a wireless telephone system and wireless broadband with wireless credit card processing, this enabled the National Eisteddfod organizers' 35-staff office to work from different locations throughout the site by moving their complete office into the middle of a field that had no communication facilities onsite.

"Zultys couldn't be more pleased that our U.K. partners have chosen such a prestigious outdoor event to fully demonstrate the robust integration capabilities and flexibility of our MX communications system. We wish all of the Eisteddfod participants in Wales all the best as they celebrate their Welsh heritage and we hope the MX-powered network will be music to their ears," says Steve Rothenberg, CEO at Zultys.

The National Eisteddfod of Wales, one of the world's greatest festivals dating back to the year 1176, will kick off with Celtic folk music, bardic poetry and cultural festivities during the first week of August. With attendance expected to total approximately 160,000 visitors, the annual Eisteddfod celebrates Welsh culture and heritage and plays an important role in the life of the nation by promoting the Welsh language and arts. It also acts as a launch pad for Wales' most talented performers.

"Firetide wireless networks are designed for rapid deployment and are ideal in environments where permanent infrastructure is not required. We are pleased that Ethnet selected Firetide to serve as a robust and secure communications network for the festival," says Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide.

"The site chosen for this year's national Eisteddfod is a vast area of parkland that runs alongside the River Taff in the heart of Cardiff. The Eisteddfod has transformed the Ponte Canna fields into a thriving festival area comprising a main pavilion surrounded by 300 merchant stands, a theatre and many performance and exhibition marquees," explains Rob Leggett of SiraCom.

In addition to the Zultys telephony system, the rapidly-deployable wireless mesh will support Internet access, POS systems and Hitachi WIP5000 Wi-Fi phones. The Zultys system is using ZIP 2x2 and Aastra phones with VoIP Unlimited acting as the Internet telephony service provider.

About Ethnet Limited
Ethnet is a leading ISP providing airtime throughout Europe and the Middle East using Hughes Network Systems, the world leader in satellite technology. Ethnet provides service to corporate clients and the forces in Iraq with satellite broadband to the most remote locations where cabled Internet is not a possibility. Having attracted many satisfied customers, Ethnet decided to join the outdoor events market after many requests from clients wanting a reliable service installed for short-term events without having to sign a 12-month contract when most events last only 3 days.

About Siracom Limited
Siracom is a specialist distributor in the fast-growing, highly-profitable, emerging market of voice, data, and Wi-Fi convergence. We bring to our resellers a unique combination of product excellence, and outstanding support services to enable them to exploit this lucrative new technology sector.

Our main business activities and products can be found at: http://www.siracom.com.

About Firetide Inc.
Firetide is the leading provider of wireless mesh and access networks that enable concurrent video, voice and data for municipal, public safety and enterprise applications. Firetide provides a reliable high performance wireless infrastructure and access solution for video surveillance, Internet access, public safety networks and temporary networks wherever rapid deployment, mobility and ease of installation are required. www.firetide.com

About Zultys Technologies
Zultys, a Silicon Valley company founded in 2002, is showing what's possible for Open Standards IP communications and telephony. The company's Open Standards IP technology is the building block for our award-winning IP PBX systems. Zultys develops products that enable companies and organizations to deploy integrated communications systems. Our products are designed to maximize investment, interoperability and usability. Companies and organizations around the world are experiencing the benefits of an Open Standards IP platform for their communications needs. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com.

# # #

Contacts:
Bob Liu
Zultys Technologies
+1 408-328-0450 x726

CallRex Call Recording Software Helps Collections Agency Improve Customer Service and Reduce Legal Liability

2008-08-04T17:38:00.001-04:00

CallRex Call Recording Software Helps Collections Agency Improve Customer Service and Reduce Legal Liability

Evergreen Professional Recoveries Capitalizes on Call Recording Technology to Defray Disputes
KIRKLAND, WA – August 4, 2008 – Telrex, provider of the award-winning CallRex™ suite of IP call recording and call center optimization solutions, today announced that CallRex call recording software has saved Evergreen Professional Recoveries tens of thousands of dollars, providing a rapid return on investment. Telrex’s call center optimization solution closed off gaps in agent training, compliance, and dispute resolution, as calls are now recorded and archived through an Inter-Tel 5000 IP telephone system using CallRex Professional™ software.

“Call recording has headed off at least two frivolous lawsuits in the past three months, which would have cost us at least $10,000 in fees,” stated Ken Ross, CEO, Evergreen Professional Recoveries. “Previously, we had no recourse when lawyers were calling with claims. It became a ‘he said, she said’ situation where there was no hard evidence to base a decision or dispute on.” With the CallRex call recording solution, Evergreen Professional Recoveries can quickly search for call recordings and attach them to e-mails in a standard .WAV file format. In addition, the call recording solution allows managers to set aside one hour each day to monitor calls and provide immediate feedback to agents. Agent compliance has risen to above 90% as a result of the coaching sessions and call recording.

“I’ve meant to implement call recording technology for years, but I thought that the solutions were going to be too expensive for our mid-sized contact center,” stated Ross. Telrex offers flexible licensing options for CallRex, allowing small to medium-sized businesses like Evergreen Professional Recoveries to capitalize on the benefits of call recording technologies.

A market innovator, CallRex supports over 20 PBXs and softswitches, more than any other call recording vendor. CallRex is an all-software IP call recording solution that utilizes innovative packet sniffing technology to identify and record VoIP traffic on the network. Learn more at www.telrex.com or call 425.827.6156 x2.

About Telrex
Telrex provides IP call recording and call center optimization software. CallRex supports IP telephony systems, VoIP softswitches and unified communications solutions from Mitel, Inter-Tel, Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Microsoft OCS, 3Com, ShoreTel, BroadSoft, Sylantro, Genband, NEC, Siemens, Vertical, Zultys, Digium/Asterisk, Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch, Switchvox and more.

CallRex API enables custom integration of the CallRex platform with business and communications applications. Telrex offers its award-winning CallRex suite of software through value added resellers worldwide. Learn more at www.telrex.com.

About Evergreen Professional Recoveries, Inc.
Evergreen Professional Recoveries, Inc. was founded in 1986 as an alternative to the increasingly unsatisfactory performance of companies within the collection industry. Our objective was to establish an agency that clients could rely on to be efficient, reliable, conscious of the clients’ image and reputation, and skilled at recovery. Evergreen Professional Recoveries is a nationally accredited collection agency headquartered in Bothell, WA. Learn more at www.everprof.com.

What software solutions does Telrex provide?

2008-07-16T19:04:00.001-04:00

July 02, 2008

Executive Q & A: Jim Roark, Vice President of Sales at Telrex

Q: What software solutions does Telrex provide?
A: Telrex provides IP call recording and call center optimization software. CallRex call recording software supports IP telephony systems, VoIP softswitches and unified communications solutions from Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Microsoft OCS, 3Com, Mitel, ShoreTel, BroadSoft, Sylantro, Genband, Zultys, Asterisk, Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch, Digium, Switchvox and more. CallRex API enables custom integration of the CallRex platform with business and communications applications.

Q: What trends are you seeing in IT spending for voice over IP (VoIP) solutions?
A: With budgets being tightened, we are seeing a renewed focus on smarter spending – investing in technologies that will directly improve customer satisfaction and will scale with changing business needs.

Q: How does your technology fit into these initiatives?
A: We have seen increased interest in our “pay-as-you-grow” subscription-based pricing because the licensing model allows customers to simply pay a monthly fee for the number of users being recorded. Many call centers are seasonal in nature, and subscription-based licensing allows companies to appropriately spend budget dollars during seasonal lows and react to the changing business environment. Subscription-based licensing gives companies the opportunity to turn what may have once been a large capital expenditure into a monthly, predictable operating expense. Now, CallRex solutions can be implemented without sacrificing expenditures on training, staffing, and infrastructure. Businesses utilize call recording and monitoring for dispute resolution, employee training, customer service, regulatory compliance and to address security concerns.

Q: From your perspective, what key elements should customers look for when selecting a technology vendor?
A: Flexibility. Seek out vendors that offer flexible licensing options, like subscription-based licensing, and that work with a variety of PBX and telephony vendors. Technology is constantly changing, and you want a vendor that will grow with you. In addition, make sure that your vendors are versed in multiple platforms, so that they can assist you with multiple projects and installations as needed.

Certification. Vendors that have achieved certification from telephony vendors like Avaya, Cisco, and 3Com, have likely gone through extensive testing on the telephony platforms. Certified solutions help to give you peace of mind that your installation will go smoothly.

Customer service. Look for vendors that treat you as a partner from the first interaction to after the sale has closed. As a call recording vendor, we are in the business of helping you provide superior customer service, and it is our job to set a good example from start to finish.

Q: Are Telrex software solutions certified with any telephony vendors?
A: Yes, the CallRex suite has been certified on multiple platforms from vendors like Avaya, Cisco, 3Com, Mitel, and more. In addition, we have partnered with companies like Microsoft, Siemens, Nortel, NEC, and others so that we can continue to innovate together in VoIP technologies.

Jim Roark is the vice president of sales at Telrex. Mr. Roark has more than 15 years of experience managing direct and indirect sales organizations within the technology industry. In addition to owning and managing his own company, Jim has held several sales and channel management positions at companies such as Avnet Hallmark, EMC2, GE Access, Sybase and Performance Enhancement (a Cisco IP telephony partner).

Learn more about Telrex at http://www.telrex.com/ or call 425.827.6156 x2.

Aastra Telecom Announces the Launch of AastraLink™, a Microsoft® Response Point Phone System for Small Business

2008-07-08T15:40:00.002-04:00

Aastra Telecom Announces the Launch of AastraLink™, a Microsoft® Response Point Phone System for Small Business

Powerful, easy to use and easy to manage system offers three compatible phone models including a cordless option for the North American SMB marketCONCORD, ON, CANADA/HOUSTON, TX — MICROSOFT WORLDWIDE PARTNER CONFERENCE JULY 8, 2008 — Aastra Telecom, a leading provider of enterprise grade corded and wireless SIP telephones in North America, today announced the launch of AastraLink RP™, a Microsoft® Response Point™ phone system, designed specifically for small businesses that have up to 50 employees.The AastraLink RP phone system is comprised of the RP 500 Base Unit which hosts the Response Point system software, the RP 540 Gateway with 4 analog telephone ports, and a choice of three Aastra Response Point IP phone models. Setting up features such as auto-discovery and auto-configuration, or changing the system can be done by an average PC user in minutes with no special phone training or additional license fees. In addition to supporting both IP and traditional analog calling, other innovative system features include: a voice-enabled user interface, advanced call routing, built-in voice mail, automated receptionist and contact integration with Microsoft Office Outlook®.

Three different enterprise-grade phones have been developed for the AastraLink RP system; the entry level 6751i RP, the full featured 6753i RP, and the advanced 6757i CT RP which comes with a cordless handset. Offering larger display screens, superior audio, programmable keys, full duplex speakerphones, and POE support, AastraLink RP terminals deliver enterprise level features and functionality to the SMB market. In addition, the 6753i RP and 6757i CT RP models have headset jacks and support up to three expansion modules providing additional choice and flexibility to meet specific small business requirements. The AastraLink RP base unit will ship pre-loaded with the SP1 software release just announced by Microsoft providing a host of new enhancements including SIP trunking.

“The combination of Microsoft’s unique voice-enabled telephony software, and Aastra’s robust feature rich phones, offers a powerful yet affordable telephone system for Small Businesses that have 1 to 50 employees” said Yves Laliberté, Executive Vice President at Aastra Telecom. “When you add the choice of three phone models to the mix, it allows Aastra to deliver the most comprehensive and complete end-to-end Response Point system solution available in the market today”
We are pleased to welcome Aastra and the AastraLink RP phone system to the Response Point community,” said Xuedong Huang, general manager of Microsoft Response Point. “Small businesses and channel partners can benefit from Aastra’s industry-leading expertise in telephony and enterprise telecommunications, and their focus on providing leading hardware solutions to meet the changing needs of business.”
The AastraLink RP system is now available for ordering from Aastra’s authorized distributor Wesbell Technologies. List pricing for a complete starter system bundle that includes a base station, gateway and three phones is $2,400, with additional phones ranging from $139 up to $399.
For further information on the AastraLink RP system, visit Aastra at www.aastralinkrp.com or Wesbell at www.wesbell.com/responsepoint. For more information on Response Point, visit www.microsoft.com/responsepoint.

Connectivity e-News Alert

2008-07-07T21:41:00.000-04:00

Connectivity e-News Alert

Alliant DataTel, Inc. - Atlanta, Georgia - Monday - July 7, 2008 - 770.441.9999
Wireless data communication tools are an integral part of today's mobile workforce. The trend for remote connectivity and data access is fueled by demand for real-time access to information including the Internet, corporate intranets, IP phones and e-mail. Sierra Wireless has teamed with Accel Networks and both are well positioned in the wireless market to deliver a range of solutions for your mobile application. Working with partners like Alliant DataTel, we have developed complete wireless solutions in sales force automation, public safety, transportation, e-commerce, health care and utilities. In each environment we offer an innovative wireless solution that meets customer’s needs.SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS:• Alltel, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon 3G coverage (United States, Puerto Rico and Canada)• Speeds average 1Mb x 512Kb• Proprietary provisioning qualitative analysis process gives the client 100% accuracy with zerofall-out• Three-day installation guarantee• Bundled equipment option, reducing NRC cost• 100% Private Layer 2 PCI Compliant network, ideal for merchants & retailers• Low cost network continuity/backup options• Proprietary patent pending enterprise grade equipment (modem/router/antenna), no otherprovider in the market offers this level of technology• Free 30-day multi-site pilot with approvalBENEFITS:Serial or Ethernet connectivity • Highly secure (PCI/Visa compliant) • No professional installation requiredService Level Guarantee • Always connected • 3-day installation • Unlimited data • Low-bundled monthlycharge (service & hardware) • $95 non-reoccurring costs • Accel Networks patent pending proprietaryhardware • health status monitoring 24/7Contact us to today to learn more about this affordable WiFi option...• Great for residential or commercial Internet back-up• When T-1, DSL or cable is not available/practical• Remote locations; i.e. construction trailers, second homes• When quick install Internet and e-mail is required• Remote IP phones

You are Seconds Away from Finding the Best PSTN Carrier Service Provider
It is probably time to review your contracts. Prices have dropped. This service is FREE and available 24/7. It includes quotes for voice and data. T-1, PRI, DSL, etc. Click on the ShopforT1 header below to get your quotes. Better yet contact Alliant DataTel directly to get multiple quotes with personal attention. 770.441.9999 x306

