Zultys has done it again! Zultys 6.0 Version is here and the new features are amazing and will change the way you do business.

Zultys pledges to have two major releases a year. Here is a list of features that have been released with Version 6.0.

Zultys 6.0 Outlook and Salesforce.com Communicator

The Zultys Outlook and Salesforce.com Communicator Module provides close integration between the Zultys IP phone system and the application. Full Call control from within the application including Inbound Screen Pop, Hold, Transfer, Call Notes, and Click-to-Call from the CRM record.

Zultys 6.0 Active Directory/LDAP Integration

This allows the MX to integrate into enterprise environments that require authentication through Active Directory/LDAP. This simplifies administration with a single password for Windows and MXIE.

Zultys 6.0 MXIE MXvideo

Integrated Point to Point HD Video enabled through MXIE. With a single click, MXIE users may seamlessly move from instant messaging to Voice, and add video for a complete unified communications experience.

Zultys 6.0 MXreports

MXreports is a Crystal style reporting application. Run reports on Service Levels, Abandon Calls, and all detail information to accurately run a call center correctly.

Zultys 6.0 MXmobile Enhancements

MXmobile (Blackberry Application) now has call control built into the application. This includes: Call Transfer, Call Park, Call Hold.

Zultys 6.0 Message Escalation

Zultys Message Escalation provides the ability to notify multiple contact points via call and/or email in a user defined sequence following receipt of new voice mail or fax message. This is ideally suited for companies where prompt and reliable delivery is to meet service commitments when acknowledgement of customer messages regardless of time of day.

Zultys 6.0 ZIP 5 Feature Enhancements

Release 6.0 brings new features and functionality to the ZIP 5 Zultys Phones. This includes Busy Lamp Fields, Park Slot Monitor, Multiple Message Waiting Indicators, and Group login via single-button press.

So how does Zultys stack up against a ShoreTel system?   We will look at how Zultys compares to the ShoreTel in regards to platform, capabilities, and features.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:   Platform

The ShoreTel has a variety of pieces that may be required to complete your configuration.  It essentially is comprised of a core system device and then you add additional devices to expand capacity and features.  Expanding capacity for users, Adding additional PRI or T1 card are all separate devices.  Not to mention all of the additional Windows servers that you will need to run applications like Unified Communications, Call Center, Call Recording, Conferencing, and so forth.  The problem with this is that you can end up with a ton of equipment to complete your implementation and that means that you have to manage and maintain all of this hardware.  This also means for ShoreTel that it is extremely cost prohibitive to be redundant as you would have to have 2 pieces of all of this equipment and servers.    This also becomes cumbersome to maintain as every time you upgrade to a new software version you have to upgrade all of these pieces of hardware.  In fact this was such a complaint that they now allow you to upgrade to the next level and the other equipment can be 1 release back so you only have to upgrade all your equipment every 2 upgrades.

ShoreTel talks about their 99.999% availability but what they don’t tell you is that their N+1only covers  their base unit and so you are only redundant on a single piece of hardware and not on the whole system.

The Zultys MX 250 is an all inclusive 2U Linux based appliance that performs virtually everything on box.  Voicemail, Automated Attendant, Unified Communications, Fax Server, Full Call Recording, Web Applications, IVR, Cellular Integrations, Video, Client Applications, Conference Manager and on and on.    The Zultys support 60 Sip Trunks and 250 users on a single appliance.  As you grow the MX 250 devices cluster in up to a 4 +1 cluster.    This provides seamless growth and gets us to redundancy.  The Zultys MX 250 can be set up in an N+1 so that you can gain 100% redundancy with 1 device.  Now that is great engineering and radical simplicity.  ShoreTel shows in thier documentation a typical installation and it shows Multiple Vice Switches, Voice mail server, Call Center Server, Mobility Router and a VPN concentrator.   7 Pieces of equipment to buy, manage and maintain!     The Zultys, just 1.  It the ShoreTel is "Brilliantly Simple"  with 7 pieces of hardware then what does that make Zultys?  Perfection in a Box?     Zultys vs. ShoreTel platform:  This one definitely goes to Zultys

