500

Zultys Inc., our technical partner for 500 Premises, announced today that the award-winning MXIE™ Unified Communications client has been certified as “Compatible with Windows 7” by Microsoft and has earned the Windows 7 logo. The MXIE desktop client inte­grates and manages all of your communications functions. It lets you see the presence status of oth­ers in your company, send emails, control all your phone calls via desktop phones or a softphone, send and receive faxes, send secure Instant Messages and voice messages, use Visual Voicemail, launch a collaborative MXmeeting™ web conference session, and much more – all with a single mouse click.

“We know there’s incredible interest in the Enterprise sector for deploying Windows 7. By working with Microsoft as a Certified Microsoft Partner, Zultys’ Unified Communications solutions are ready to support the ramp-up in Windows 7 deployments we expect to see this year,” said Vladimir Movshovich, CTO of Zultys. “We are confident that Zultys’ family of IP PBX and Unified Communications products and solutions will provide companies the advanced Unified Communications features they need across Windows 7 to increase productivity, improve customer service and grow profitability.”

MXIE now supports users on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as all other major operating systems for desktops and laptops.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys Inc. announced recently that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC®) INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has named the Zultys end-to-end Unified Communications solution for SMBs and Enterprises as a recipient of its 2009 Product of the Year Award.

“We’re honored to be recognized by Internet Telephony magazine with the 2009 Product of the Year Award for the Zultys Unified Communications solution that’s providing companies worldwide with a competitive edge,” said Neil Lichtman, CEO of Zultys. “We understand the communications needs of businesses. That’s why we continue to develop innovative solutions for our MX250 and MX30 IP PBX Unified Communications platforms that allow businesses to be more productive, reduce costs and improve customer service. Our most recent software releases have added MXmobile™ which allows users to be connected on their BlackBerry as if they were at their desk, and MXconnect™ which let companies seamlessly integrate teleworkers into their UC system.”

“INTERNET TELEPHONY is proud to grant Zultys the 2009 Product of the Year Award for their MX250 and MX30 IP PBXs and Unified Communications software family. Zultys has proven its commitment to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “We’re happy to recognize and honor Zultys for their development of IP communications technology. We look forward to more innovative solutions from them in the future.”

As part of Zultys’ latest 5.2 release of software, they have now introduced their MXmobile™ Unified Communications solution.

Be Connected Anytime, Anywhere

MXmobile extends the award-winning MXIE™ Unified Communications desktop client to the mobile device, and gives employees on the go deep access to their corporate Unified Communication systems to connect them as firmly into their team as if they were in the office rather than at a customer site.

MXmobile seamlessly integrates mobile workers into the corporate Voice and Unified Communications system, providing critical tools such as presence, internal extension dialing and corporate directory access. MXmobile also provides Least Cost Routing for mobile devices, which can slash cost from a company’s phone bill.

Key Features

• Single number contact
• Corporate directory and extension dialing
• Caller privacy
• Presence status & presence notes
• Instant messaging
• Call back
• Least cost routing
• Call alerts & full caller ID
• Call logs and history
• Voice traffic is carried over the cellular network
• Supports RIM/BlackBerry® devices

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about MXmobile™, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

No Catch-up Fees!

From today, until 31st December 2009, 500 is waiving ALL catch-up fees for out of date warranties.

Eliminating the warranty catch-up fees makes it easier for you to gain access to Release 5.2 with all of its new features and benefits, such as MXmobile* for BlackBerry (and iPhone in 2010) and the MXconference* feature that gives your IP PBXs a built-in audio conferencing service.

*note these features require additional licensing.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about our Zultys product range, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys, our technology partner for 500 Premises has announced the launch of their Zultys ONE SIP bundles. These bundles provide everything a customer needs to have a full Unified Communications suite of applications running over SIP trunks. Customers can also leverage this deployment as a means of failover or to obtain numbers from different markets.

SIP, being the leading standard for VoIP Communications, is now the choice of all customers who want high availability, increased productivity and reduced costs. To accelerate and launch this deployment, Zultys is working with multiple premier ITSPs. To that end, Zultys has developed solution packages that include the ability to deploy 60 SIP trunks with each of its MX250 SIP Packages called: SIP/20, SIP/50, SIP/100, SIP/200, and pre-licensed with all the software and hardware needed to rapidly deploy a pure SIP solution – just add phones!

“Our objective was to enable the activation of SIP connectivity and trunking in a simple, elegant and cost efficient manner,” said Neil Lichtman, Zultys CEO. “Zultys delivers a standard interface to activate the service with multiple ITSP providers in a matter of minutes not hours”. Making communications cost effective, Zultys offers compelling bundled SIP trunk pricing that leverages the 60 free SIP licenses included with every bundle.

All the power of SIP in the elegant simplicity of a single purpose built server with no additional licenses or hardware to purchase: The Zultys difference!