Service Type:
[High-Speed Internet \/]
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Independent Telecom Agents - The Top 10 Reasons Companies Use Them 1. Mergers and Acquisitions Sales is already known as a high turnover profession, but the recent rash of mergers and acquisitions in telecom make it highly unlikely the representative who signed you to your term agreement will still be there to assist you within a year. After making it past the phase of bankruptcies following deregulation, the next phase is mergers and acquisitions. In the past couple of years, a few of the major mergers include Level3/Broadwing (Focal), XO/Allegiance, ATT/SBC/Bell South, MCI/Verizon, Paetec/US Lec, and Time Warner/Xspedius among many others. By using an Independent Telecom Agent, you can be sure that regardless of continued merger activity or bankruptcies, your Independent Telecom Agent will continue to have the same contact phone number and email address. He/She will not be laid off or fired, and will continue to supply you all of the options you need. 2. Single Point of Contact Regardless of whether your Independent Telecom Agent recommends a single carrier solution or a multi-carrier solution, you still have a single point of contact to deal with the person who knows your account best. During the pricing and evaluation process for a new carrier, it is typical to get at least 3 bids and have at least two appointments with at least three carriers. The number of appointments you have to schedule could easily reach up to a dozen before an educated decision is made on your company's communications. If you use a qualified Independent Telecom Agent, you can spend one appointment determining the best course of action, and just one more evaluating the best options available in your market. Having a single point of contact is a huge time saver! 3. Person who understands your company, how you make decisions, and why. Your Independent Telecom Agent acts as an assistant buyer once he/she understands your business needs and preferences. He/she gets to know your organization, your goals and long range needs, and how you make decisions and why. Why would you want to repeat that process every couple of years? 4. You get to hear the truth! Perhaps this should be ranked #1! When you use an experienced Independent Telecom Agent, you tap into a wealth of knowledge and experience of someone who has been in the field for many years-and most likely with multiple carriers. Your agent will typically have experience dealing with multiple carriers in your market, and can tell you how they really perform. Not the rosy picture they all want to paint for you. Who has the most reliable network? Who has billing problems? Who is going bankrupt? Who can make the desired install date? When using an Independent agent, you don’t have to listen to "The Company Story" for each carrier, as they always tend to dress up their deficiencies. You get to hear the truth. 5. Unbiased opinion of multiple carriers and their product lines Based on where your business is heading, whether that be expanding, streamlining, or contracting, your Independent Telecom Agent can put you in the right situation. Just like buying an inexpensive phone system that can't grow with you, and can create the need for a forklift upgrade sooner than expected, getting stuck with a carrier that can't meet your future expectations can be crippling to your operation. Since most carriers have gone to term agreements in the T-1 age of communications, it's key to get set up with a carrier that can move with your needs. Do they have MPLS? Do they do SIP trunking? Can they offer an IP-VPN solution for your remote sites? Your Independent Telecom Agent knows the carriers’ products and limitations, and can put you in the right solution for your company. 6. Agents are invested in your success long term This is an incredibly important concept to understand when choosing to use an Independent Telecom Agent! When you work with a direct sales representative for a telecom company, one that may be here and gone tomorrow (rep or company), they are paid only to bring in the sale. As we all know in the world of corporate sales, comp plans drive behavior, and sales reps are specifically told, "If the customer has a problem, send them to the Help Desk. Do not get involved. You are paid ONLY to bring in new business." There is absolutely no motivation, despite the direct representative's best intentions, for them to ever speak to you again after you sign the dotted line. It's sad but true. On the flip side, because Independent Telecom Agents are commission only and residual based, earning a small percentage of the monthly bill, it takes them, in many cases, up to 24 months to get paid what the direct representative will get paid in month number one after the sale. The entire motivation for someone even becoming an Independent Telecom Agent is to build a book of business of happy customers that don't have to find someone new every couple of years to deal with. This relationship only makes sense for the agent if you stay with them for over 24 months, so they have EVERY motivation to assist you in solving any service issues that you may ever have. A good Independent Telecom Agent isn't just another business associate; they become part of your team. 7. They don't have a quota to make One of the biggest issues I have with local RBOC/ILEC, is that if you call in to the call center to order new service, you will only be told about what THEY want to sell you. NOT what is best for you. Everyone LOVES to sell bundles in telecom, but let me ask you this. Why do you need Centrex calling features or voice mail on your alarm or elevator lines? Do you need call transfer or remote access to call forwarding on every line in your hunt group and on your fax lines? Do you have mysterious items in the back of your bill for web hosting or other items you are afraid to disconnect in case you actually use it? When I call the ILEC/RBOC directly from the agent channel, I get offered different packages, and more attractive packages, than I get over the phone through the call center. It is very common for Independent Telecom Agents to uncover up to 10-20% of pure fluff on your bill during the auditing process. Why does this happen? Simple. The direct representatives you buy from have a quota to make and will often sell you what is good for them, not what is good for you. They are directed to sell what is profitable for the carrier they work for, and are paid accordingly based on their ability to do so. Top Independent Telecom Agents, almost without exception; do not carry quotas with any carriers. Because they do not carry quotas, you will not find them pushing you towards a solution that doesn't feel quite right just to meet their numbers. Be frank and ask your Independent Telecom Agent if they carry quotas with the carriers proposed. If they do carry a quota, be sure to ask enough questions about the solution they are suggesting to make sure it is right for you. 8. Extra Incentives and Promotions The Telecom Industry is moving increasingly towards the Independent Agent Channel. In fact, last year, a local ATT/SBC agent manager said the Agent channel gained more business through their agent Winback program than they did their direct Winback program. Even they were shocked! There are several reasons for this. Independent Telecom Agents are typically more knowledgeable, better trained, set proper expectations with the clients, their clients tend to remain clients longer (since they were sold the right program), and it is more cost effective for the carriers to deal with Agents. They do not pay base salaries or benefits, in addition to commissions. Strangely enough, where I have seen this benefit the customer most, is in the form of special incentives and promotions offered only through the Agent Channel. It is not uncommon for agents to compete head to head with a direct representative for one of the carriers they are presenting. It is also not uncommon for the agent channel to have promotions or incentives that the direct representative has not been given for the customer, and the agent will typically win the customer because of that fact. If the direct representatives have promotions available, they are often compensated extra if they do not use them. Independent Telecom Agents will pull out any available promotions available in an effort to gain your business for the long haul, as they are typically not incented or penalized for use of promotions. 9. Same Pricing The exact same standard pricing is used in the Agent Channel and the direct channel. In spite of all of the additional knowledge you can tap into with Independent Agents, you can be sure you are not charged any extra for it. For large projects, special pricing is available to both Agent and direct channels at the same amounts. It's an incredible model that helps the customer and agent win, and insures all clients are treated equally. 10. They understand Next Generation Technology Independent Telecom Agents will typically be better versed in MPLS, IP-VPN, VOIP, hosted solutions, call center applications, and SIP technologies since they need to understand multiple carriers' offerings and have attended their trainings. Direct representatives will often know a few tweaks to their individual limited product line a little better than agents that do not exclusively sell their product, but they will not have the overall understanding of all that is coming with new technology. No carrier can be the master of all technologies and master of all niches. It's a business impossibility. So it follows that it is nearly impossible for a direct representative to have the same breadth and width of exposure to the applications you are facing decisions on. Business is fiercely competitive, and implementation of some of the new technologies correctly can literally save larger companies hundreds of thousands of dollars. That may be the exact edge your company needs to gain the competitive advantage in your marketplace for security, marketing, recruiting, or even retention. Likewise, implementing a bleeding edge technology that is not ready for prime time may cost you the same. Using an experienced Independent Telecom Agent who is looking out for your best interests may make all the difference. 770.441.9999

SIP PBX. The Smarter VoIP Solution. Zultys Technologies is a leading manufacturer of enterprise IP telephony systems based on the open standard SIP. Our award-winning products are designed to improve worker productivity while remaining easy to use, deploy and manage. Zultys combines the full suite of telephony, voice mail, presence, instant messaging, desktop faxing, call recording and network gateway functions into a single box that seamlessly integrates into your business. At Zultys we make it easy for your company to leverage the power that is converged communications.

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AastraLink RP™ A Microsoft® Response Point™ Phone System

2008-07-07T21:17:00.000-04:00

AastraLink RP™
A Microsoft® Response Point™ Phone System

Available July 2008

AastraLink RP™ is a powerful, easy to use communications solution for Small Business
Aastra has leveraged many years of experience in the analog, digital and IP terminal business to develop the AastraLink RP communications solution for Small Business. Powered by Microsoft Response Point phone system software, the AastraLink RP system is specifically designed to provide the Small Business market with a simple, complete telephone solution in a compelling and affordable package.Targeted for 50 users and under, the system is comprised of three components; an Aastra designed Base Unit, Gateway and new Aastra Response Point IP phones. With features such as auto-discovery and auto-configuration, setting up or changing the system can be done easily by an average PC user in minutes. For users, a voice-enabled user interface, advanced call routing, built-in voice mail, Automated Receptionist and contact integration with Microsoft Office Outlook® offer simplified access to advanced large scale PBX features.
The AastraLink RP solution offers:
- Sleek and stylish enterprise-grade, carrier quality phone system - A choice of three different telephones, including a cordless model and optional expansion modules- Voice-enabled user interface simplifying call management- Support for voice calls using both traditional phone service and VoIP- An easy way to reduce phone system management costs
See what a telephone system specifically designed for Small Business can do for your customers.
AastraLink RP™ Solution Components

AastraLink RP™ 500 Base Unit
- Stand alone Windows Embedded Server

AastraLink RP™ 540 Gateway
- 4 FXO ports- Stackable for scalability

Aastra Response Point IP Phones

6751i RP- 3 Line LCD display- Programmable Speed dial keys- Response Point button support- Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration- Full Duplex Speaker phone- Supports Response Point phone system software

6753i RP- 3 Line LCD display- 6 Programmable keys- Response Point button support- Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration- Full Duplex Speaker phone- Supports Response Point phone system software- Supports optional expansion modules

6757i CT RP- Full 144x128 pixel display- 12 Programmable keys- Response Point button support- Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration- Full Duplex Speaker phone- Cordless mobility with included handset unit- Supports Response Point phone system software- Supports optional expansion modules

Sierra Wireless AirLink X Modems Now Available on the Bell Mobility High-Speed Data Network

2008-07-06T17:06:00.001-04:00

Sierra Wireless AirLink X Modems Now Available on the Bell Mobility High-Speed Data Network

(8/28/2007)

PRESS RELEASE

Sierra Wireless announces AirLink X Platform availability on the Bell Mobility high speed mobile data network

AirLink Raven X and PinPoint X enable robust wireless networking, business continuity and mobile data solutions

VANCOUVER, B.C. – August 28, 2007 – Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR - TSX: SW) today announced that the AirLink PinPoint X and Raven X have been certified and are commercially available for use on Bell Mobility’s high-speed EVDO Rev A network. These robust, wireless devices support the latest in high speed data technology and are backward compatible to both earlier EV-DO and CDMA 1X networks.

The AirLink X Platform is designed to meet the needs of customers that require high-bandwidth wireless access to mobile broadband networks for applications as varied as fleet management, commercial wireless networking, remote monitoring, utilities, automation, and security. Compared to earlier models, the Raven X and PinPoint X offer increased system processing power to take full advantage of the network’s faster data speeds, with expanded memory within an enhanced and scalable architecture. Customers will benefit from download speeds averaging 600 to 1.4 Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds averaging 500 to 800 kbps (kilobits per second).

As with all Sierra Wireless AirLink devices, the Raven X and PinPoint X are powered by ALEOS™ embedded intelligence and provide an always-aware, always-on connection. ALEOS simplifies integration by managing device connectivity, maintains a persistent network connection, and enables comprehensive remote device management via Sierra Wireless’s tools and utilities.

“Launching the AirLink X Platform devices on Bell Mobility’s high speed mobile data network will enable us to offer customers exciting new solutions.” said Justin Schmid, vice president of the Mobile and M2M group for Sierra Wireless. “These highly intelligent devices will enable Bell Mobility clients to take advantage of a variety of powerful mobile data and wireless networking applications.”

AirLink Raven X

The Raven X is a robust communications and networking device designed to deliver reliable connectivity for broadband wireless data and mission critical applications. To expand its functionality and simplify deployments, the Raven X is equipped with both Ethernet and serial interfaces. The combination of an enhanced, robust processor, high-speed Ethernet and data session persistence provided by ALEOS make the Raven X perfectly suited for commercial wireless networking, e-commerce and business continuity applications. The Raven X is also Class I Div 2 certified for use in hazardous environments and compatible with numerous machine communications protocols, making it equally suited for a long list of remote industrial solutions, including utilities, automation and infrastructure.

AirLink PinPoint X

The PinPoint X is a compact, intelligent and fully-featured mobile communications platform with multiple peripheral connections, including serial, Ethernet and USB. Its high-precision 16-channel GPS receiver, coupled with the rich embedded intelligence provided by ALEOS technology, makes the PinPoint X the perfect choice for a broad set of mobile enterprise, public safety, fleet management and AVL solutions. With expanded I/O functionality in a separate connector that includes four digital inputs, four analog inputs and two relay outputs, the PinPoint X also offers extensive remote instrumentation possibilities. The PinPoint X is compliant with environmental military standards for vibration, shock, drop, high and low temperature and humidity.

For more information about the AirLink Raven X and PinPoint X from Sierra Wireless please visit www.sierrawireless.com/product/airlink/ravenx.aspx and www.sierrawireless.com/product/airlink/pinpointx.aspx . For information on the Bell high speed mobile data network, please visit www.businessonthego.ca/airlink

ACCEL NETWORKS ANNOUNCES TWO NEW HIRES TO EXPAND SALES TEAM

2008-07-06T16:44:00.001-04:00

ACCEL NETWORKS ANNOUNCES TWO NEW HIRES TO EXPAND SALES TEAM

Danielle Peterson and Jim Miller Join Accel as Regional Directors

St.Petersburg, FL., January 28, 2008 - Accel Networks, the leading provider of managed fixed wireless broadband services, has expanded its sales efforts with the additions of Danielle Peterson and Jim Miller. Ms. Peterson, based in Boston, will serve as Regional Director of Sales for the eastern region, and Mr. Miller has taken the position of Regional Director of Sales for the western region based in San Jose.

Ms. Peterson, a top producing technology sales professional with an outstanding track record of account growth and excellent new business development, has focused her career on selling communications solutions for major national providers such as Lucent and WorldComm, among others. She has a record of outstanding performance consistently exceeding quota and is a recognized sales leader. Peterson stated, “When I learned about what Accel was doing, I immediately recognized that this is a solution that the market has been demanding.”

Mr. Miller brings to Accel his proven experience and track record building valuable channel partner relationships, in addition to his recognized success in direct sales roles. “As a sales professional, coming to the table with real value gives you the confidence of knowing that you have a distinct advantage,” said Miller. At Earthlink, Mr. Miller deepened his understanding of data communications while being a top sales performer. He continued his success at Megapath and Telekenex.

Eric Sandoval, VP of Sales and Marketing stated, “Jim and Danielle are A-list professionals, and we are very fortunate to add their talents at this stage in Accel’s growth. Their enthusiasm and energy typifies our corporate culture; I know that they will be very happy and successful here.”

About Accel Networks
Accel is the leading provider of managed of fixed wireless broadband services in North America. Drawing on its experience in fixed wireless networking, Accel fused proprietary technology and intellectual property with the 3G GSM and CDMA networks and created the first PCI compliant broadband fixed wireless enterprise network. Accelerator™ brings together the availability, reliability, network management and security of terrestrial frame relay with the data throughput and price point of DSL, without the long lead times, complex installations, and high fallout rates of terrestrial broadband.

ACCEL NETWORKS ANNOUNCES NEW MASTER AGENT PARTNERSHIPS

2008-07-06T14:38:00.001-04:00

ACCEL NETWORKS ANNOUNCES NEW MASTER AGENT PARTNERSHIPS
2008-05-08

ACCEL NETWORKS ANNOUNCES NEW MASTER AGENT PARTNERSHIPS

Rapid growth of master agents fuel Accel’s fixed wireless broadband sales

St.Petersburg, FL., May 5, 2008 - Accel Networks, the leading provider of managed fixed wireless broadband services, today announced four new master agent partnerships formed during the first quarter. Accel’s base of agents now includes highly recognized industry leaders including:

• Telarus, Inc. (Draper, UT)
• Realcom Solutions (Dallas, TX)
• Vision Telecom (Providence, RI)
• Advoda Communications (Denver, CO)

“We are very pleased to have such prominent and well respected master agent partners representing Accel” stated Mark Gianinni, CEO of Accel. “Given their knowledge of the markets and insight into customer demands, their decisions to add Accel’s service to their product portfolios is extremely gratifying to us.”

According to the company, development of an effective master agent channel is a core growth strategy. Accel hopes to engage a total of 25 of the industry’s most effective master agencies to its program in 2008.

“It’s exciting to build a channel program from the ground up using the agent’s business needs as a guidepost” added Eric Sandoval, VP of Sales and Marketing. “Consequently, we have seen a strong response from the agents.”

“Although we are new to Accel’s channel program, we are excited to be able to offer our agents a fixed wireless 3G broadband solution” commented Lance Akins, VP of Sales for Telarus, Inc. “As our agent base continues to grow in number and sophistication, having a product that can reach multi-location retail businesses who do not qualify for wired services – or who can not afford T1 services – is huge. Not only does Accel offer a great product, the channel program is staffed by professionals who we know by experience will do right by the agents.”

Highlights of the master agent program include: simple customer contracts, no minimum commitments, and generous evergreen commissions, which are paid monthly. Overarching these important details is the opportunity to offer customers a revolutionary service that cannot be sourced from any other provider. Accel is currently offering an early adopter master agent program, which will run through the month of August 2008.

“A relationship with a provider that gives us a workable “last” mile solution, coupled with a simple, easy to read and manage agreement makes Accel the kind of partner ADVODA needs,” added Ron Dunworth, CEO of ADVODA Communications. “We now have a service we can sell into our existing base, as well as market to new potential accounts that have a need for a reliable fixed wireless solution.”

Accel provides the broadest coverage and the highest data rates of any fixed wireless broadband provider. By taking a unique, multi-carrier approach Accel has the reach and breadth of the four top carriers combined which enables the Company to select the best possible service for every customer specific location. Then Accel optimizes the RF signal utilizing its proprietary antenna which incorporates patented filtering technology resulting in the highest possible fixed wireless data rates. Accel’s propriety monitoring tools enable Accel Networks to continuously monitor RF links ensuring the best possible customer experience. These three proprietary aspects of its PCI compliant service model: pre-qualification analysis, RF optimization and proactive RF link monitoring make Accel peerless in fixed wireless broadband service.

“Our agents and their clients have not been this excited about a product in years” said Charlie Bogart, CEO of Realcom Solutions. “We have seen phenomenal growth in our agent funnel since introducing Accel’s service in January. Today we have pilots running with more than half a dozen large brand name retailers. The clients could not be happier with Accel’s level of engineering knowledge and support. Private PCI compliance network architecture and extensive 3G coverage are two points that impress clients the most.”

About Accel Networks
Accel is the leading provider of managed fixed wireless broadband services in North America. Drawing on its experience in fixed wireless networking, Accel fused proprietary technology and intellectual property with the 3G GSM and CDMA networks and created the first PCI compliant broadband fixed wireless enterprise network. Accelerator™ brings together the availability, reliability, network management and security of terrestrial frame relay with the data throughput and price point of DSL, without the long lead times, complex installations, and high fallout rates of terrestrial broadband.

About Telarus
Telarus was voted the number one master agency in 2008 by the members of the Telecom Association and VAR Business Magazine. Telarus’ goal is to make agents and VARs more successful than they can be on their own or with any other master agent. Telarus provides agent tools, automation, and superior support in an atmosphere of cooperation and ethical community. One example of the tools Telarus provides its agents is real-time voice and data price quoting through its patent-pending GeoQuote technology. GeoQuote makes it possible for business shoppers to access instant pricing and availability information for over 30 broadband data and voice service providers which include Accel Networks, ACC Business, AireSpring, American Fiber Systems, AT&T, Cavalier, Covad, Level3, MegaPath, Network Innovations, NewEdge Networks, Nuvox, PAETEC, One Communications, PowerNet Global, Qwest, TelePacific, Telnes, Time Warner Telecom, UCN, and XO Communications.
About Advoda
ADVODA Communications specializes in telecommunication consulting to both small and large businesses. We partner with carriers and service providers to design and develop voice and data solutions for clients using services available from our partner providers. These solutions run the gambit from single voice connectivity to sophisticated voice and data networks, covering multiple locations- locally, regionally and nationally. Our broadband and packet networking knowledge is second to none in the industry.