Zultys vs. ShoreTel: SIP vs. MGCP

ShoreTel is based on MGCP which means that ShoreTel Phones are Proprietary and can only be used on a ShoreTel system.  The ShoreTel phones are very functional with integrated buttons and directories but the Zultys phones can do this as well and they are based upon the industry standard SIP protocol.  Thus the Zultys can run virtually any SIP compliant phone and this reduces costs and opens up the entire industry for additional solutions and applications.  This is probably the most important difference in the two platforms as the ShoreTel is proprietary and the Zultys is based upon SIP standards.  Now ShoreTel will try to say that they support SIP as well and they do at a very minimal level, but they will charge you to put other manufacturers phones on their system and it will have such a limited feature set that you want to.  The Zultys on the other hand has even provided built in configurations for many of the popular SIP phones on the market.

On the dial tone side it will be hard to find a ShoreTel Dealer that wants you to run SIP dial tone as they require a Siperator device (more hardware).  They will tell you that SIP is not ready but frankly it is the ShoreTel that is simply not ready for SIP.  Since the system is not SIP based the Siperator has to translate the packets in to something the ShoreTel will understand.  The cost of a 60 Sip path Siperator is typically 6K where this is a standard feature on the Zultys with no cost!  The Zultys is SIP standard and works perfectly with SIP providers.  You can place a T-1/E-1/PRI card or other local cards in the system but most installations use SIP and this provides better features, lower costs, and better redundancy than traditional dial tone.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel/ SIP vs. MGCP:  SIP and Zultys win for simplicity, lower cost and better design.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  Desktop Applications

The ShoreTel provides 5 different levels of their desktop client and 1 mobile application.  Personal access, Professional Access, Agent Access, Supervisor Access, Operator Access and then the mobile application Mobile Access.     This is a very confusing and complicated licensing structure that is hard to manage and very expensive.   The Zultys MXIE desktop application is an all in one Desktop application and you simply assign what rights you want that user to have.  Integrated Soft phone, full presence, Video, Tapi, Call Center, Supervisor, Live View, Conference manager and more are all built in to 1 easy to use application.  Now that is great engineering and radical simplicity again.  Not to mention that the Zultys MXIE client is available on Windows, Mac and Linux.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  Sorry ShoreTel but again this goes to Zultys.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:   Remote Users

On the surface they both provide Cellular client applications that are very good.  They both can remotely connect to any phone anywhere and use it as you extension.  Where the Zultys stands out is that there is no need for a VPN to support a hard phone.  They ShoreTel system requires one of two VPN Concentrator devices (more equipment/more cost) to support 10 or 100 remote hard phones.    Again this is another piece of equipment required in order for you to place a hard phone at a remote location.    The Zultys on the other hand has a built in Session Border Controller that will rewrite the packets to get around NAT(network address translation) so there is no need for external VPN or VPN clients on the phones.  Again the Zultys is SIP standard and placing remote users off of the system is easier and more reliable.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel Remote Users:  Zultys wins again.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  Multiple Site Applications

Both Zultys and ShoreTel do a great job of connecting multiple sites.  The Zultys will be easier to deploy and bring a few extra features.  Both systems will provide a unified dialing plan for calling extensions.   Both systems also provide the ability to reroute calls to another location for fail over as well.  However if you have all of your call center, call recording and so forth on servers at the main site and it fails,  you are not likely to have duplicated those at your remote sites and all of those capabilities will go down on the ShoreTel.  Another place that the Zultys MX 250 will stand out is on the desktop application.  The MXIE desktop provides call control and other advanced applications like Instant Messaging.  When two Zultys systems are Grouped together all of the features become universal between the locations.  The Zultys provides Chat between locations, presence notification of all users in all locations and provides a unified call center application where agents can log in from any site or location.  ShoreTel requires an external server to handle Chat support between locations (more equipment/more cost), and they currently have a maximum of only a few hundred presence notifications.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  This goes to Zultys as well.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:   Unified Communications

Both ShoreTel and Zultys have Outlook Integration clients that provide excellent integration.  Both systems can also provide voicemail to any email address.  The Zultys however has integrated Fax with inbound Fax to the desktop and outbound fax from the desktop supported as a standard features on the system.  The ShoreTel can integrate with external fax servers but these are costly 3^rd party applications.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel Unified Communications:  The Zultys provides a more complete and cost effective Unified communications solution.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel: Conferencing