Should you require any further information then please call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys Inc., our Premises-based technology partner for 500 Premises, have just announced that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) has named their family of advanced IP PBX products (MX 250 and MX30) and Unified Communications solutions as the recipient of the 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award, presented by Internet Telephony magazine.

‘We’re honored to be recognized by TMC for our innovative family of IP PBXs, SIP phones and Unified Communications products and the high quality service they provide every day to thousands of companies worldwide.’ said Steve Rothenberg, CEO of Zultys.

“Not only are our solutions cost effective, but our all-in-one design approach provides a highly energy efficient system that lets companies do more with one IP PBX than any other system on the market. Zultys’ distributed architecture also helps companies maintain 99.999% reliability, while being simple to install, manage and scale. We continue to innovate, adding new features such as MXmobile, a Unified Communications client for BlackBerry devices, video, and new conferencing options to provide the maximum value and ROI for any company’s telecom investment.”

Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC stated ‘We are very pleased to present Zultys with a 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award. Zultys has made an incredible contribution to IP Communications and has also delivered great solutions for its clients.’

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about 500 Premises and the Zultys product range, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

This article continues our introduction to basic and advanced features of IP PBX systems and shows how our products and services build upon them to provide ever greater client benefit.

Thank you for calling 500…
While one might assume that confronted with a computerised auto-attendant greeting would result in quick desertion of a potential client, businesses report that being able to quickly screen and route calls has led to an increase in customer satisfaction. The caller can be intelligently routed to the key individual or department they require, quickly.

Usually, your communications system is your potential client’s first impression of your business. The caller is likely to equate their experience of using your phone system as a measure of your business’ professionalism and well-handled calls can lead to greater business opportunities. The auto-attendant, acting like a ‘virtual switchboard operator’, identifies and greets callers, manages messages and faxes and routes calls to your present location, without the need of a human operator. For a smaller company, this could free up an individual for other important tasks.

Most VoIP PBX systems offer auto-attendant(s) as standard as do our systems.

Key features of an auto attendant include:

• Automated call answering with a personalised business greeting
• A customisable music on hold feature, will the caller waits
• Calls can be routed based on incoming caller-ids or requested extensions
• Calls can be forwarded to personal extensions, mobiles and home numbers

The 500 Premises offering…
Through our technology partner, Zultys, our IP PBX system can have up to 64 free auto attendants, servicing different applications or languages. Each can be set up individually.

A business may choose to publish 3 DDI numbers, for example, for Sales, for Marketing and for Support with each number having its own auto attendant routing calls to groups or individuals.

An alternate business may choose to offer a single DDI number, asking a caller to ‘Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Marketing and 3 for Support’. On pressing ‘1’ the caller could enter a second auto attendant, ‘Press 1 for Handsets, 2 for PBX equipment, 3 for Networking’ and so on. It does not matter if these departments are satellite offices, at different ends of the country or are making use of homeworkers. The impression is of a large corporate enterprise. This is great for the more modestly sized company using the same group of individuals to service several departments.

The schedules for each auto attendant can be set up individually. For example, Sales and Marketing calls might only be taken during normal office hours, routing to voicemail out of hours. However, it may be that Support calls would be routed to a mobile phone after hours. In combination with other functionality, a set of mobile numbers could be set in order of priority.

An auto-attendant can also be used to automatically retrieve information from other business applications or databases, such as call minutes remaining for a mobile phone provider.

Finally, the good news…
500 can differentiate itself from others by pricing, functionality and expertise. The cost of auto attendant is, by default, inclusive of the PBX license.

Auto attendant is not just good news for you, it’s good news for your clients too as they are much more likely to be routed to the right individual or department.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about 500 Premises, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys announced its new MXmobile™ Unified Communications (UC) client for BlackBerry devices at the ITEXPO West 2009 show in Los Angeles, last week.

“Demand for UC mobility is on the rise, especially as mobile devices become more ubiquitous and companies across the spectrum grapple with the strict demands placed on them in the current business climate. The Zultys MXmobile client, initially available for BlackBerry devices, is a cost effective way for companies to go mobile, especially for SMB firms,” said Steve Morrison, VP product management and marketing for Zultys. “We take our motto ‘Collaboration in Action’ seriously, and we continue to innovate and add new features to our solution set. This product introduction makes users’ mobile device an equal benefactor of the increased productivity and reduced cost provided by Unified Communications.”

This new client delivers a complete UC experience to mobile workers ensuring they stay fully connected to all other employees, including office, home and other mobile workers. It also provides critical productivity-enhancing benefits like:

• Presence (to see the current state of employees, be they on a call, at lunch on in a meeting)
• Displayed voice mail
• Internal extension dialing
• Corporate directory access
• Call alerts
• Access to call handling rules

MXmobile can also intelligently route calls, providing Least Cost Routing for mobile handsets, which can significantly cuts costs. For example, the customary implementation of this new feature will mean that the office PBX initiates the mobile call not the mobile handset, therefore saving in outgoing mobile phone charges.