About RealCom Solutions
RealCom Solutions is a vendor-neutral, client-advocate Telecom Agency providing best-of-breed solutions and pricing to our Clients and Agents. RealCom Solutions was awarded the 2007 Circle of Excellence from AT&T as a Top Performer and also was chosen for the Southwest Alliance Board of Advisors. RealCom Solutions a Premier Master Agency was chosen for the 2007 Qwest Advisory Council.

Is open-source ip telephony dependable?

2008-07-02T09:13:00.001-04:00

Is open-source ip telephony dependable?

Perhaps your business has made the decision to upgrade to a premises-based IP telephony system. The question is: which route is best, proprietary or open source? Does your business choose a well-established supplier of proprietary IP PBXs or is it attracted to the often cheaper and more reactive route of an open source IP PBX? How important is the underlying hardware and software upon which your telephone calls will be made and received?

First we need to consider what is meant by ’open source’ in the context of IP PBX systems, so let us take an example: word processing applications, such Windows Word or Mac Pages, are proprietary applications as are nearly all the applications that a business will use on a day to day basis. That is, the behind-the-scenes source code cannot be amended in order to allow the implementation of any new features that may be required. This is an advantage is many ways as it is not often wise to allow anyone to amend software in this way – and therefore subsequently be responsible for retesting and supporting the amended version – as could be done if these applications were ’open source’. In other ways it may be a disadvantage, for example if a business really must amend the way an application works in order to suit special needs, this is not always possible when the software application is proprietary. In addition, as the development of open source systems is undertaken by a wide variety of people with a range of skill levels, and as open source software can run on relatively inexpensive off-the-shelf hardware, open source systems can be cheap. It’s a similar story for telephone systems: the operating system that controls an IP PBX’s may be amended, tweaked or re-written by anyone who chooses to do so – ‘open source’ – or alternatively, by design, it may not be modified – ‘proprietary’.

Open source IP PBX systems such as those based upon Asterisk, of which Digium-based systems have the lion share, have made some headway into the IP PBX arena. Although reputable proprietary systems often have a surfeit of functionality required by most businesses – such as click-to-dial, sophisticated in-bound call routing, automatic pop-up of CRM client details and the ability to make calls simultaneously via a number of interfaces – there is sometimes a need for businesses to tailor their telephone system in business-specific, non-standard ways. Or perhaps a business is forced to make cost the primary factor. So there can be a real and valid reasons to consider open source systems.

However, few open source systems are adequately able to support small to medium-sized businesses - certainly those who deem telephony as ‘mission-critical’ - as few systems can be scaled to cater for larger enterprises. Perhaps most important of all, fewer still can stand up to being rigorously tested and it’s often a challenge to obtain meaningful information on testing regimes and mean time between failure rates. In common with other open source applications, Asterisk-based systems are developed by a number of varying companies: there may be some advantages to this approach but these must be contrasted by the fact that no one system has significant enough market exposure to a large customer base over a protracted period of time. This can result in coding errors and security vulnerabilities remaining undiscovered and users finding themselves beta testers for what they may have been lead to believe were tested and released implementations.

For those businesses who feel they really must consider a highly-bespoke and non-standard telephony implementation it should be borne in mind that building and programming an Asterisk IP PBX is not for the faint-hearted; few businesses have the expertise to build a system in-house and so opt to purchase from Asterisk suppliers. In turn a robust support contract is needed which means making sure that the supplier that provides the Asterisk system is ’solid’ and will be around for the duration in order to provide any support you may require. Owing to the nature of open source systems there is rarely the option to rely on the back-up of a distributor or manufacturer. In addition, there are platform issues to consider: not every business runs Windows or uses PC’s.

Our best of breed premises-based IP PBX system from Zultys, however, provides client software that can run on a PC, a Mac OS X and Linux environment. This - coupled with the functionality, robustness and scalability that Zultys provide and their longevity and their many years of experience in IP telephony - makes Zultys our premises-based IP PBX system of choice. Long established since 2002 and developed in America’s Silicon Valley, Zultys are the best kept telephony secret in Europe!

Ask yourself this: would you be happy knowing that the software of the plane you’re flying on has potentially been amended by anyone when your life, and the life of everyone on the plane, depends upon its correct functioning? Or would you prefer for it to have been designed and tested by the manufacturer who built the plane? It is an extreme example perhaps but a parallel can be drawn here: telephone calls are often life-blood of a business.

Inexorably then, there seems to be a logical draw back to proprietary IP PBX systems, placing the open source systems to one side. Here at 500 we have considered open-source PBX systems - and we’ll continue to monitor the progress of Asterisk-based PBX systems and other emerging open-source IP PBX solutions - but of the three we have reviewed, all were ultimately found wanting. So, we must state that we believe that current open-source offerings do not truly provide mission critical business-grade telephony.

To find out further information on why or to talk to us on any other matter, please don’t hesitate to call us at 770.441.9999.

Cbeyond Ranks Seventh Among Georgia's Top Public Companies

2008-06-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

Atlanta - Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Cbeyond Ranks Seventh Among Georgia's Top Public Companies

Cbeyond®, Inc. a leading IP-based managed services provider, ranked seventh on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's list of Georgia's top 100 public companies. Cbeyond improved by nine positions from the 2007 list, which ranked the company sixteenth.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ranked the list of the top 100 public companies based on five weighted variables: annual revenue, year-over-year revenue change, annual change in profit margin in fiscal 2007, return on equity and total return on investment for calendar 2007. The ranking is determined by totaling the five variable rankings for each company and dividing by five.

Featuring a growing portfolio of more than 30 productivity-enhancing applications, Cbeyond is the last communications company a small business will ever need. From landline phone and email access, to BlackBerry® and Hosted Microsoft Exchange, Cbeyond tailors an appropriate solution for its small business customers.
The company also offers a SIP trunking solution, which enables direct IP peering with SIP enabled IP PBX phone systems. Called BeyondVoice® with SIPconnect, this service eliminates the need for a VoIP gateway on the premise, improves voice quality and creates a strong foundation for personalized applications and rich media services. Cbeyond currently interoperates with more than 20 IP PBX phone systems.

Cbeyond saw significant growth in 2007 propelling it into the top 10 of the Georgia 100. In 2007 the company opened offices in San Diego, Detroit and San Francisco. The company is poised to continue its growth in 2008 with new offices slated to open in Miami, Minneapolis and a third, yet to be announced market. Cbeyond currently serves more than 36,000 small businesses and offers its services in 11 cities throughout the United States.

Focused on measured growth, Cbeyond's strategy is to leverage its sale-driven distribution model to deeply penetrate the small business community in each city it serves. The company also works closely with each small business customer to design a communications solution to meet their needs.

"Cbeyond experienced great success in 2007 due to our consistent, predictable business model," said Jim Geiger, chairman and CEO of Cbeyond. "The continued growth and profitability of the company highlights the need small businesses have for big business communication tools that are affordable, reliable, and easy-to-use."

For more information about Cbeyond and its portfolio of small business communication services, visit www.cbeyond.net.

About Cbeyond

Cbeyond, Inc. is a leading IP-based managed services provider that delivers integrated packages of communications and IT services to more than 36,000 small businesses throughout the United States. Cbeyond offers more than 30 productivity- enhancing applications including local and long- distance voice, broadband Internet, mobile, BlackBerry®, broadband laptop access, voicemail, email, web hosting, fax-to-email, data backup, file- sharing and virtual private networking. Cbeyond manages these services over a private, 100-percent Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facilities-based network. For more information on Cbeyond, visit www.cbeyond.net.

Zultys Technologies Names New CEO

2008-06-23T20:33:00.000-04:00

Zultys Technologies Names New CEO

Zultys Technologies, the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions for businesses and enterprises, today announces that Steve Rothenberg has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer. Rothenberg will also serve as a member of the board of directors.

Rothenberg is a seasoned executive with significant global experience. The majority of his career was spent building his own company, Rothenberg Systems International (RSI), from a start-up offering integrated hardware/software office systems for small- and mid-size businesses to the world's leading supplier of enterprise collection software for the financial services industry. RSI was acquired in 1999 by LBSS plc, which in turn was acquired by Fair Isaac Corporation in 2003. He has been an angel investor and advisor to numerous early stage companies in Silicon Valley.
Most recently he was interim-CEO for Alter-G, Inc., which offers an "anti-gravity" treadmill that enables people to improve mobility and health; recover from injury and surgery more rapidly; overcome medical challenges that limit movement; and enhance physical performance. He took that company from garage operations to its major rollout on budget and on time.

"The board feels fortunate and excited that Steve has agreed to join the company," said Vladimir Movshovich, Vice President of Technology at Zultys. "He has successfully managed small and medium companies through rapid growth, secured private financing, and has developed sustainable customer relationships."
"I’m thrilled to join Zultys and want to thank Vladimir Movshovich for his significant achievements as the acting CEO during the search process," said Rothenberg. "I believe Zultys' technology offers significant market potential in small- and mid-sized businesses. I look forward to making Zultys the leading brand in this sector."

About Zultys Technologies
Zultys Technologies, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with operations in Europe, Asia and Australia, delivers smart communication solutions that are easy to use, deploy and manage. The Zultys family of award-winning SIP-based products and software provides an 'All-in-One' unified communication solution that delivers increased worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standard SIP devices. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com.

Polycom Desktop IP Phone Combines Color Display, HD Voice and 1Gbps Ethernet

2008-06-23T16:05:00.000-04:00

Polycom Desktop IP Phone Combines Color Display, HD Voice and 1Gbps Ethernet

By Tim Gray
TMCnet Web Editor
Unified collaborative communications solutions player Polycom (News - Alert) today announced the latest addition to its SoundPoint IP desktop phone line, the SoundPoint IP 670.

The SoundPoint IP 670 is an application-enabled desktop SIP phone with a high-performance color display, Polycom’s revolutionary HD Voice technology, and Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) connectivity. It provides professionals with an intuitive color interface for easier viewing and navigation of phone functions and productivity-enhancing applications, according to Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager of Polycom’s Voice Communications Solutions division.

“We’re always seeking ways to improve the customer experience and offer productivity-enhancing features that drive the speed of business,” said Bhalla. “The SoundPoint IP 670 combines a rich color display with Polycom HD Voice to offer our customers a visually pleasing user interface, an incredible sounding voice experience and a future-proof platform with Gigabit Ethernet.”

The new phone also features the industry’s first color expansion module and when equipped with up to three color expansion modules, it delivers the industry’s first color attendant console solution for call attendants and administrative assistants.

Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst with Infonetics Research (News - Alert), called the phone “noteworthy’ for both its power – which operates at 1 Gbps – and in turn, its ability to leave unscathed a new congestion point on the network.

“Polycom’s new SoundPoint IP 670 phone is a good choice for organizations that are pursuing a standards-based communication strategy and are planning to embed applications on the phone,” said Machowinski.

This solution significantly increases the call handling capability of the phone and enables attendants to better manage incoming calls by being able to view presence status without having to be in front of a PC.

The SoundPoint IP 670 supports six-lines and includes advanced SIP features and capabilities, such as support for shared lines, text messaging, and buddy presence monitoring. It features 14 default color background displays for phone personalization. Additional customized backgrounds, such as a company logo, can be added to deliver a rich desktop branding experience, the company said.

The phone also includes an integrated XHTML micro-browser that enables users to take advantage of productivity-enhancing Web-based applications and also provides the ideal platform for Polycom’s recently announced Polycom Productivity Suite for SoundPoint IP phones.

“The SoundPoint IP 670 provides a full-color user interface to deliver a significantly augmented and visually pleasing user experience when running productivity-enhancing applications, such as the Polycom Productivity Suite,” said Victor Yue, Director, Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd. “We applaud Polycom for enabling us to continue to offer our customers the most comprehensive, best-sounding, most interoperable, high-quality IP telephony solutions for small and medium–sized businesses and enterprises.”

The SoundPoint IP phone is being certified to deliver comprehensive interoperability and extensive feature support with Polycom's growing list of more than 24 SIP-based call control platform partners including 3Com, BroadSoft, Digium (News - Alert), Interactive Intelligence, Sylantro, and other Polycom VoIP Interoperability Partners (VIP). For more information on the Polycom VIP Program, visit www.polycom.com/vip.

The Power over Ethernet (PoE) version of the Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 is available in North America, most of Central and Latin America, Europe and most of Asia-Pac today through Polycom certified channel partners for an MSRP of U.S. $599. The SoundPoint IP Color Expansion Modules are available for an MSRP of $319 each. To learn more about the SoundPoint IP 670 and its Color Expansion Modules, please visit the Polycom web site at www.polycom.com/voip.

Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.

Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.

Polycom Desktop IP Phone Combines Color Display, HD Voice, Gigabit Ethernet, and Industry's First Color Attendant Console

2008-06-23T16:03:00.001-04:00

Polycom Desktop IP Phone Combines Color Display, HD Voice, Gigabit Ethernet, and Industry's First Color Attendant Console

SoundPoint IP 670 Delivers a Rich Voice and Visual Experience to Increase the Speed of Business
June 18, 2008: 08:30 AM EST

INFOCOMM -- Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM), the leader in unified collaborative communications solutions, today announced the newest addition to its SoundPoint® IP desktop phone line, the SoundPoint IP 670. The SoundPoint IP 670 is an application-enabled desktop SIP phone with a high-performance color display, Polycom's revolutionary HD Voice technology, and Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) connectivity. It provides professionals with an intuitive color interface for easier viewing and navigation of phone functions and productivity-enhancing applications.

The SoundPoint IP 670 also features the industry's first color expansion module. When equipped with up to three color expansion modules, the SoundPoint IP 670 delivers the industry's first color attendant console solution for call attendants and administrative assistants. This solution significantly increases the call handling capability of the phone and enables attendants to better manage incoming calls by being able to view presence status without having to be in front of a PC.

"Polycom's new SoundPoint IP 670 phone is a good choice for organizations that are pursuing a standards-based communication strategy and are planning to embed applications on the phone," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst with Infonetics Research. "And what's noteworthy for power users is that it operates at 1 Gbps, so it doesn't introduce a new congestion point on the network."

"The SoundPoint IP 670 provides a full-color user interface to deliver a significantly augmented and visually pleasing user experience when running productivity-enhancing applications, such as the Polycom Productivity Suite," said Victor Yue, Director, Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd. "We applaud Polycom for enabling us to continue to offer our customers the most comprehensive, best-sounding, most interoperable, high-quality IP telephony solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and enterprises."

The SoundPoint IP 670 supports six-lines and includes advanced SIP features and capabilities, such as support for shared lines, text messaging, and buddy presence monitoring. It features 14 default color background displays for phone personalization. Additional customized backgrounds, such as a company logo, can be added to deliver a rich desktop branding experience. The phone also includes an integrated XHTML micro-browser that enables users to take advantage of productivity-enhancing Web-based applications and also provides the ideal platform for Polycom's recently announced Polycom Productivity Suite for SoundPoint IP phones.

As the industry's first color expansion module, the SoundPoint IP Color Expansion Module augments the color user interface of the SoundPoint IP 670 phone. It features 14 multifunctional line keys that can be set up as line registration, call appearance, speed-dial, or a direct station select (DSS)/busy lamp field (BLF) keys. Up to three Color Expansion Modules can be snapped onto the SoundPoint IP 670 to form a full-featured color call attendant console solution. The solution supports up to 34 line registrations, 47 BLF monitored lines, and 24 concurrent calls. This enables the telephone attendant to promptly accept, screen, dispatch and effortlessly monitor incoming calls.

"We're always seeking ways to improve the customer experience and offer productivity-enhancing features that drive the speed of business," said Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager of Polycom's Voice Communications Solutions division. "The SoundPoint IP 670 combines a rich color display with Polycom HD Voice to offer our customers a visually pleasing user interface, an incredible sounding voice experience and a future-proof platform with Gigabit Ethernet."

The SoundPoint IP phone is being certified to deliver comprehensive interoperability and extensive feature support with Polycom's growing list of more than 24 SIP-based call control platform partners including 3Com, BroadSoft, Digium, Interactive Intelligence, Sylantro, and other Polycom VoIP Interoperability Partners (VIP). For more information on the Polycom VIP Program, visit www.polycom.com/vip.

Pricing and Availability

The Power over Ethernet (PoE) version of the Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 is available in North America, most of Central and Latin America, Europe and most of Asia-Pac today through Polycom certified channel partners for an MSRP of U.S. $599. The SoundPoint IP Color Expansion Modules are available for an MSRP of $319 each. To learn more about the SoundPoint IP 670 and its Color Expansion Modules, please visit the Polycom web site at www.polycom.com/voip.

About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications (UCC) that maximize the efficiency and productivity of people and organizations. Polycom delivers the broadest array of high definition telepresence video, wired and wireless voice, and content solutions so people can enjoy the best communications, whether from a real-time collaborative interaction or on-demand streamed video experience. Spanning from the desktop to the industry's only immersive telepresence suite, Polycom's high quality collaboration and communications solutions are easy to deploy and manage, as well as intuitive to use. Based on open standards, they integrate seamlessly with leading telephony and presence-based networks. With innovative market-driving technologies, a compelling vision for next generation visual communications, best-in-class products, alliance partnerships, and world-class service, Polycom is the smart choice for organizations to gain a competitive advantage with proven and trusted communication solutions. For additional information, call 800-POLYCOM or visit the Polycom web site at www.polycom.com.