The Zultys can provide up to 30 parties of conferencing on box with a scheduling conference manger on a single MX 250 system.    The ShoreTel  can support from 4-24 depending what voice switch you purchase for meet me but in order to do scheduled you need ShoreTel Service Appliance 100.   The Service Appliance 100 provides the ability to include Web conferencing desktop sharing and so forth.  The Zultys provides Web conferencing through the integrated MX Meeting and the Zultys and ShoreTel are very comparable in feature and capabilities, but the MX Meeting is a fraction of the cost and starts with a 2 room 10 user capacities for less that 2k vs. the ShoreTel at 12k.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel Conferencing:  Zultys wins due to a more cost effective integrated solution.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel: Licensing

The ShoreTel system has tons of separate and individual licenses.  For users you have to pick from 3 separate types:  Mailbox only, Extensions Only and Combo and each have separate capabilities.  The Desktop Software has over 5 varieties of software licenses and it becomes cumbersome to match these up to users as their needs change over time.  The Zultys has just 1 User License and just 1 desktop application that you then assign the rights to your users.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel licensing:  Zultys wins for a simple and more cost effective licensing model.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  Call Recording

ShoreTel provides the standard push a button to begin a call recording and you can add the option to record only external calls that get dumped in to a users mailbox but this typically does not meet the needs of a call center as it would be too cumbersome to try to access the call recordings in each user’s personal mailbox.  For call centers ShoreTel is typically using 3^rd party call recording products.    The Zultys however has an amazing DVR style recording so that when you press the record on the phone or click it in the MXIE software it actually goes back to the beginning of the call and you will have the entire conversation in your mailbox!  It is amazing.  Normally you want to record what just happened and the Zultys allows you to do this perfectly.  The system can also record all users full time based upon the recording profile that you assign them to.  The Zultys also provides the ability to record internal calls as well.  Recordings are stored locally and then if you choose you they can be automatically archived to long term storage per your definitions.  Zultys vs. ShoreTel Call Recording:  Zultys again wins for better call recording capabilities and lower cost.

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  Voice Mail Escalation

If it is important for you to know that your employees are checking their voicemail boxes then this is the feature for you.  The Zultys will allow you to set up escalation lists and after a pre determined period of time if they have not been listened to the voicemail can escalate to whomever you choose and even provide email notification.  This is an amazing feature and ShoreTel does not provide anything like it.  Zultys can even provide this information to an external database where you can track and report on voicemail access and use by your employees.    Zultys vs. ShoreTel Voice Mail Escalation:  Zultys wins

Zultys vs. ShoreTel:  Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

It is amazing to me how ShoreTel markets all over the internet that they have the lowest TCO and they even have guarantee to match any providers costs so long as you are Cisco, Avaya, or Mitel.    They obviously did not want Zultys on the list because if a ShoreTel is configured as closely as possible to an apples to apples feature comparison the ShoreTel is typically 30-50% more expensive on the initial purchase,  30-40% more on a yearly maintenance, and requires more time to manage due to its more complicated licensing, & design.    Many companies are starting to recognize this fact and are moving away from ShoreTel because of the high cost to maintain.  Here is a case study on Martin Engineering that saved 50% over ShoreTel on maintenance by deploying a Zultys.   Read the Case Study

These are just a few of the many advantages that Zultys provides. 

Learn More in Zultys Vs. ShoreTel  Part 2

and Zultys vs. ShoreTel Part 3

Contact Intellisys to learn more about what Zultys can do for you.

As President of Intellisys I wanted to take just a moment to tell you why I truly LOVE Zultys.    I know you may think this is strange to say this about a manufacturer but we have truly come to love the Company and the products that Zultys Delivers.