This ‘anytime, anywhere connectivity’ philosophy will make it faster and easier for a mobile worker to stay in contact with colleagues and customers, boosting productivity, cutting costs and increasing competitiveness.

MXmobile for Blackberry devices will be available in the fourth quarter of 2009. MXmobile for iPhone devices is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2010.

The full article, Zultys Announces MXmobile™ Unified Communications Client for Mobile Phones (.pdf) is available for download.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about MXmobile, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

‘Find Me, Follow Me’. How did you manage without it…?

Most modern VoIP telephone systems offer a plethora of advanced features which in turn have direct business benefits. Over the coming weeks we will peel back the layers on such advanced features and demonstrate how useful they can be.

What is ‘Find Me, Follow Me’…?
‘Find Me, Follow Me’ is more than a sophisticated call forwarding function, it is an intelligent service that ensures you are in contact when you need to be, no matter where you are, no matter what phones you have access to. Our 500 Premises product from Zultys implements sophisticated ‘Find Me, Follow Me’ rules via the personal unified communications client, ‘MXIE’. Each phone system user can use MXIE – at company site or remotely – to manage communications in a quick and simple manner. Rising above similar products, MXIE is extremely intuitive and is independent of computer operating system.

Flexibility…
The ‘Find Me, Follow Me’ functionality provides additional flexibility to an existing set of very advanced call handling rules already available within MXIE. It allows you to receive calls at up to sixteen different contact points – no other phone system is capable of doing this – through a set of a pre-defined numbers including internal, external numbers such as home and mobile numbers. The rules allow these numbers to be rung simultaneously or sequentially; if the latter then the order in which they are rung can also be determined, as can how long they ring for.

Our intelligent systems call the appropriate contact numbers to find you when an incoming call is received. Callers may be optionally advised that the system is trying to find you – or may be totally unaware that over the course of, say, five rings, several different phones have been called. Calls may be connected immediately upon answer or alternatively you may explicitly accept or reject the offered call if you wish, again, unbeknown to your caller.

An example: it takes just a minute to set up a rule to try your desk phone for three rings, then your mobile, then try a colleague or hunt group, then to your switchboard operator or voicemail. Alternatively, you way wish your home office phone to ring at the same time as your work office phone or you may wish your mobile phone to ring as soon as you are away from your desk for more than five minutes but only during working hours and when you’re not on holiday. The rules are simple or as granular as you wish.

Power…
‘Find Me, Follow Me’ rules also allow you to direct calls based on a time schedule or presence status. For example, any incoming call during a lunch break – determined by time or by a status – could be directed to a mobile number or a hunt group. The ‘Find Me, Follow Me’ functionality is extremely flexible, it can be set up by event – for example on ‘no answer’ or ‘any incoming call’ – or by certain conditions such as ‘time of the day’ or ‘holidays’ or ‘call from…’ a particular client or a combination of all of these.

Another example to illustrate: if a user is in a business meeting off site, they may have set up their call handling rules so that their calls will be directed to their colleagues in the marketing team. However, the user knows that they are due an important call from the Director / CEO and so has specifically set up the rule (or amended an existing rule) so that this call will be routed through to their mobile number. This type of functionality is also often used to recognise overdue accounts. The benefits of such functionality are clear.

“I’m sorry, I can’t take your call right now”…
‘Find Me, Follow Me’ is not just good news for you, it’s good news for your clients too as they are much more likely to be able to find you and so much less likely to end up leaving a voicemail or worse, simply hanging up or calling elsewhere.

Below is a screen shot of MXIE showing how easy it is to set up a sophisticated ‘Find Me, Follow Me’ call handling rule.

You truly will wonder how you coped without it – and so will your profit margins.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about 500 Premises, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

An express delivery of a presentation plaque in this morning’s post from Zultys head office in Silicon Valley granted 500 Limited Zultys Premier Reseller status!

Steve Rothenberg, CEO of Zultys Inc. acknowledged the commitment 500 has made in expanding the presence of Zultys solutions in the market and for bringing the benefits of Open Standards SIP-based Unified Communications to businesses.  He went on to say:

“On behalf of Zultys, please accept this token of recognition to 500 Limited for having earned Premier Reseller status.  Not only have you shown commitment in working to expand your business base, but you have proven your expertise in Zultys Unified Communications solutions and IP PBX and SIP phone products, and have demonstrated your ability to implement effective Zultys solutions for your customers.”

500 is committed to providing ‘best of breed’ premises-based IP PBX systems.  We believe that Zultys is currently the best open standards SIP PBX solutions provider available, having a proven track record and a committment to on-going product development such as ‘find me, follow me’, integrated web conferencing and later this year telepresence (video conferencing), ensuring the ongoing benefits of VoIP – and all at price point typically 25%-45% less than other offerings.

If you have any queries or questions then please call us on 0845 0000 500.