Polycom reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time. Products and/or related specifications referenced in this press release are not guaranteed, and will be delivered on a when and if available basis.

Polycom, the Polycom logo, and SoundPoint are registered trademarks, and Polycom HD Voice technology is a trademark of Polycom in the U.S. and various countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2008, Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Contact:
Robin Raulf-Sager
Polycom, Inc.
303.583.5342
Email Contact

A Microsoft® Response Point™ Phone System

2008-06-19T20:07:00.002-04:00

A Microsoft® Response Point™ Phone System

Available July 2008

AastraLink RP is a powerful, easy to use communications solution for Small Business

Aastra has leveraged many years of experience in the analog, digital and IP terminal business to develop the AastraLink RP communications solution for Small Business. Powered by Microsoft Response Point phone system software, the AastraLink RP system is specifically designed to provide the Small Business market with a simple, complete telephone solution in a compelling and affordable package.

Targeted for 50 users and under, the system is comprised of three components; an Aastra designed Base Unit, Gateway and new Aastra Response Point IP phones. With features such as auto-discovery and auto-configuration, setting up or changing the system can be done easily by an average PC user in minutes. For users, a voice-enabled user interface, advanced call routing, built-in voice mail, Automated Receptionist and contact integration with Microsoft Office Outlook® offer simplified access to advanced large scale PBX features.

The AastraLink RP solution offers:

- Sleek and stylish enterprise-grade, carrier quality phone system
- A choice of three different telephones, including a cordless model and optional expansion modules
- Voice-enabled user interface simplifying call management
- Support for voice calls using both traditional phone service and VoIP
- An easy way to reduce phone system management costs

See what a telephone system specifically designed for Small Business can do for your customers.

AastraLink RP Solution Components

AastraLink RP 500 Base Unit

- Stand alone Windows Embedded Server

AastraLink RP 540 Gateway

- 4 FXO ports
- Stackable for scalability

Aastra Response Point IP Phones

6751i RP

- 3 Line LCD display
- Programmable Speed dial keys
- Response Point button support
- Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration
- Full Duplex Speaker phone
- Supports Response Point phone system software

6753i RP

- 3 Line LCD display
- 6 Programmable keys
- Response Point button support
- Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration
- Full Duplex Speaker phone
- Supports Response Point phone system software
- Supports optional expansion modules

6757i CT RP

- Full 144x128 pixel display
- 12 Programmable keys
- Response Point button support
- Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration
- Full Duplex Speaker phone
- Cordless mobility with included handset unit
- Supports Response Point phone system software
- Supports optional expansion modules

Telrex Announces Expansion of “Pay-as-You-Grow” Licensing for CallRex Call Recording and Call Center Optimization Suite

2008-06-19T20:00:00.000-04:00

Telrex Announces Expansion of “Pay-as-You-Grow” Licensing for CallRex Call Recording and Call Center Optimization Suite

Affordable Subscription-Based Licensing Option Lowers Barrier of Entry to IP Call Monitoring Technology

KIRKLAND, WA – April 14, 2008 – Telrex, provider of the award-winning CallRex™ suite of IP call recording and call center optimization solutions, today announced the availability of a subscription-based pricing model for all CallRex solutions. The subscription-based licensing model allows companies to simply pay a monthly fee for the number of users being recorded.

In the current economic environment, companies are striving to cut costs while also improving their service levels, operating efficiencies, and meeting compliance and legal obligations. Robert Kapela, president of Telrex, said, “We believe that our subscription-based offering lowers the cost of entry and makes call recording technology accessible to businesses of every size.”

As a market leader, Telrex is the first to offer ALL of its solutions under subscription-based licensing. Software as a Service (SaaS) licensing gives companies the opportunity to turn what may have once been a large capital expenditure into a monthly, predictable operating expense. Now, CallRex solutions can be implemented without sacrificing expenditures on training, staffing, and infrastructure. Businesses utilize call recording and monitoring for dispute resolution, employee training, customer service, regulatory compliance and to address security concerns.

The CallRex suite includes IP call recording and monitoring, agent evaluation, training and eLearning, speech analytics, workforce management, and hosted IP recording solution designed for service providers using softswitches. To learn more about how your business can benefit from CallRex solutions, call 425.827.6156 x2 or visit www.telrex.com to request a free evaluation.

About Telrex
Telrex provides IP call recording and call center optimization software. CallRex supports IP telephony systems, VoIP softswitches and unified communications solutions from Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Microsoft OCS, 3Com, Mitel, ShoreTel, BroadSoft, Sylantro, Genband, NEC, Siemens, Vertical, Zultys, Asterisk, Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch, Digium, Switchvox and more.

CallRex API enables custom integration of the CallRex platform with business and communications applications. Telrex offers its award-winning CallRex suite of software through value added resellers worldwide. Learn more at www.telrex.com.

Telrex Receives 2007 Product of the Year Award from Communications Solutions

2008-06-19T09:34:00.000-04:00

Telrex Receives 2007 Product of the Year Award from Communications Solutions
CallRex IP Call Recording and Monitoring Solution Honored for Outstanding Innovation

KIRKLAND, WA – June 5, 2008 – Telrex, provider of the award-winning CallRex™ suite of IP call recording and call center optimization solutions, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC) Communications Solutions (www.tmcnet.com/comsol) has named CallRex Professional as a recipient of a 2007 Product of the Year Award.

The CallRex suite includes IP call recording and monitoring, agent evaluation, training and eLearning, speech analytics, workforce management, and hosted IP recording solution designed for service providers using softswitches. "We are pleased to be honored with this industry recognition," said Robert Kapela, president of Telrex. "Telrex works to consistently deliver high-quality IP telephony and call center solutions for small to medium sized businesses. With our Software as a Service licensing, we are continuing to offer affordable solutions in innovative ways without sacrificing expenditures on staffing, training, and infrastructure."

"Telrex has been recognized with a 2007 Product of the Year Award for their excellence in the advancement of voice, data and/or video communications," said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Group Editor-in-Chief of Communications Solutions. "Telrex has proven they are committed to quality and excellence in solutions that benefit the customer experience as well as ROI for the companies that use them. I am pleased to honor their hard work and accomplishments and look forward to more innovative solutions from them in the future."

The eighth annual Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award recognizes the vision, leadership and attention to detail that are the hallmarks of the prestigious award. The most innovative products and services brought to market in 2007 were selected as recipients of this year’s Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award for their groundbreaking achievement.

The 2007 Product of the Year Award winners can be found on the Communications Solutions Web site.

About Telrex
Telrex provides IP call recording and call center optimization software. CallRex supports IP telephony systems, VoIP softswitches and unified communications solutions from Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Microsoft OCS, 3Com, Mitel, ShoreTel, BroadSoft, Sylantro, Genband, NEC, Siemens, Vertical, Zultys, Asterisk, Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch, Digium, Switchvox and more.

CallRex API enables custom integration of the CallRex platform with business and communications applications. Telrex offers its award-winning CallRex suite of software through value added resellers worldwide. Learn more at www.telrex.com.

About TMC
Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) is an integrated global media company helping our clients build communities in print, in-person and online. TMC publishes Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Unified Communications, and IMS Magazine. TMC is also the first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories, TMC Labs. TMCnet, TMC's Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMCnet is read by nearly one million US visitors according to Quantcast* and by over three million unique visitors each month worldwide, according to Webtrends In addition, TMC produces INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, Call Center 2.0 Conference and Communications Developer Conference.

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For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

Microsoft's small-office VoIP system, buoyed by speech recognition, combines extraordinary ease and a restricted feature set

2008-06-17T23:05:00.003-04:00

Microsoft's small-office VoIP system, buoyed by speech recognition, combines extraordinary ease and a restricted feature set

By Mike Heck

April 29, 2008

Microsoft's Response Point is PBX software that runs on Embedded XP inside of hardware sold by three Microsoft partners -- Aastra, D-Link, and Quanta -- with more partners to come later in 2008, according to Microsoft. You can engage a VAR to install the system or do it yourself without much effort.

Response Point setup is remarkably straightforward, and so is day-to-day use. Thanks to an automated assistant that responds to voice commands, callers can do most anything with the push of a single button. The trade-off in keeping the system simple is a minimum of telephony features, and collaboration features such as presence awareness and instant messaging are absent.

Response Point requires Windows XP or Vista running on one PC; this functions as the management console. Additionally, each user may use an XP or Vista PC to take advantage of telephone functions and Outlook integration, but this isn't a must because call routing and other configuration tasks may be done by your administrator. Also good: You don't have to install separate servers, such as Exchange.

[ Read the review of Allworx 24x, Critical Links EdgeBox Office, Fonality PBXtra, or Sutus Business Central. Return to "VoIP phone systems walk the talk." ]

The Quanta Syspine DOS A50-8G base unit used for this review, like the Sutus Business Central unit, is a diminutive, attractive tabletop box that will fit into most any office décor. Installing a small system should take less than 30 minutes; just connect the base unit and phones to a network hub, and plug in your analog lines. The Syspine unit includes eight analog ports, and it supports PoE (Power over Ethernet), so phones don't need to be placed near an outlet.

Next, using Response Point Administrator software, you configure the base unit, add users, and assign them to phones. But I was slowed by a similar problem I faced with Allworx: Administrator, 32-bit software, refused to run on my 64-bit Vista laptop. After finding a 32-bit XP system and loading the Administrator program, finalizing my setup proceeded quickly.

First, the phones on my network were automatically discovered. Next, I stepped through Administrator's menus to assign handsets to specific users, groups, or locations (such as a conference room). There's basic call routing for each user, such as forwarding to an outside line if the employee doesn't pick up the call after a preset number of rings – but no options to have different greetings by time or day of the week.

Like other systems, Response Point has an auto-attendant and directory of users that I easily configured. For instance, I recorded custom greetings from a phone and designated an employee as the operator. Lastly, Response Point let me configure an outgoing SMTP e-mail server so that users would receive e-mail notification and an attached audio file of voice messages.

Surprisingly, there's only minimal integration with Microsoft Outlook – and this requires each user to install Response Point Assistant (another 32-bit-only utility). Assistant correlates a caller ID with your Outlook contacts list and pops up their information. It also allows users to change voice mail, notifications, and call forwarding settings.

Besides voice mail, Response Point telephony features include call park/retrieval, three-way conferencing, and ringing all phones in a group. However, Response Point doesn't support softphones.

During testing, Response Point performed without any issue. Up to eight concurrent calls were processed by the auto-attendant. The Syspine IP 310 phones provide a nice balance of usability and functions – with informative messages on the LCD, clear voice quality, and dedicated buttons for essential functions.

Response Point software lets users perform typical tasks from a phone, such as recording personal greetings. Moreover, the system stores about 100 hours of voice mail on the internal 500GB hard disk – messages that are accessed from a simple playback menu. I also appreciated the ability to bypass the auto-attendant when calling from an outside phone number to retrieve my voice mail.

If Response Point's minimalist feature set might leave some unsatisfied, the built-in speech recognition will surely be a hit with others. Using technology from Microsoft Speech Server, Response Point is turned into a highly accurate voice recognition engine – without any additional setup or training.

To evaluate this feature, I simply pressed the blue button on the handset (which is part of the hardware specifications) and said something like "Dial Bob." Every time I tried this with different names, the system dialed correctly. I liked the way you can park a call, go to another phone, and then retrieve it by saying, "Retrieve call," or "Retrieve call two." Call transfer works the same way, by simply speaking, "Transfer my call to Bob."

Further, administrators can configure responses to three specific questions callers might ask, such as: "What is your location?"

Beyond cool, voice recognition comes of age with Response Point. That said, Microsoft's solution will be most at home in small businesses already invested in Windows PCs and that need only a basic phone system. Specific to the Quanta hardware, you may need to purchase the optional Security Gateway for firewall protection, VPN, DHCP server, and QoS bandwidth management.

There's talk of integrating Response Point with Microsoft Small Business Server. Microsoft wouldn't discuss this, but I think it makes tremendous sense. After all, many potential Response Point customers are already running Microsoft servers, and this could bring collaboration capabilities to Response Point.

Microsoft has said that it will release Service Pack 1 for Response Point this summer. The free update will let you use Response Point to make outbound calls through an Internet telephony service provider, and will support Direct Inward Dialing to automatically route inbound callers to a specific extension. Plus, the admin client software will run on 64-bit Windows Vista and XP.

Cheap PC gadget for Internet calls selling well

2008-06-16T20:39:00.000-04:00

Cheap PC gadget for Internet calls selling well By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology

Writer
2 hours, 44 minutes ago

What's the fastest-growing fixed-line phone company in the United States?

It's not Verizon Communications Inc. or AT&T Inc. — they're losing lines. What about cable company Comcast Corp., which is raking in subscribers for its phone service? Even that company is being beaten by a small Palm Beach, Fla., company called YMax Corp., judging by its own figures.

You may never have heard of YMax, but you may have noticed the TV ads for its product, the MagicJack, which works with a broadband connection.

It's about the size of a matchbox and plugs into a PC. After plugging a regular phone into the MagicJack, the user can make and receive calls much like using a regular landline.

In January, just after the broad advertising campaign started, YMax was selling a few hundred MagicJacks per day, said Jim Donlon, its chief marketing officer. Now, it's selling 8,000 to 9,000 per day, and the company is on track to have half a million subscribers by the end of June.

That's a meteoric trajectory in the phone business, propelled by the pricing: The MagicJack costs $39.95, including one year of free calls to the U.S. and Canada. Another year of service costs $19.95.

"It's extremely low-risk. Most people I know are willing to gamble on 40 bucks," said TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert, who follows voice-over-Internet providers.

Unlike most voice-over-Internet Protocol — or VoIP — providers, YMax is licensed as a phone company in the continental U.S. and operates a wide network of servers to carry its calls. VoIP providers generally outsource that side of the business.

Comcast, the fastest-growing cable voice provider, signed up a net average of 7,100 customers per day in the first quarter, ending with 5.1 million on March 31. Vonage Corp., the leading independent provider of VoIP that works with regular phones was averaging 334 per day, for a total of 2.6 million.

YMax's subscriber numbers are "significant," Beckert said, but he noted that its revenue is much lower than that of competing providers because it charges about as much for a year of service as its rivals do for a month. Even eBay Inc.'s Skype, which uses computers for calling, charges significantly more.

It's unclear what effect the MagicJack is having on competitors.

YMax Chief Executive Don Burns said many customers buy a MagicJack as a complement to a cell phone, compensating for poor cell coverage at home. When the computer is off, the service can be set to forward incoming calls to a cell phone.

Burns and inventor Dan Borislow founded the company, financing it largely themselves. They're telecom industry veterans — Borislow pioneered selling long-distance service to AOL subscribers in the 90s and Burns was the CEO of Telco Communications Group, which provided discount long-distance calls.

Burns says YMax's structure helps keeps cost low and call quality high. In the future, the company plans to sell advertising that shows up on the PC screen while calls are being placed. It would use its knowledge of the customer's location to display relevant ads.

Even so, Beckert is skeptical of the business model. Like YMax, Vonage has recruited customers by TV advertising for years. But Vonage has consistently lost money.

"I'm still not sure how you make money at $20 a year," Beckert.

MagicJack's next moves are to get on the shopping channel QVC and possibly expand sales beyond the Web and call centers.

"We have big-box retailers jumping at this," Donlon said.

___

On the Net:

http://www.magicjack.com

Zultys: New Partnerships, Products, Point to Turnaround

2008-06-13T12:46:00.002-04:00

Zultys: New Partnerships, Products, Point to Turnaround
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2008 by Virgo Publishing.
http://www.phoneplusmag.com/
By: Kelly M. Teal
Posted on: 06/12/2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nearly two years after going bankrupt, laying off employees, and losing partners left and right, Zultys Technologies is back and going strong. The Silicon Valley-based IP equipment maker has spent the intervening months regrouping with new management and investors, and new products and partnerships. The efforts, it appears, are paying off.

Still, it was somewhat of a shock when Zultys said May 2 it was getting new leadership. Again. Zultys trumpeted the receipt of another, undisclosed amount of financing and, buried in the press release, thanked Avi Weinrib for helping turn around Zultys. Weinrib had served as president and CEO for only 18 months. His telecom equipment manufacturing company, Israel’s Telrad Connegy, had taken over Zultys in January 2007. His quick departure seemed to signal more troubles, but the two executives heading Zultys while the search goes on for a new leader, said that isn’t the case.

Weinrib runs several businesses and constantly is traveling the globe, said Vladimir Movshovich, vice president of technology for Zultys. “It was all too much for one person,” he said.

Zultys aimed to have Weinrib’s successor in place by July 1, said Jonna Paquette, Zultys’ vice president of sales and marketing. In the meantime, she noted, employee morale is “spectacular. Everybody is truly involved in the business and everybody makes a difference every single day.”

That sounds like company hype until you consider partner feedback, gathered independently of Zultys.

“We’re very happy campers,” said Greg Still, managing partner for Xiologix Corp., a reseller that, in 2006, vowed to stick with Zultys through the bad times. The Oregon company did just that and has no regrets.

“Zultys is extremely innovative, the technology is bulletproof and customers are really enjoying the stability of the technology that they’ve experienced over the last year. Plus, since the new group took [Zultys] over, the features are working as promised,” said Still.