The Company

The company is always only as good as the people and Zultys has great people.   Zultys has a philosophy to provide their solutions based upon standards in the industry.   Where their competitors like Shoretel, Cisco, and Avaya all use proprietary VoIP protocols the Zultys MX 250 uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) which is the standard in the industry.  Thus there is no need for expensive proprietary phones and this protects you the customer from being tied in to only the solutions and products that these proprietary manufacturers provide.  Zultys can support virtually any SIP device and thus we have virtually no limit to the solutions that we can deliver.   The management team at Zultys is aggressive and I have never seen a harder working team.  They are solely focused on continually developing the product and listening to the needs of their customers.  Intellisys has been blessed to be part of Zultys dealer council and we continually work with them    Zultys does what other telecom companies don’t in that they work very closely with their dealer channel to deliver the specific needs of their customers.  Zultys has worked with us time after time to write custom applications to meet the specific needs of our customers.    With other manufacturers you get what you get and with Zultys we get what we ask for.   In fact in the process of writing this blog I just received and email from Vladimir the CTO at Zultys and he has a new version of call center software that he has been working on with some amazing enhancements that he is creating for a customer of ours.  He promised it to me in 30 days and we are at day 14 and I have it in my hands tonight.  See what I mean!  This is just the type of company that Zultys is and why we LOVE working with them.

The Products

We have never seen a more reliable solution than the Zultys MX 250.  Our engineers love the Zultys product because it virtually never has issues and should one ever arise we get immediate response from support and engineering to resolve it.    We had a customer report and issue with the client application at about 2pm in the afternoon and Zultys engineers had found the issue and had delivered a fix for the problem that same day.    I have never seen such an amazing engineering team and such fast response.    I know what you’re thinking that they already had seen the issue and had already created a fix but that is not true.  They had never seen the problem and yet within hours they had isolated and created a fix for the issue and delivered it to us.    They are just that good and I continue to be amazed at their abilities.

Because the Zultys is a SIP standard solution and they also use standard databases we can truly integrate the Zultys with our customer’s data to create true solutions for our customers.    While our competitors sell phone systems we sell integrated businesses solutions!    We can easily read your databases to intelligently route your clients to the information and people that they need most.   Our Powerful IVR applications can save huge amounts of your staff’s time and dramatically improve your customer’s satisfaction with your company.

ALL IN ONE DESIGN

The Zultys is an ALL in One product.  That’s right no windows servers or multiple pieces of equipment to individual applications EVERTHING IS ON BOX.  Call Recording, Voice Mail, IVR, Call Center, Instant Messaging, Fax Server, Cellular Applications, Custom Reporting,  Client Applications, CRM integrations and much more is all in this amazing appliance.  Where our competitors like Shoretel will have multiple servers for Fax, Video, Unified Communications, Call Center and so forth the Zultys represents Radical Simplicity and can provide everything on a single MX 250 appliance that runs on less power than a 75 watt light bulb  This is why we are typically 20-30% less than our competitors!.   We just done need all of that extra equipment and failure points.

REDUNDANCY

Due to the all in one design the Zultys can achieve full redundancy by adding a second MX 250 in a Cluster or N+1 configuration.  The Cluster allows the Zultys to grow by clustering MX250 appliances.  Then you can also add an N+1 box for 100% redundancy on the hardware.

UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS

We also gain dramatic improvements in business communications with our powerful Unified Communications solutions to integrate Voice, Video, Chat, and Web Conferencing all into a single application.     These powerful features will truly change the way you do business and certainly how you communicate.   With all of these powerful communication methods at your fingertips in a simple and easy to use desktop client application you will see huge improvements in your company communication.

CALL CENTERS

Call Center features are also built in to the Zultys MX platforms.  Zultys recently took their call center offerings to the next level with their new Custom Reporting Tool and Superview live Display!  The custom reporting tool allows you to simply click on every reportable field to build a custom report of the exact data that you want to see.  It is so easy to use and in just minutes you can grab the exact data that you need to manage your call center staff and even have it sent to you via email whenever you choose.

The new Superview creates a single view that shows supervisors all of the call center data in a single screen.  No more managing multiple windows to try to see agents, the calls in Queue and statistics.  The new Superview is a powerful tool for call center mangers to quickly see the entire center and critical data in a single screen.

ARCHIVING

The Zultys provides built in archiving for long term storage of Voice Mail, Faxes, Instant Messages, Call Recordings, Configuration files and more.    This is key for companies that need to store this critical information over long periods of time.   Again this is stored in a standard SQL database and many of our clients have written their CRM’s to pull data out of this database to present call histories and call recordings to their employees so they can have critical information to assist their clients with.