Zultys also landed a major coup when, in March, it resurrected its partnership with Technology Assurance Group (TAG National), a training organization and buying consortium for telecom dealers. Dale Stein, co-founder of TAG National, said his company had worked with Zultys before, but distanced itself as management and money matters consumed the equipment maker. Now, he said, is a good time for TAG National to align itself with Zultys, especially as SIP outpaces TDM year after year.

Dale Johnson, president and CEO of TAG National, agreed. TAG National’s relationship with Zultys is “really, really positive,” he said. He said he’s hearing little hesitancy from members about Zultys, given its past problems. Overall, he said, Zultys’ “SIP communication solutions are in the realm of those we believe will most benefit the communities we serve.”

Paquette concurred, noting, “Just because we’re part of TAG doesn’t mean that their dealers have to carry us, but it’s a nice shot in the arm.” The deal, she said, “gave us entrée to a lot of quality resellers.”

TAG National isn’t the only relationship Zultys has been able to start anew. Last year, it salvaged its broken ties with BandTel LLC and nexVortex Inc., a SIP trunking and audio conferencing wholesaler.

To top it all off, Zultys continues to sign new deals, such as its recent contract with distributor NETXUSA and OEM pact with Aastra Telecom. Indeed, that relationship is soaring with the release of the ZIP 5xi phones and expansion modules, which Aastra designed and engineered. ZIP 5xi debuted alongside the fourth version of Zultys’ Media eXchange server software on May 14.

Being able to private-label the Aastra phone “has just lit up our channel like crazy,” said Paquette. “Everybody said our phone was ugly and it held back sales.” That has changed, she said, and features such as custom caller ID are giving resellers even more talking points. The system includes improved interactivity among users, even those who are remote, and works better with Intel-powered Macintosh computers, Zultys said.

Much of Zultys’ momentum seems to be coming from its mystery financier and owner, whom executives only will refer to as an angel investor. That entity pumped more money into Zultys in May; the amount remains unknown but Movshovich said it’s enough to cover operations through the end of the year.

On the whole, the outlook for Zultys looks good, said Sandra Gustavsen, an analyst for Access Intelligence LLC. “They have a lot going on, which to me is a good sign. I see a lot of companies that there’s just no news for a whole year and something’s just not right there. But this company, I think they’re going to do well. That’s my prediction.”

Telrex Receives 2007 Product of the Year Award from Communications Solutions

2008-06-07T18:26:00.001-04:00

Aastra Telecom Expands its SIP Telephone Portfolio with the Launch of the Aastra 5i Series

2008-06-06T11:58:00.000-04:00

Aastra Telecom Expands its SIP Telephone Portfolio with the Launch of the Aastra 5i Series

New powerful SIP Telephones offer more choice and flexibility to customers

CONCORD, ON, CANADA, — February 20, 2007 — Aastra Telecom, a leading provider of traditional and VoIP communication products and systems, today announced that it has significantly expanded its SIP Telephone portfolio offering with the launch of the Aastra 5i Series. Comprised of four new telephones and two expansion modules, this new family of SIP-based products allows Aastra to offer additional choice and flexibility to customers looking for standards-based IP desktop and mobility solutions.

Designed by a team of North American and European engineers, the Aastra 5i family features an elegant global design, large LCD display screens, additional programmable function keys and expansion modules for console and reception functions. The family also incorporates all of the productivity enhancing features found on Aastra’s existing SIP telephones including; embedded XML browsers, full duplex speakerphones, and an industry leading simplified deployment and upgrade design. Continuing a commitment to be fully interoperable, the Aastra 5i series has also been designed to integrate with leading IP Telephony platforms making it appeal to a wide range of SMB and Enterprise customers.

“Our customers have been extremely pleased with how well Aastra’s current portfolio of affordable feature-rich SIP telephones tightly integrates with our IP Telephony system solution” said Hugo Hamel, President of Prival, a Montreal based provider of integrated VoIP solutions. “By adding Aastra’s 5i Series to our offering, we will be able deliver an even greater variety of options and configurations ensuring a flexible standards-based IP solution that can be easily customized to meet individual customer needs.”

The 5i Series consists of four telephones and two expansion modules;

53i Featured set with 3 line/16 character display and 6 programmable keys

55i Advanced Featured set with 144 x 75 backlit LCD display, up to 20 programmable function capability. Compatible with up to three 536M expansion modules.

57i Full Featured set with 144 x 128 backlit LCD display, up to 30 programmable function capability. Compatible with up to three 560M or 536M expansion modules

57i CT All the features of the Aastra 57i plus integrated cordless base providing VoIP mobility employing secure 2.4GHz Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum technology

536M Expansion Module with 36 programmable keys

560M Expansion Module with LCD Screen and 60 programmable keys

Organizations that are migrating to a converged IP environment whether it is Hosted VoIP, a Premised based IP-PBX / Hybrid PBX or Open Source PBX will be able to find an Aastra IP Telephone perfectly suited to meet their needs.

“We are very excited about expanding our IP portfolio with this family of SIP phones” said Yves Laliberte, executive vice president of sales at Aastra Telecom. “The 5i Series was designed to meet the needs of our partners and customers requiring console solutions and large display screens for advanced XML graphics. Adding the 5i Series to Aastra’s IP family means that we now offer one of the most extensive and complete portfolios of carrier/enterprise grade quality SIP Telephones in the marketplace today”

The Aastra 5i Series is available immediately through Aastra’s authorized IP distribution channels in North America.

About Aastra
Aastra Telecom is a North American business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited (“Aastra”), a rapidly growing global company at the forefront of the Enterprise Communication market. Headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, Aastra develops, markets, and supports a comprehensive portfolio of products, systems, and applications for building and accessing communication networks. Aastra’s products include a full range of both open-standard Internet Protocol (IP)-based and traditional networking solutions including; Enterprise Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs), IP-PBX’s, gateways, digital and analog telephone terminals, VoIP telephones, wireless handsets, and advanced software applications. For more information on Aastra, please visit our Web site at www.aastratelecom.com .

Aastra® is a registered trademark of Aastra Technologies Limited.
.
###

Media Contact:

Aastra Telecom
Steve Hawkins
+1 905.760.4251
shawkins@aastra.com

Employers Urged to Go Green by Expanding Telecommuting

2008-06-05T09:50:00.001-04:00

Employers Urged to Go Green by Expanding Telecommuting
Posted by Ainsley Jones on April 23, 2008 at 10:10 am

Gas prices and green initiatives could fuel a boon for telework. News.com reported that the American Electronics Agency released a report on Earth Day calling on employers to cut carbon emissions and reduce energy consumption by giving more workers the option to work from home. The report cited an earlier study from the Environmental Protection Agency that says $4.5 billion worth of gas would be saved and 26 billion pounds of carbon dioxide would be averted if employees that could feasibly work from their homes did so 1.6 days per week.

The flexibility telecommuting provides is often seen as a perk by employees looking to balance their professional and personal lives. Employers that readdress their telework policies will have to keep the morale of office-bound employees up. Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that job satisfaction went down for in-office employees as more of their coworkers took advantage of telecommuting.

Another issue to be considered regarding telecommuting policies: security. It remains the number-one issue of concern among public and private employers with regards to telework.

Providers Rally to Offer VoIP for Microsoft Response Point

2008-06-03T14:10:00.002-04:00

Providers Rally to Offer VoIP for Microsoft Response Point
Cbeyond and New Global Telecom will offer leading digital voice service for small-business phone system Response Point.
Related Links

REDMOND, Wash. — April 18, 2008 — Industry-leading voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) providers are rallying around the Microsoft Response Point phone system to offer an easy-to-use, complete digital voice solution for small businesses. Today Microsoft Corp. announced that Cbeyond, Inc., and New Global Telecom, Inc. (NGT), will offer their superior digital voice services for Response Point. Small-business customers will be able to take advantage of simple, fully integrated VoIP service from these providers on Microsoft Response Point Service Pack 1 when it is released this summer.

“We’ve conducted thorough tests of the services delivered by Cbeyond and NGT and are pleased to align with these leaders and engage their channels to deliver Response Point as a complete VoIP solution to small businesses,” said Xuedong Huang, general manager of Microsoft Response Point. “Brought together, small businesses will experience all the benefits of Response Point’s magic blue button for voice dialing with the reliable voice services of these providers.”

Response Point chose to align with Cbeyond and NGT because of their focus on coverage, high quality of voice service and customer satisfaction. Each service provider uses the industry standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, which institutes a common protocol among digital voice providers worldwide and will boost quality of service and overall network health. Response Point customers will be able to take advantage of digital voice service based on SIP.

“Microsoft’s attention to detail in catering to the small-business segment makes Response Point a natural fit for Cbeyond’s Internet protocol-based voice and data applications,” said Rob Consolazio, vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Cbeyond. “Small businesses that combine our BeyondVoice with SIPconnect service and the Response Point phone system will gain the advantage of communication tools that big businesses enjoy, at an affordable price.”

Each service provider plans to roll out unique partner programs for value-added resellers that will bolster their ability to reach and service small-business customers with Response Point.

“We have designed the Digital Voice Partner Program to cater to the needs of Microsoft Small Business Specialists and are pleased to provide a nationwide digital voice program to the Microsoft community,” said Mike Donnell, president and CEO of NGT. “As a leader in outsourced VoIP services, NGT’s focus and core expertise is on providing our partners with complete communications for the small-business customer.”

Cbeyond and NGT both will participate in the upcoming Response Point 12-city training tour for small-business specialists and value-added resellers, offering tutorials and guidance on their services. Training information and registration are available at http://www.msreadiness.com/CourseDetail.aspx?id=9241. Response Point will continue to test additional digital service providers and evaluate their ability to provide high-quality, easy-to-use digital voice service to Response Point customers.

About Cbeyond

Cbeyond, Inc. is a leading IP-based managed services provider that delivers integrated packages of communications and IT services to more than 33,000 small businesses throughout the United States. Cbeyond offers more than 20 productivity-enhancing applications including local and long-distance voice, broadband Internet, mobile, BlackBerry(R), broadband laptop access, voicemail, email, web hosting, fax-to-email, data backup, file-sharing and virtual private networking. Cbeyond manages these services over a private, 100-percent Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facilities-based network. For more information on Cbeyond, visit www.cbeyond.net.

About New Global Telecom

New Global Telecom, Inc. is the leading provider of wholesale hosted and trunk-based VoIP solutions in the United States. The company’s nationwide services enable VARs, cable operators, CLECs, and ISPs to deliver a high quality, complete communication solution to address business end-user needs. NGT’s Network Performance Platform is a cornerstone of the service suites, and is an industry-leading network approach to delivering predictable end-user quality. NGT’s digital voice services include a complete range of telephony features, nationwide phone service, worldwide audio & web conferencing, desktop fax services, E911 service, training and other support. For more information, please visit www.ngt.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Product review: Microsoft Response Point 1.0

2008-06-03T14:08:00.001-04:00

Product review: Microsoft Response Point 1.0
Microsoft's small-office VoIP system, buoyed by speech recognition, combines extraordinary ease and a restricted feature set

By Mike Heck

April 29, 2008

Microsoft's Response Point is PBX software that runs on Embedded XP inside of hardware sold by three Microsoft partners -- Aastra, D-Link, and Quanta -- with more partners to come later in 2008, according to Microsoft. You can engage a VAR to install the system or do it yourself without much effort.

Response Point setup is remarkably straightforward, and so is day-to-day use. Thanks to an automated assistant that responds to voice commands, callers can do most anything with the push of a single button. The trade-off in keeping the system simple is a minimum of telephony features, and collaboration features such as presence awareness and instant messaging are absent.

Response Point requires Windows XP or Vista running on one PC; this functions as the management console. Additionally, each user may use an XP or Vista PC to take advantage of telephone functions and Outlook integration, but this isn't a must because call routing and other configuration tasks may be done by your administrator. Also good: You don't have to install separate servers, such as Exchange.

[ Read the review of Allworx 24x, Critical Links EdgeBox Office, Fonality PBXtra, or Sutus Business Central. Return to "VoIP phone systems walk the talk." ]

The Quanta Syspine DOS A50-8G base unit used for this review, like the Sutus Business Central unit, is a diminutive, attractive tabletop box that will fit into most any office décor. Installing a small system should take less than 30 minutes; just connect the base unit and phones to a network hub, and plug in your analog lines. The Syspine unit includes eight analog ports, and it supports PoE (Power over Ethernet), so phones don't need to be placed near an outlet.

Next, using Response Point Administrator software, you configure the base unit, add users, and assign them to phones. But I was slowed by a similar problem I faced with Allworx: Administrator, 32-bit software, refused to run on my 64-bit Vista laptop. After finding a 32-bit XP system and loading the Administrator program, finalizing my setup proceeded quickly.

First, the phones on my network were automatically discovered. Next, I stepped through Administrator's menus to assign handsets to specific users, groups, or locations (such as a conference room). There's basic call routing for each user, such as forwarding to an outside line if the employee doesn't pick up the call after a preset number of rings – but no options to have different greetings by time or day of the week.

Like other systems, Response Point has an auto-attendant and directory of users that I easily configured. For instance, I recorded custom greetings from a phone and designated an employee as the operator. Lastly, Response Point let me configure an outgoing SMTP e-mail server so that users would receive e-mail notification and an attached audio file of voice messages.

Surprisingly, there's only minimal integration with Microsoft Outlook – and this requires each user to install Response Point Assistant (another 32-bit-only utility). Assistant correlates a caller ID with your Outlook contacts list and pops up their information. It also allows users to change voice mail, notifications, and call forwarding settings.

Besides voice mail, Response Point telephony features include call park/retrieval, three-way conferencing, and ringing all phones in a group. However, Response Point doesn't support softphones.

During testing, Response Point performed without any issue. Up to eight concurrent calls were processed by the auto-attendant. The Syspine IP 310 phones provide a nice balance of usability and functions – with informative messages on the LCD, clear voice quality, and dedicated buttons for essential functions.

Response Point software lets users perform typical tasks from a phone, such as recording personal greetings. Moreover, the system stores about 100 hours of voice mail on the internal 500GB hard disk – messages that are accessed from a simple playback menu. I also appreciated the ability to bypass the auto-attendant when calling from an outside phone number to retrieve my voice mail.

If Response Point's minimalist feature set might leave some unsatisfied, the built-in speech recognition will surely be a hit with others. Using technology from Microsoft Speech Server, Response Point is turned into a highly accurate voice recognition engine – without any additional setup or training.

To evaluate this feature, I simply pressed the blue button on the handset (which is part of the hardware specifications) and said something like "Dial Bob." Every time I tried this with different names, the system dialed correctly. I liked the way you can park a call, go to another phone, and then retrieve it by saying, "Retrieve call," or "Retrieve call two." Call transfer works the same way, by simply speaking, "Transfer my call to Bob."

Further, administrators can configure responses to three specific questions callers might ask, such as: "What is your location?"

Beyond cool, voice recognition comes of age with Response Point. That said, Microsoft's solution will be most at home in small businesses already invested in Windows PCs and that need only a basic phone system. Specific to the Quanta hardware, you may need to purchase the optional Security Gateway for firewall protection, VPN, DHCP server, and QoS bandwidth management.

There's talk of integrating Response Point with Microsoft Small Business Server. Microsoft wouldn't discuss this, but I think it makes tremendous sense. After all, many potential Response Point customers are already running Microsoft servers, and this could bring collaboration capabilities to Response Point.

Microsoft has said that it will release Service Pack 1 for Response Point this summer. The free update will let you use Response Point to make outbound calls through an Internet telephony service provider, and will support Direct Inward Dialing to automatically route inbound callers to a specific extension. Plus, the admin client software will run on 64-bit Windows Vista and XP.

Microsoft Taps NGT, Cbeyond as SIP Providers for Response Point IP PBX

2008-06-02T21:39:00.006-04:00

04/18/2008

Microsoft Corp. said Friday it has partnered with Cbeyond Inc. and New Global Telecom Inc. (NGT), to provide SIP trunking and other VoIP services along with its Response Point IP PBX, announced in October 2007, beginning this summer.

The partnerships will enable the respective channel partners of the companies to offer a CPE-service bundle geared to small businesses between five and 50 employees.

The two VoIP providers are the first to pass interoperability testing with the Microsoft IP PBX and will be included in the Microsoft Response Point Service Pack 1 when it is released this summer for sale through Microsoft Small Business Specialists, one of the software company’s indirect sales channels.

While Cbeyond already has an agent program of its own, NGT, a wholesaler, has developed the Digital Voice Partner Program specifically for the Microsoft Small Business Specialists selling Response Point. While the providers will be working to woo Microsoft’s VARs, they also will be able to introduce Response Point to channel partners, such as telephony agents, that might be selling SIP trunking products.

Interested channel partners can become certified to sell Response Point after a single day of training and an online assessment. Microsoft is beginning a 12-city training tour next week that includes not only sales and positioning for Response Point, but also for sales of VoIP services from NGT and Cbeyond. Cost for the training is $95. Partners that pass the test are listed on the Microsoft Response Point Web site and able to share in the leads.

Partners also must be agents of the VoIP providers in order to receive compensation for the service. In NGT’s case, becoming an agent is a simple matter of signing up via a Web-based form.

“Because voice over IP is so easy to learn for people who have backgrounds in networking, this is a great way for Microsoft Small Business Specialists to bring in a new business,” said Ben Brauer, senior product manager for Response Point at Microsoft. ”To sell a phone system is a cool concept for our small business specialist. Bringing a service into the mix makes it even more enticing. We already are getting a lot of interest from our VAR community, but I think this is going to make it even more interesting.”

For the Microsoft VARs the “interesting” part is developing an annuity revenue stream. “They get better services at a lower cost and Small Business Specialists can start to build an annuity revenue stream that allows them to grow their business year over year without having to expand the business or work harder to do that,” explained NGT CEO Mike Donnell.

In addition to basic local calling features like local number porting, directory listing, caller ID/CNAM and 911, NGT also offers partners the opportunity to sell toll free services and network-based desktop fax capabilities and on-demand audio and Web conferencing – increasing their residual commission.

In addition, Brauer said, the services can help partners justify the initial capital outlay for the phone system, which retails for about $2,500 ($3,000 with LAN optimization and installation). Microsoft conducted an ROI analysis and determined that the payback on the Response Point IP PBX sold along with a SIP trunking service can be swift. “What we found was that a small business with 10-19 employees would save upwards of $8,000 in the first year of deploying a voice over IP service. ... So, they are already seeing an ROI within the first year,” said Brauer.

The bundle also is designed to be a low-maintenance sale for the partner. It includes auto discovery of end points and an automatic configuration tool for selecting analog service or a particular SIP provider.

Response Point is a software-based IP PBX that is packaged as an appliance by three OEMs – Aastra Technologies Ltd., DLink Corp. and Quanta Computer Inc. DLink’s channel is being trained to sell the appliance and Aastra, whose channel targets enterprises, is developing a small business channel to sell the system as well, Brauer said.

Telecommunications Equipment & Services

2008-06-02T18:25:00.004-04:00

Telecommunications Equipment & Services

IT Consulting
Design & Implementation
TDM Telephone Systems
VoIP Telephone Systems
Voice Mail Systems
Unified Messaging
IP Telephony / VoIP
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Systems
Call Center Applications & Deployment
Speech Recognition Systems - Outbound & Inbound
Move, Add, or Changes
Coordination & Set-up of: Local & T1/PRI Service
WAN Links
On-site Support & Maintenance Services
Emergency Response -- Anytime, Anywhere!

---------------------------------------

Computer Networks Equipment & Services

Hardware and Software Order Fulfillment
IT Planning & Data Networks
Computers, Servers & Desktop Support
Data Routers & Switches
Voice, Data & Fiber Cabling
Virtual Private Networks / VPN
Video Conferencing
Migration / Professional Project Management
On-site Support & Maintenance Services
Emergency Response -- Anytime, Anywhere!

FINANCING
No problem. We have competitive rates.

PREFERRED VENDOR

ZULTYS SIP IP-PBX.
The Smarter VoIP Solution.

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Zultys Technologies is a leading manufacturer of enterprise IP telephony systems based on the open standard SIP. Our award-winning products are designed to improve worker productivity while remaining easy to use, deploy and manage. Zultys combines the full suite of telephony, voice mail, presence, instant messaging, desktop faxing, call recording and network gateway functions into a single box that seamlessly integrates into your business. At Zultys we make it easy for your company to leverage the power that is converged communications.

STRUCTURED CABLING

Your structured cabling system is the backbone of the communications network that gives you an efficient means of gathering information, collaborating, and making decisions. Whether you're calling a customer, e- mailing a vendor, or accessing your company's product database, you're relying on your communications components and cabling products to perform.

Recognizing this fundamental truth, Alliant DataTel, Inc. combines superior workmanship with high quality products to design and implement cabling systems that deliver reliability and performance. Our highly trained technicians will work with you to define your current requirements and to anticipate your future ones, enabling us to structure a cabling system that satisfies your evolving technology needs.

By offering a variety of cabling and hardware components from leading manufacturers, we deliver a broad selection and solid opportunities for cost savings. We'll install and certify your cabling system with the utmost attention to detail, and we'll stand behind our work with a 15-year cable warranty. We'll even provide you with wiring maps and equipment inventories to simplify record keeping and maintenance.

Structured Cable System Design -- Certified Cable System Installation -- Adds, Moves & Changes (MAC) -- Certification and Testing Complete Labor & Material

Moving to a new office? Need to expand your existing networks? Rely on our experience and expert advice.

JUNE SPECIAL

Free office cabling
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telephone system purchased
by 6/30/2008

Alliant DataTel Helps IT Align with Business Objectives

2008-06-02T18:21:00.012-04:00

Alliant DataTel Helps IT Align with
Business Objectives

— Michael Kirchhoff
Sr. Convergence Engineer

The economy is headed for a downturn and now is a good time to make an investment in your business. Your competition has learned how to use technology effectively to generate business. They attract new customers, increase productivity and lower their cost of doing business.

With the price of oil on the rise, more and more companies are in need of extended networks that allow their employees to work at home, greater bandwidth for video conferencing, and more flexibility and features through VoIP technology.

Now, you can too!

We can provide your business:

Virtual Private Networks
IP phones to corp. office
Teleworking Apps
Video Conferencing
Web Cams
Unified Messaging

Vendor neutral solutions - Competitive pricing - Prompt support -
Extensive experience

[InstantCallback]Click here: I'm interested, please contact me![/InstantCallback]

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Smartest IP-PBX Phone System Graduates with Version 4.0

Zultys Debuts Version 4.0 for MX Line of Standalone Communication Servers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Graduation time is a major milestone in the life of a student, and Zultys Technologies, the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions, is very pleased today to announce that it has reached a significant milestone of its own.

Zultys, the company that brought the first pure-SIP, standalone communications solution to the marketplace back in 2002, now marks the commencement of a new era of interoperability and productivity with the arrival of MX Software Version 4.0. As the powerful backbone of the award-winning flagship line of Media eXchange (MX) servers - the MX250 and MX30 - this new build offers a feature-rich class of integrated services and opens the door of the Zultys platform to world-class manufacturers such as Polycom and Aastra Telecom.

"We believe this release speaks volumes about the power of the MX systems. It clearly defines our corporate strategy to implement technical developments and innovative engineering to gain mindshare in the SMB space," said Vladimir Movshovich, VP of Technology, Zultys Technologies. [more]

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Substance, Style and Unbelievable Value for the Small Business -

The XBlue X16 crushes the price barrier, providing a great alternative to multi-line business telephones. Ideal for both home & small office environments, the X16 is capable of accommodating 6 CO lines and 16 digital telephone ports with auto-attendant and voicemail standard. The X16 supports VoIP, Caller ID and other key features including Live Call Screening, Live Call Recording, three (3) Way Conferencing, External Call Forwarding and Phone Book Dialing. For added convenience, the system time is automatically set and adjusted for daylight savings (caller ID required).

Alliant can provide bundled packages starting as low as $1,399 installed.

Telephones will be available in multiple colors to match any small or home office décor; including charcoal and the Designer Series Vivid Blue, Titanium Metallic and Red Mahogany. These speakerphones have backlit displays, headset jacks and Green & Blue LED’s.

[product datasheet]

Complete Digital VoIP Hybrid Telephone System

• Auto-Attendant
• Voicemail
Configuration options:
• (6) CO lines & (16) digital telephone ports
• (4) CO lines (16) digital telephone ports & (2)VoIP media gateway ports (SIP extensions or trunks- future option coming soon).
System Highlights:
• Blue Backlit Display
• Call Waiting Caller ID
• “Cell Phone Like” Navigation Keys
• External Call Forward
• Live Call Screening
• Live Call Recording
• Personal Phone Book

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Go Green: Subperb Virtual Appliance

The RHUB On-Premise Appliance is delivered ready to go. Just install it on your network and begin 24x7 unlimited Web conferences. No on-going IT support is needed. The RHUB Appliance is updated automatically.

The On-Premise RHUB Appliance bundles four applications (implemented as four meeting types in TurboMeeting) in one delivery: Features:

Web Conferencing (the Interactive Meeting type in TurboMeeting) - Every attendee (PC and Mac) can interact in the meeting. Each can be Presenter (show their screen) and/or Controller (control the Presenter’s computer)

Remote Support - Simplifies connecting to another computer to control and support it. Auto Presenter/Controller set up, File Transfer, Reboot remote computer are supported.

Remote Access to My Computer - Enables you to access a remote unattended computer. You can access your office machine from your traveling laptop.

Web Seminars - The unique Universal Attendance technology makes doing seminars easy. It is quick and easy for every attendee to join, 100% attendance!

Special Price $899 / $995 msrp Call for demo, we use.

[product datasheet]

AastraLink Pro 160

2008-05-27T22:17:00.010-04:00

AastraLink Pro 160
Delivering the Power of IP Communications to Small Business

Available May 15, 2008

The AastraLink Pro 160 is a powerful, cost-effective, easy-to-use IP PBX geared specifically for Small Business.

A member of the AastraLink family of PBX solutions, the AastraLink Pro 160 is a Linux-based appliance that hosts Asterisk® open source PBX software. Targeted for 25 users and under, the AastraLink Pro provides all the standard PBX/Key System features and functionality while leveraging a host of new IP-based services. Specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of small business, AastraLink Pro enables users to quickly and easily get phones up and running by simply plugging the system into an existing LAN.

Key Features and Benefits:
Feature Rich IP PBXThe AastraLink Pro delivers large PBX functionality to the small business environment. Featuring an Auto-Attendant, which automatically configures on initial startup, the AastraLink Pro manages and directs incoming calls to individuals or groups by extension dialing or name search. In addition, individual Voicemail boxes are also automatically configured and operational at start up. PBX telephony features include: call forward, hold and hold alerts, call log, call transfer, 3 way conferencing, corporate and personal directory.

Simple DeploymentBy simply plugging the AastraLink Pro into an existing LAN (Local Area Network) it’s ready to start communicating without the need of an installation technician. The AastraLink Pro will auto discover and configure any new Aastra SIP phones connected to the system making the need for a service technician to perform moves, adds and changes a thing of the past.

Networking, Teleworking and ScalabilityThe AastraLink Pro grows as your business expands. It can host up to 50 extensions when SIP trunking is used, and up to 9 AastraLink Pro systems can be linked together via IP to create a WAN linked multi site office environment. Remote tele-working from a home office is as simple as taking an auto discovered AastraLink SIP phone and plugging it into your UPnP enabled home network.

Affordable Solution integrates with Aastra SIP phonesWith no hidden application license or user costs, or the need of an installation technician, AastraLink Pro is a cost effective and powerful small business communication system that tightly integrates with the following Aastra SIPphones and expansion modules: 51i, 53i, 55i, 57i, 57i CT, 536M, and 560M, and the newly released 9143, 9480i and 9480i CT.

Zultys & Aastra Telecom Partner

2008-05-20T18:36:00.001-04:00

April 24, 2008

Zultys and Aastra Telecom have reached an OEM pact to delivery the next line of ZIP Phones. As part of the announcement, Zultys and Aastra announced full interoperability between the Aastra 5i Series and the Zultys MX (Media eXchange) line. I'm a huge fan of Aastra SIP-based VoIP phones and they are perhaps my favorite of any brand due to their XML capabilities and extensive customization capabilities. I have one sitting on my desk right now. The 57i CT in fact, which comes with a cool cordless handset that communicates wirelessly with the desktop IP phone.

"In Zultys, we are delighted to find a SIP PBX partner that shares our core underlying philosophy that open standards should afford customers an easy-to-use, cost-effective communications solution that offers the maximum flexibility," says John Drolet, Vice President of Sales at Aastra Telecom USA.

The interoperability testing involving the Aastra 5i Series, which consists of a line of SIP-based desktop and wireless telephones and expansion modules, including:
• 51i - Entry level single line set with 3 line/16 character display and 9 configurable speed dial keys using the number keypad
• 53i - Featured set with 3 line/16 character display and 4 programmable keys; compatible with up to three 536M expansion modules
• 55i - Advanced Featured set with 144 x 75 backlit LCD display, up to 26 programmable function capability; compatible with up to three 560M or 536M expansion modules
• 57i - Full Featured set with 144 x 128 backlit LCD display, up to 30 programmable function capability; compatible with up to three 560M or 536M expansion modules
• 57i CT - All the features of the Aastra 57i plus integrated cordless base providing VoIP mobility employing secure 2.4GHz Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum technology
• 536M - Expansion Module with 36 programmable keys
• 560M - Expansion Module with LCD Screen and 60 programmable keys

Using any of the Aastra 5i series phones paired with the latest build of Zultys' MX software (version 3.2 or higher), gives some cool "out of the box" advanced functionality. In fact, Zultys told me, "MX software tightly integrates a suite of predefined critical features, including the so-called "Four P's" – that is, Paging, Parking, Pick-Up and Provisioning."

As a result, Zultys will soon make available the following additions to its portfolio of award-winning phones: the ZIP 53i, ZIP 55i, ZIP 57i, ZIP 57i CT as well as the ZIP 536m and ZIP 560m expansion modules. Under the terms of the OEM arrangement, those phones will be rebranded by Zultys and made available to its distributors and resellers.

"The addition of the Aastra 5i Series to our Zultys community creates a truly unique opportunity for organizations of all size migrating to pure IP or a converged IP environment. This further reinforces our commitment to offering customers unprecedented freedom of choice in finding a solution that is perfectly suited to meet their needs," explains Jonna Paquette, VP of Sales and Marketing at Zultys.

Zultys Enhances SIP-based MX Systems, Expands Partnerships

2008-05-16T22:40:00.001-04:00

November 20, 2007

By Sandra M. Gustavsen

Analyst, Access Intelligence LLC

Zultys Technologies (News - Alert) continues to develop its IP PBX (News - Alert) product line and foster partner, reseller and distributor relations following a financial restructuring completed last year in which Zultys became a sister company of Telrad Connegy (News - Alert). With a fresh start and positive feedback from resellers, Zultys has been announcing new developments throughout 2007, including several software releases for the company’s SIP-based MX30 and MX250 Media Exchange systems that target small to mid-size businesses.

Additionally, Zultys has announced a number of partnerships such as a recent renewal with nexVortex that now supports a disaster recovery solution and official certification by Polycom (News - Alert) as a VoIP Interoperability Partner (VIP). Zultys customers can choose the Polycom portfolio of SoundPoint IP desktop and SoundStation IP conference phones (a similar agreement with Aastra is forthcoming). Most recently, Zultys announced integration with Microsoft’s (News - Alert) CRM platform, all versions including Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (code-named Titan).

Zultys is also focusing on customer satisfaction, making improvements to the sales process with a new “multifaceted” partner program for its value-added resellers (VARs). The new TouchStone Program reaches out to customers with a post-installation survey to get feedback on the product and VAR support. VARs can enroll in the TouchStone Program for free if they have maintained technical certification and earn co-op advertising rewards funds to be spent on any sales or marketing initiative, as well as view quarterly reports of customer ratings.

Zultys has also instituted a Global Pricing Strategy – a streamlined pricing scheme that makes it easier for channel partners to put together a customer quote. And, the Zultys Early Availability Program (EAP), which is comprised of Zultys certified partners, is speeding the development process of new software releases through seminars, meetings and testing.

Zultys targets small to mid-size businesses and the lower-end of the large enterprise telephony market with two SIP-based and scalable MX IPPBX systems: MX30 (to 30 users) and MX250 (10 to 250 users) that can be expanded by clustering and networking MX30 and MX250 units. Survivability and ease of use makes the MX systems well suited for multi-site deployments and remote workers.

Zultys currently distributes products in more than 115 countries. The MX1200 (now phased out) was introduced in January of 2003 followed by the MX250 in July 2003 and the MX30 in April 2005. Zultys is headquartered in California with offices in London, Beijing, Russia, India, and Australia and satellite offices in Canada, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Brazil and nine regions of the United States.

Zultys MX IP PBX Systems, excerpt from TelecomTactics November 2007, www.telecomtactics.com
VENDOR:	Zultys Technologies	Zultys Technologies
MODEL:	MX30	MX250
APPLICATION:	IP-PBX	IP-PBX
REGIONS WHERE SOLD:	North America, EMEA, APAC, CALA	North America, EMEA, APAC, CALA
INTRODUCTION:	2005	2003
RELEASE:	3.2	3.2
STATION CAPACITY:	30	250 (standalone unit); 1,000 (cluster); 10,000 (network)
TARGET MARKET:	Small to mid-size businesses and the lower-end of the large enterprise telephony market (30 users and 120 SIP registrations)	Small to mid-size businesses and the lower-end of the large enterprise telephony market (250 users and 1,000 SIP registrations); additional capacity and redundancy by clustering four MX250 units (1,000 users); optional MXgroup software connects 32 locations (10,000 total users) over a Wide Area Network (WAN)
Visit www.telecomtactics.com for more details on the Zultys MX systems and other IP PBXs on the market.

Sandra M. Gustavsen, Analyst/TelecomTactics

The Telecom Intelligence Group

1111 Marlkress Road, Suite 203

Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

856-424-1100 x11

sgustavsen@telecomweb.com

www.telecomtactics.com

www.telecomweb.com/databases

TelecomTactics Insider Free Issue

Aastra Technologies Completes Acquisition

2008-05-16T22:17:00.001-04:00

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (April 30, 2008) - Aastra Technologies Limited (TSX: “AAH”) is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of the Enterprise Communication Business of Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) subject to certain jurisdictions being deferred in order to comply with applicable transfer requirements and corresponding post-closing adjustments.

With this acquisition, Aastra will now have a global installed base of Enterprise Communication customers with a leading presence in Western Europe and a significant extended footprint in key markets across Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand) and North and South America.