I could go on and on about individual features but I will simply invite you to see a demonstration of the product at your place of business. Call us to schedule a demo.

INTELLISYS SERVICE

My final note is about our service.  Intellisys Managed Phone System services provide 24x7x365 access to knowledgeable engineers to assist you.  You will feel the difference when you work with our service staff and I personally guarantee that you will have a great experience or your service is free.

Thanks for taking time to read this and I hope it gives you a sense of why we are in LOVE with Zultys.

Voice Over Internet Protocol or VoIP is best explained as a communication language.  Just like people speak a variety of different languages computers do as well.

Internet Protocol is the language that the Internet speaks.   The internet is simply a communication network just like the Interstate freeway system and roads that you travel everyday in a car.    The internet has addresses that tell the information where to go and how to get there.  Rather than using States, Cities and street names the internet uses an address that is a series of numbers.  There are external addresses for other companies to find your network, and there are internal addresses that you use for computers in your same company to communicate with.

Companies will use what is called a Firewall to separate information within the company and to only allow the information from outside sources that they choose.  The firewall is essentially a traffic cop that chooses what traffic to let in and out of the network.

An IP address looks something like this 00.00.00.000 with a series of numbers separated with a Dot or a Period.

Voice over Internet Protocol is simply taking your voice, converting it to an electronic signal and then sending it over the internet in the language that it understands.

What makes this a great technology is that now we can communicate with other people anywhere they have an internet connection.    We can now connect multiple offices, remote teleworkers, virtually anywhere.

VoIP is also being leveraged by companies to reduce telecom expenses like long distance and dial tone with SIP Dial Tone.  There are even Hosted Phone Systems that allow you to simply rent the technology from a provider.

VoIP is truly a powerful tool for business and has proven to be reliable and secure so long as it is deployed correctly.   Just like anything else there is a right way and a wrong way to deploy VoIP and working with a professional team to create the right solution is critical.

Many companies make the mistake when deploying their Business Phone Systems of signing up for SIP dial tone from providers that send calls across the open internet and that are not configured to control the quality of the call.  When this is done users are likely to experience poor call quality.  Again this is not a problem with VoIP just with the way it was deployed.

VoIP Business Phone Systems can dramatically reduce cost and provide powerful connectivity and productivity tools to your business.

What is "SIP" (Session Initiation Protocol)?

I like to think of SIP like a language. Just like you may speak English, Spanish, or French, computers also speak a variety of languages and communicate with those specific rules of communication. SIP or Session Initiation Protocol was created to bring a standard set of communication rules to Voice Over Internet Protocol or VoIP so that there was a standard for sending your voice across the internet.

Why is SIP Important?

When VoIP first began all of the Business Phone System manufacturers created their own communication languages for their specific products. Cisco created "Skinny" protocol; others like Shoretel used MGCP and other communication languages. This is why you can't take a Cisco Skinny phone and put it on a Shoretel and a Shoretel MGCP phone and put it on a Cisco. They can only communicate with their own proprietary phones and equipment and are not designed to interoperate with other equipment. The advantage for these corporations of being proprietary is that your customers can only purchase equipment and services from them. This maintains higher margins for these companies and it also means that when you purchase their products you are locked in to what they provide.

Because there were so many different languages being used their began to be a need for systems to communicate together and long story short the SIP protocol was ratified as the standard that the industry would use. Although many of the proprietary manufacturers are still using their proprietary protocols they are having to develop their products to use SIP as the entire industry has moved this direction.

Intellisys believes that our customers get the best value, flexibility, and that they protect their investments by adhering to standards like SIP. This is why the products and services that we provide are standards based.

Zultys is a SIP Standard Business Phone System platform and is a great example of this as we can put virtually any SIP Standard phone on to a Zultys platform. This allows us to look at hundreds of models of phones and applications that can meet your specific needs and design a solution to meet those needs.

SIP platforms are typically less expensive as well because they have more market competition.

Over the term of the investment SIP standard platforms will provide the best value and flexibility.