The addition of Ericsson’s Enterprise Communications extends Aastra’s reach in internet protocol Communication Servers, Unified Communication applications and integrated mobility, to address the communication needs of both small and large businesses. Aastra has grown rapidly by protecting its customers’ investment while offering a roadmap for customers to evolve to IP communications at their own pace. Aastra will continue to build on Ericsson’s success by supporting all existing products and applications, and by providing a smooth migration path to new technologies.

About Aastra

Aastra Technologies Limited, is a global company at the forefront of the Enterprise Communication market. Headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, Aastra develops and delivers innovative and integrated solutions that address the communication needs of businesses small and large around the world. Aastra enables Enterprises to communicate and collaborate more efficiently and effectively by offering customers a full range of open standard IP-based and traditional communications networking products, including terminals, systems, and applications. For additional information on Aastra, visit our website at http://www.aastra.com/ . “Aastra” is a registered trademark of Aastra Technologies Limited.

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (“forward-looking statements”). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as “believes”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “intends” or stating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Aastra, or developments in Aastra’s business or in its industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Please refer to the heading “Risk Factors” in our annual information form filed on http://www.sedar.com/ , for the material factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made today. It is important to note that: unless otherwise indicated, forward-looking statements in this press release describe Aastra’s expectations as of the date of this press release; Aastra cautions readers not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this press release as actual results may differ materially from expectations if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect Aastra’s business, or if estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Therefore, Aastra cannot provide any assurance that forward-looking statements will materialize and Aastra assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or other reason.

For further information contact:
Allan Brett, CFO,
(905) 760-4160
investors@aastra.com

Zultys Releases MX Software Version 4.0

2008-05-15T17:47:00.005-04:00

May 15, 2008

By Nathesh
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Zultys technologies announced today that they have introduced version 4.0 of the MX line of Standalone Communication Servers. The move has graduated the company into a new era of interoperability and productivity, Zultys said.

Zultys Technologies (News - Alert) delivers “smart” communication solutions that are easy to use, deploy and manage, company officials said. The Zultys family of SIP-based products and software provides an “All-in-One” unified communication solution that delivers increased worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standardSIP devices, company officials said.

“We believe this release speaks volumes about the power of the MX systems,” said Vladimir Movshovich, vice president of technology, Zultys Technologies. “It clearly defines our corporate strategy to implement technical developments and innovative engineering to gain mindshare in the SMB (small and mid-sized business) space.”

The new release offers productive access into the Zultys platform to world-class manufacturers such as Polycom and Aastra Telecom (News - Alert), as it is the spine of the notable flagship line of Media eXchange (MX) servers, the MX250 and MX30 which are an integral part of distributed communications networks, company officials said.

Aastra Telecom has designed and coaxed the new ZIP 5i range of IP Phones and Expansion Modules to match MX30 & MX250 Unified Communications (News - Alert) platforms, company officials said. The ZIP 5i phone from the software 4.0 version includes multiple line/call appearance keys with in-use LED indications, Comprehensive Busy Lamp Field (BLF) support, Programmable function keys, Intuitive, user centric screen menus, Full duplex conference quality hands-free, Built-in headset jack, Multi-key expansion modules available, EmbeddedXML browser, Full GUI based configuration via MX Administrator and it supports 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) and AC wall adapter, company officials said.

The MX version 4.0 is designed to provide a path of interconnection to the world for the users, company officials said.

It can assign users from remote MX systems into any local group (Operator group, Hunt group, ICC and/or ACD). Version 4.0 offers increased functionality for the remote user. For example, administrators and supervisors now have the ability to assign users from the most remote MX systems to any local group, enabling inbound call centers or operators to offload peak calling volumes or extend work hours across multiple time zones.

Voicemails messages matching contacts are automatically saved as “.wav files” with the contact’s name automatically constructed into the file name and users can clearly define the Caller ID information that is sent to their callers by an individual user.

MX Version 4.0 also boosts the integration between MXIE and Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook enabling better symmetry between this widely used email client and MXIE. Not only can users access MS Outlook Contacts to easily dial at the click of a mouse, but users’ Address Book records have been streamlined. System control can now be shared between the MXIE interface and the phone itself, through enhanced DTMF operations. Mac support is expanded to improve interoperability with newIntel ( News - Alert)-powered Mac clients, company officials said.

Nathesh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nathesh’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents that are free to registered users.

Smartest IP Phone System Graduates with 4.0

2008-05-15T09:44:00.003-04:00

Zultys Debuts Version 4.0 for MX Line of Standalone Communication Servers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Graduation time is a major milestone in the life of a student, and Zultys Technologies, the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions, is very pleased today to announce that it has reached a significant milestone of its own.

Zultys, the company that brought the first pure-SIP, standalone communications solution to the marketplace back in 2002, now marks the commencement of a new era of interoperability and productivity with the arrival of MX Software Version 4.0. As the powerful backbone of the award-winning flagship line of Media eXchange (MX) servers - the MX250 and MX30 - this new build offers a feature-rich class of integrated services and opens the door of the Zultys platform to world-class manufacturers such as Polycom and Aastra Telecom.

"We believe this release speaks volumes about the power of the MX systems. It clearly defines our corporate strategy to implement technical developments and innovative engineering to gain mindshare in the SMB space," said Vladimir Movshovich, VP of Technology, Zultys Technologies.

ZIP 5xi Integration
The pinnacle of v4.0's improvements is full integration and support of Zultys' new ZIP 5xi line of advanced SIP-based IP phones and expansion modules. Designed and engineered by Aastra Telecom, the new ZIP 5xi line is the perfect complement to the MX30 and MX250 systems:

ZIP 51i - 3 Line x 16 Character display, 1 call appearance with transfer capability
ZIP 53i - 3 Line x 16 Character display, 6 programmable keys, 9 call appearances
ZIP 55i - 144 x 75 pixel backlit LCD, 6 soft keys & 6 programmable keys, 9 call appearances
ZIP 57i - 144 x 128 pixel backlit LCD, 30 programmable keys, 12 soft keys, 9 call appearances
ZIP 57i CT - As per ZIP 57i plus integrated W-DECT cordless handset
ZIP 536M - Expansion module with 36 programmable keys, LED status indication
ZIP 560M - Expansion module with 60 programmable keys, LCD based labels, LED status indication

Integrated features include:

Multiple line/call appearance keys with in-use LED indications
Comprehensive Busy Lamp Field (BLF) support
Programmable function keys
Intuitive, user-centric screen menus
Full duplex conference quality hands-free operation
Built-in headset jack
Multi-key expansion modules available
Embedded XML browser
Full GUI-based configuration via MX Administrator
Supports 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) and AC wall adapter
Provisioning, Park, Pickup, Page and Busy Lamp Field (BLF) operation

Additional Features and Enhancements
Version 4.0 also offers increased functionality for the remote user. For example, administrators and supervisors now have the ability to assign users from the most remote MX systems to any local group, enabling inbound call centers or operators to offload peak calling volumes or extend work hours across multiple time zones.

Version 4.0 also enhances the integration between its MXIE UI and Microsoft Outlook, enabling increased unified communications based on with this widely used email client. System control can now be shared between the MXIE interface and the phone itself through enhanced DTMF operations. Mac support is expanded to improve interoperability with new Intel-powered Mac clients.

Full details are available at http://kbs.zultys.com/ or from an authorized Zultys reseller.

About Zultys Technologies
Zultys Technologies, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with operations in Europe, Asia and Australia, delivers smart communication solutions that are easy to use, deploy and manage. The Zultys family of award-winning SIP-based products and software provides an 'All-in-One' unified communication solution that delivers increased worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standard SIP devices. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com/.

###

Contacts:
Robert Liu
Zultys Technologies
+1 408-328-0450 x726
Bob.Liu@zultys.com
http://www.zultys.com/

“VoIP vs. Digital"

2008-05-13T17:31:00.024-04:00

What is the Best Solution for Small Business?

The VoIP system vs. the digital key system debate is very intriguing. Both platforms have their distinct benefits. At XBLUE Networks we have both types of system platforms included in our product plan. We made the business decision to develop and introduce our digital key system (45p Small Business Communications system) first for one very basic reason. We are convinced that digital key systems, in an overwhelming majority of applications, still offers the best value to small business (and to the small business system reseller as well, which is equally as important).

Let’s start with the benefits of VoIP. The one benefit that definitely has traction is the “sizzle factor of IP”. This certainly correctly conveys that the product is of the latest technology which is an immediate attention getter. However, the other supposedly substantive benefits claimed by VoIP proponents tend to fizzle out considerably. This is especially true for small business applications.

In almost every instance with VoIP systems, the same top feature/benefits are always highlighted. These are as follows:

Remote office: One unique benefit of VoIP systems is the ability to seamlessly mesh other branch offices communications without the need of PSTN lines and/or long distance charges (of course, the long distance expense benefit of VoIP is quickly evaporating as most carriers now offer unlimited LD with their service).

Still, seamlessly connecting remote offices is a real and valuable benefit. The problem is, most small businesses (easily over 90%) are single site applications. This renders this major benefit of VoIP as virtually worthless to the overwhelming majority of potential small business customers. Yet in almost all VoIP system sales literature remote office is consistently drilled as a “unique” system benefit of VoIP. This is a true statement, however, just as true is the reality that it is a “unique” occurrence when a small business actually desires this capability.

Remote Worker: This benefit has more substance for small business than the remote site application. Some small businesses do have remote workers, but again this is still a very small percentage of companies. Another application of this feature is a business owner who wants to stay in touch with his office 24/7. In this case, with VoIP the business owner could have a telephone extension from his office system in his home. However, most small business owners who have the need to always stay in touch find that their cell phone best meets this need. And, most digital key systems offer as a standard feature “remote call forwarding to a cell phone.”

Unified Messaging: This is a big one and has some wallop. At least it used to, until XBLUE launched our email delivery for small business as a standard feature of our XBLUE 45p system. This has virtually eliminated the unified messaging advantage of VoIP systems as the key benefit of UM is delivering VM messages to your email in-box (which we now do).

Some other VoIP benefits are as follows:

System administration: Combines voice and data network administration/programming. This is a big advantage for large businesses but again not too important to a small business. In a large business the IT manager is usually involved in the buying decision and centralized administration is very beneficial as “moves, adds and changes” are required on a daily basis. However, in a small business, this is rarely the case. Once programming is set-up and initialized changes are not very frequent. The “install and walk away” scenario for the small business system market is as true today as it ever was.

Calendar: This feature does not appear to provide any real benefit over Microsoft’s Outlook Calendar which is already prominently utilized.

Call Assistant: Most small businesses do not use a dedicated operator position. In fact, auto attendants are most common to distribute calls in a small business.

Call Queuing: Most digital key systems have some version of this feature as well but it is rarely used since most small businesses do not have a call center.

Now for the benefits of digital key systems:

Call processing features: Today’s digital key systems are loaded with call processing features that have been designed, developed and implemented over many years of experience working directly with customers for their voice needs. VoIP systems, understandably, have not yet caught up. These call processing needs are normally only discovered after an examination of each small businesses unique application. A mistake a new VoIP system customer often makes is they assume the new VoIP system will have all of the same features of their previous phone system. This is obviously not always the case as VoIP is primarily and simply a new call transport technology, not necessarily a better call processing solution.

External interface: Like call processing features these applications have evolved over time and much direct interface with customers. These can range from simple interface needs like analog ports for cordless phones, external page, door phones, physical contacts for external ringing or to open a gate. VoIP systems are beginning to address some of these needs but often some important external interface applications are not yet available.

Line appearances: In the key system market, customers have long preferred to have a direct button access/status for each line. In fact, this benefit is the origin of the name “key system - a key for each line.” Over the years several manufacturers tried to introduce small PBXs (which use line access “pool” keys instead of dedicated line buttons) into the key system space but to little avail. Small business customers like their key telephone with its direct line access and status. Many VoIP systems also “pool” the line keys like a PBX and do not offer a full benefit of direct line access for all lines.

Buttons: Even the manufacturers of key systems have fought this one for years and introduced lower cost phones with fewer buttons but with limited results at best. Customers still want their buttons. A key system mainstay, DSS/BLF station keys, are still prominent as a key benefit of small business telephone systems. Also, having direct access to features via a button is still a big deal; Voice Mail box, Paging, DND, Conference, Redial, Transfer, Headset mode, the list is long and differs in significance by customer. Like the situation with line appearances, most VoIP systems cannot match the digital key systems in this area of importance.

Total Cost of Ownership: There is no avoiding it; despite the claims of VoIP manufacturers the best communications value for a small business is still overwhelmingly a digital key system. The VoIP systems are beginning to get closer, and they will get there someday, but they still have a ways to go.

The Reseller: As a manufacturer or distributor, you can’t sell phone systems unless you have a reseller network of dealers. So far, in the small business space, the reseller is still predominantly the traditional telephony reseller (interconnect), not the data VAR. This dynamic is slowly changing as both the telephony reseller and data VAR begin to “crossover” but there are other reasons for this situation as well.

First of all, the telephony reseller is fully aware of all the issues listed above. Which means they are still convinced that at least for now and the near future, the digital key system is still the best choice for a small business. Add in the fact that the telephony reseller is far more comfortable and knowledgeable with the key system product (and also the key system manufacturer) and this provides a telling summary of the existing landscape.

Also, many data VARs have so far limited their “crossover to voice” efforts to larger business and system opportunities. Many of the smaller independent telephony resellers are still more than willing and able to provide a high level of quality service to the small business market.

In summary, at XBLUE, we embrace both VoIP and existing digital platforms. It’s just that when we had to decide which system would provide the best immediate results for our company, we let the market landscape and related prospects make the decision for us. This led us directly to the digital key system.

Our VoIP system will be released in the next few months which we believe will be excellent timing to offer customers a new choice. By developing and implementing a “balanced technology product plan” our future success is not bound by any specific projection of acceptance of a new technology or particular doctrine. We won’t have to subjectively force either side of the argument as others may to support a more limited R & D plan. And then we will let the market decide; on its own terms and indefinite timing, whatever that may be.

We believe the best approach is to place the prospects of our future success firmly in our commitment to deliver the best value to small business. And, that this absolute goal will become and remain clearly evident as the distinguishing feature and core value of XBLUE.

Zultys, Lambert of Switzerland Debut Microsoft Dynamics CRM Integration

2008-05-12T22:45:00.001-04:00

Software connector modules available immediate for all MS-CRM versions including 'Titan'

SAINT-PREX/FRIBOURG, Switzerland or SUNNYVALE, California -- Lambert Consulting, a IT company that successfully combines the strength and expertise of its team with the experience acquired in infrastructure management and their knowledge and practices in management or business solutions, and Zultys Technologies, the developer and manufacturer of smart communications solutions that are easy to use, deploy and manage, today proudly announce the full-scale integration of the Zultys MX system, its award-winning SIP PBX product line, into the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform.

The integration was performed by Lambert Consulting Sàrl, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for over a decade, utilizing the Zultys MX system?s Telephony API (TAPI) as well as Web services APIs, says Vincent Dupré, IT Developer and Software Engineer at Lambert Consulting. The solution now offers clients a flexible and user-friendly interface to accelerate mission-critical access to vital sales, marketing and customer service information. Incoming calls can be automatically registered and displayed to optimize opportunity management and prospecting or account servicing while outgoing calls can benefit from the wealth of information stored in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

As a result of the remarkable efforts of Lambert Consulting, the two companies are announcing immediate availability of the CTI for MS-CRM Integration module as well as the CTI for MS-CRM Integration Searcher application, which offers advanced callers research capabilities within Microsoft Dynamics CRM through a variety of parameters such as name, telephone numbers, company or e-mail address. Both companies have successfully completed extensive interoperability testing between the two platforms. The modules are already in use or under evaluation with leading customers around the world and support the current iteration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, version 3.0, as well as the upcoming version 4.0, codenamed "Titan."

"This CRM integration milestone represents a significant jumpstart for the application integration capabilities that have long been engineered into the MX250 as well as our entire SIP PBX product line. Through this joint achievement, we have literally given voice to one of the most powerful sales and customer relationship management solutions currently on the market," says Avi Wienrib, President and CEO of Zultys Technologies.

"The Return on Investment can be immediately estimated based on the reduction of time spent per user and per call to find the correct information," says Christophe Lambert, Director of Lambert Consulting.

About Lambert Consulting Sàrl
LAMBERT CONSULTING is an independent software vendor (ISV) certified partner for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Business Solutions and Microsoft Gold Partner established in Saint-Prex and Fribourg in Switzerland. For over 12 years, LAMBERT CONSULTING has developed a recognized expertise in infrastructure and business management, in most technologies associated with Microsoft. The company also implements vertical CRM solution into financial environment. Please visit http://www.lambertconsulting.ch for more details.

About Zultys Technologies
Zultys Technologies is the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises ranging from 10 to 10,000 users. The award-winning architecture of our flagship MX family of standalone servers offers innovative solutions that increase worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standard SIP devices. Zultys is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations around the world. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com.

Contacts:
Christophe Lambert
Lambert Consulting Sàrl
+41 21 806 37 15
clambert@lambertconsulting.ch
www.lambertconsulting.ch

Robert Liu
Zultys Technologies
+1 (408) 328-0450 x726
Bob.Liu@zultys.com
www.zultys.com

Integrate snom with Salesforce

2008-05-12T14:13:00.002-04:00

CTI just got easier! Flexor™ software from Camrivox integrates snom with Salesforce CRM, enabling click-to-dial, contact screen pop-ups, call logging, call reporting and on-screen call control.

Any PBX - hosted or premised based.
Flexor Connect for snom works with any snom 3 series handset deployed within any snom compatible IP PBX environment - hosted or premise based! Simply put as long as there is a snom handset on your desk, then Flexor will make it work with your Salesforce Application. If you are a hosted service provider, it means immediate access to over 1 million Salesforce customers.

No costly servers - just a simple download.
Flexor is straightforward to install. Just download it from the web onto your desktop and let it automatically link your snom handset with your PC for immediate Salesforce CTI - perfect for remote workers and small offices with limited IT support resources.

No Independent Call Logging systems - just Salesforce.
If you're not using Salesforce combined with Flexor CTI, then you're not making the most of your CRM investment. Flexor helps improve your Salesforce ROI by incorporating telephony within Salesforce, removing the need for third party call logging solutions. Flexor CTI enables you to publish telephony reports, manage sales activities and review contact history all from Salesforce - time and money saved!

Flexor - solutions for the On Demand world.
Flexor works within the existing snom environment making it is simple to deploy, simple to understand and low cost. This makes Flexor ideal for smaller offices, remote workers, “home shoring” organizations and Hosted Internet Telephony Service Providers looking to deliver total packages that integrate with CRM but are wary of the burden of install and support.

Click-to-dial & Screen pop ups!
Flexor drives greater efficiency from Salesforce & snom by activating click-to-dial and contact pop-up screens while users can activate outbound calls simply by clickin on the contact's number.

Call Control and Transfer
With Flexor on screen call control at your finger tips you can manage calls simply, including call-on-hold and call-transfer, all from the Salesforce web interface.

Call Logging & Reporting
Users can set Flexor to log all calls in the contact history for customer tracking and management reporting. This is the source of all of your telephony reports and activity monitoring dashboards.

Dialing Plans
Flexor's adaptable dial plan management program overcomes the problems that may arise from using different PBX’s in different countries. Completed in just a few clicks, it is a simple and intuitive process for the end user and ideal for those traveling.

Are You Ready For VoIP?

2008-05-07T23:34:00.012-04:00

General Information
November 23, 2007 • Vol.29 Issue 47

SMEs Are Ramping Up For The Big Move

If only Voice over IP systems were easy to snap into the small to midsized enterprise. While we may not be far away from the perfect VoIP world, the technology is getting closer, as SMEs move toward replacing existing PBX systems or mixing both systems together. So how do you break your SME into the VoIP side of enterprise communications? How do you know your network is ready for VoIP? And what questions should you ask before implementing VoIP?

Chad Agate, co-founder and CEO of NeoPhonetics (http://www.neophonetics.com/), says SMEs are moving toward VoIP systems for good reason. He says SMEs are interested in VoIP for two reasons. First, SMEs understand the total cost of management savings associated with migrating to VoIP systems. Second, SMEs can uniquely benefit from the productivity gains associated with unified communications.

Agate says, “Unfortunately, smaller businesses that want to achieve both significant savings and advanced unified communications have limited options in the market today because incremental licensing fees associated with additional users and additional features can make complete IP PBX systems more expensive than anticipated.” He says the combination of wanting to maximize cost savings and achieve better unified communications is leading some SMEs to open-source IP PBX solutions.

Michael Kirchhoff, senior convergence engineer at Alliant DataTel in Atlanta (http://www.goalliant.net/), says medium-sized businesses are ready to make the move to VoIP. Alliant DataTel is a reseller for Zultys Technologies (http://www.zultys.com/), a California-based communications solution manufacturer. Kirchhoff says Zultys has had great successes since August 2004 focusing almost exclusively on VoIP solutions for its clients. “The greatest successes,” he says, “have been multisite companies with clearly defined IT personnel who are able to support VoIP. The failures have been very small companies not having the budget and staff to support and understand the technology.”

Ready Or Not

So how can SMEs tell if their networks are ready for VoIP? Kirchhoff says for starters, many VoIP technology prospects do not fully understand the necessary requirements to get ready for VoIP. He says many refuse to admit the necessity for backend upgrades, as well. Agate, on the other hand, says while these requirements may seem technical to some, increasingly, he is finding that some organizations meet them whether they realize it or not.

Agate says networks need three basic features to be VoIP ready. “First,” he says, “the cabling infrastructure must be Category 5 or better to adequately handle voice traffic. Second, the network switches must have PoE (Power over Ethernet), Quality of Service, and virtual local-area networks to create prioritization for voice traffic and to be able to carry voice traffic if electricity is interrupted. Finally, the network must have 80Kbps of bandwidth for every concurrent phone call your business needs to make.”

Network evaluations also play a key role in SME VoIP system readiness. But Agate recommends keeping things simple. He says, “For example, we provide a simple remote network evaluation that simulates voice traffic across a network that only takes less than an hour. After this evaluation is complete, a business can rest assured they are ready for VoIP.” Agate says if not, NeoPhonetics provides the specific steps that are necessary to get ready for VoIP. Kirchhoff says as part of the evaluation process, it’s important for any SME to have the ability to support VLANs (virtual LANs) and Quality of Service.

Upgrades also play a key part for SMEs looking to move to VoIP systems. Kirchhoff says SMEs should not be without managed switches and enterprise VPN devices supporting telephony feature sets. The good news here, Agate says, is that the majority of SMEs he sees already have enough bandwidth and Category 5 cabling to handle VoIP. He says a clear majority also tends to have a number of network switches with QoS, VLAN, and PoE capability, but generally, SMEs need to purchase some number of additional switches or routers with these features to ensure a quality VoIP deployment.

Answered Questions

Agate says without a doubt the single most important question to answer is: What is your organization trying to achieve with VoIP? He says, “Too often, organizations begin trying to achieve specific cost savings and then decide to invest larger sums in advanced unified communications capabilities. Understanding how your organization will use its new communications capabilities will help keep the focus on the correct balance between new features and cost savings.” He says before considering a solution or vendor, an organization must understand the level of expertise and service it will need from outside integration experts.

According to Agate, too many small to medium-sized enterprises select a solution that is adequate for immediate needs, but they do not consider the horizon in terms of how long they will be using their solution of choice. He notes, “Organizations that consider their expansion and business process integration needs over the next three to five years make better decisions about which solutions and vendors to select.”

by Chris A. MacKinnon

http://www.goalliant.net/

Zultys Adds Support for Aastra SIP Phones

2008-05-07T23:14:00.015-04:00

As of version 4.0 of its market leading MX line of telephone systems, Zultys has added support for Aastra SIP telephones including Aastra's new 5 series phones.

Aastra 57i Phone

Aastra 5 series phones are high quality and high technology from the ground up. The 57i's (shown above) features include 12 programmable buttons, 4 call appearances, an XML programming API, and a robust full-duplex speakerphone.

Busy Lamp Field Buttons

Busy Lamp Field (BLF) is the original "Presence on a Button" feature that has been popular with receptionists and executive/executive assistant pairs for many years. Aastra also uses this type of button as a "Shared Appearence" such that calls for a user can optionally ring and be answered by users with that user's BLF button on their phone.BLF buttons are programmed on the Zultys system straight from the Admin User Interface and are automatically added to the phones. Zultys also supports Aastra's "sidecar" modules to add more buttons to phone.

XML Applications

Aastra's XML Application programming interface gives developers the ability to target vertical markets by allowing them to extend the phones' button functionality to interact with data from network sources such as databases and web sites.

INTERNET TELEPHONY® Magazine's Awards Zultys its 2007 Product of the Year Award

2008-05-06T08:33:00.002-04:00

MX Version 3.2 Recognized as Outstanding Innovation

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Zultys Technologies, the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions for small to medium size businesses and enterprises ranging from 10 to 10,000 users, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation's (TMC®) INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has named the MX SIP PBX running Software Version 3.2 as a recipient of its 2007 Product of the Year Award. INTERNET TELEPHONY has been the VoIP Authority Since 1998.
"Zultys has proven they are committed to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace. INTERNET TELEPHONY is pleased to grant a 2007 Product of the Year Award to the MX system," said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Editor-in-Chief of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. "We're proud to honor their hard work and accomplishments and look forward to more innovative solutions in the future."
Released in September 2007, MX Software Version 3.2 represents a significant upgrade for the award-winning MX30 and MX250 IP PBX systems. Among its most relevant functional enhancements include:
Z-Connect (NAT Traversal for SIP) - Supports remote users to connecting directly to the MX phone system without the need to set up a complex VPN or other specialized network configuration. For information on NAT Traversal for SIP can be found in a White Paper available via the Zultys Knowledge Base System (http://kbs.zultys.com).
Third-party phone integration - This enables tighter integration (paging, park, pick-up, provisioning and busy lamp indication) with third-party SIP phones manufactured by leading companies like Aastra Telecom and Polycom.
Software Patch Manager - The installation, removal and management of firmware patches for MX products are now facilitated through the MX Admin UI. This represents a major advantage for VARs, end users, and anyone responsible for maintaining the MX product by making it easy to keep the operating software at its most current level. For more details please refer to the Patch Manager White Paper available via the Zultys KBS.
"This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the applications, products and features integration enabled by a standard-based platform like our MX system. In the weeks to come, we plan to further demonstrate the engineering prowess that serves as the foundation of this company," said Avi Wienrib, Chairman and CEO, Zultys Technologies.
A full list of Product of the Year winners will be published in the February, 2008 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. (www.itmag.com) For more information about TMC, please visit www.tmcnet.com.
About INTERNET TELEPHONY magazineINTERNET TELEPHONY has been the VoIP Authority since 1998. Since the first issue in February of 1998, INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has been providing unbiased views of the complicated converged communications space. INTERNET TELEPHONY offers rich content from solutions-focused editorial content to reviews on products and services from TMC Labs. INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has a circulation of 225,000 including pass-along readers. For more information, please visit www.itmag.com.
About TMCTechnology Marketing Corporation (TMC) publishes Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Unified Communications, and IMS Magazine. TMCnet, TMC's Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. Ranked in the top 6,000 most visited Web sites in the world by alexa.com*, TMCnet serves as many as three million unique visitors each month. TMC is also the first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories, TMC Labs. In addition, TMC produces INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, and Call Center 2.0 Conference. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com. (*alexa.com is an amazon.com company that ranks Web sites by their traffic levels. Neither alexa.com nor amazon.com is affiliated with TMCnet.) For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.
About Zultys TechnologiesZultys Technologies is the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises ranging from 10 to 10,000 users. The award-winning standalone design of the MX product line offers innovative solutions that increase worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standard SIP devices. Zultys is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the world. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com.
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Contacts:Robert LiuZultys Technologies(408) 328-0450 ext. 726Bob.Liu@zultys.com www.zultys.com
Jan PierretTMC203-852-6800, ext. 228 jpierret@tmcnet.com

Zultys Technologies Closes New Round of Financing

2008-05-05T22:07:00.003-04:00

Zultys Technologies is pleased to share exciting news with its valued distributors, VARs and customers. Equity ownership has been consolidated under the control of the private investment group that's been overseeing operations since the restructuring in 2006. This new round of financing will assist Zultys in funding its next wave of growth and expansion.
Zultys has proven its value not only an investment but as a strong company, providing products and services with global appeal. The investors and employees of Zultys thank Mr. Avi Wienrib for his leadership over the past 18 months that has positioned Zultys for the next surge of growth. We wish Mr. Wienrib all the best as he pursues his lifelong interests in the field of hi-tech manufacturing.

With the transfer of ownership, plans are underway to escalate Zultys to the next level. The schedules for product development for new offerings and engineering on the existing MX product line are fast-tracked. Focused activity to expand our distribution channels are at the forefront of our Sales and Marketing efforts.

"This new round of investment clearly demonstrates the long-term viability of our business model and go-to-market strategy that's built around our truly unique technology offering. As SIP continues to make inroads into businesses, enterprises and organizations around the world, we also continue to grow and will plan accordingly to expand into new market segments and geographic regions. This additional funding will go a long way toward ensuring our plans come to fruition," said Vladimir Movshovich, VP of Technology at Zultys.

Zultys’ worldwide community welcomes this news, and anticipates our continued growth and expansion to enhance market presence and profitability for its many partners worldwide.
About Zultys TechnologiesZultys Technologies is the premier developer and manufacturer of pure SIP communication solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises ranging from 10 to 10,000 users. The award-winning architecture of our flagship MX family of standalone servers offers innovative solutions that increase worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standard SIP devices. Zultys is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations around the world. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com/.

Zultys, Aastra Telecom Reach OEM Pact to Delivery Next Wave of ZIP Phones

2008-04-25T00:01:00.007-04:00

Aastra 5i Series Expands Flexibility of Zultys MX Line by Achieving Full Interoperability

SUNNYVALE, California, USA or CONCORD, Ontario, Canada – Aastra Telecom, a leading provider of traditional and VoIP communication products and systems, and Zultys Technologies, a pioneer of pure SIP-based communication solutions for small to midsized businesses and enterprises ranging from 10 to 10,000 users, today announced the two companies have reached a strategic original equipment manufacturing (OEM) arrangement, demonstrating full interoperability between Aastra's 5i series and Zultys' line of Media eXchange servers, the MX250 and MX30 systems.

"In Zultys, we are delighted to find a SIP PBX partner that shares our core underlying philosophy that open standards should afford customers an easy-to-use, cost-effective communications solution that offers the maximum flexibility," says John Drolet, Vice President of Sales at Aastra Telecom USA.

The milestone represents the successful conclusion of extensive validation testing involving the Aastra 5i Series, which consists of a line of advanced SIP-based desktop and wireless telephones and expansion modules:
· 51i - Entry level single line set with 3 line/16 character display and 9 configurable speed dial keys using the number keypad
· 53i - Featured set with 3 line/16 character display and 4 programmable keys; compatible with up to three 536M expansion modules
· 55i - Advanced Featured set with 144 x 75 backlit LCD display, up to 26 programmable function capability; compatible with up to three 560M or 536M expansion modules
· 57i - Full Featured set with 144 x 128 backlit LCD display, up to 30 programmable function capability; compatible with up to three 560M or 536M expansion modules
· 57i CT - All the features of the Aastra 57i plus integrated cordless base providing VoIP mobility employing secure 2.4GHz Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum technology
· 536M - Expansion Module with 36 programmable keys
· 560M - Expansion Module with LCD Screen and 60 programmable keys
When paired with the latest build of Zultys' MX software (version 3.2 or higher), this robust combination gives enterprise and SMB customers the added flexibility to choose from a wide range of open standards-based IP desktop and wireless solutions. MX software tightly integrates a suite of predefined critical features, including the so-called "Four P's" – that is, Paging, Parking, Pick-Up and Provisioning.

"The handsets are extraordinarily flexible and can serve as the foundation to any robust enterprise solution – whether fixed or mobile. Customers have praised their voice quality, phenomenal range and roaming capabilities in both indoor and outdoor installations," says Van Gravlee, President of cyberjoes.com, a Fayette, AL-based IT consultant that is both a Zultys Certified Sales Specialist (ZCSS) and a certified reseller of Aastra.
As a result, Zultys will soon make available the following additions to its portfolio of award-winning phones: the ZIP 53i, ZIP 55i, ZIP 57i, ZIP 57i CT as well as the ZIP 536m and ZIP 560m expansion modules. Under the terms of the OEM arrangement, those phones will be rebranded by Zultys and made available to its distributors and resellers.

"The addition of the Aastra 5i Series to our Zultys community creates a truly unique opportunity for organizations of all size migrating to pure IP or a converged IP environment. This further reinforces our commitment to offering customers unprecedented freedom of choice in finding a solution that is perfectly suited to meet their needs," explains Jonna Paquette, VP of Sales and Marketing at Zultys.

About Aastra Telecom
Aastra Telecom is a North American business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited ("Aastra"), a global company at the forefront of the Enterprise Communication market. Headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, Aastra develops and delivers innovative and integrated solutions that address the communication needs of businesses small and large around the world. Aastra enables Enterprises to communicate and collaborate more efficiently and effectively by offering customers a full range of open standard IP-based and traditional communications networking products, including terminals, systems, and applications. For additional information on Aastra, visit our website at http://www.aastra.com/
Aastra® is a registered trademark of Aastra Technologies Limited.

About Zultys Technologies
Zultys Technologies is the pioneer of pure SIP communication solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises ranging from 10 to 10,000 users. The award-winning standalone server design of the MX family offers innovative solutions that increase worker productivity, scalability for future growth and investment protection, and interoperability with industry standard SIP devices. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations around the world. For more information on Zultys as well as our products and solutions, please visit: http://www.zultys.com/.
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Contacts:
Steve Hawkins
Aastra Telecom
+1 905.760.4251
shawkins@aastra.com

Robert Liu
Zultys Technologies
+1 408-328-0450 x726
Bob.Liu@zultys.com
http://www.zultys.com/

http://www.goalliant.net/

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)	X
SIP is the real-time communication protocol for VoIP. SIP is a signaling protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, presence, events notification (emergency calling) and instant messaging. SIP...more

Internet Protocol (IP)	X
IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data in packets over the Internet. I...more

Wide Area Network (WAN)	X
A WAN is a Wide Area Network. A LAN is a Local Area Network. A CAN is a Campus Area Network. A BAN is a Building Area Network. A MAN is a Metropolitan Area Network. Each Area Network often but not...more

Private Branch Exchange (PBX)	X
Originally, telephone features were provided by telephone central office switching systems, often called CENTREX. PBX systems emerged as customers wanted to have more calling features and control over...more

Voice over IP (VoIP)	X
A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more