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March 04, 2015

Zultys Cloud Services Offers Wholesale or Retail Opportunities


By Sandra M. Gustavsen
Analyst, Business VoIP

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Unified Communications (News - Alert) (UC) solution provider Zultys continues the evolution of its MXvirtual solution through its introduction of a new sales model for channel partners to select from when selling the Zultys solution as a hosted/cloud service. Zultys Cloud Services Hosted Phone (News - Alert) System and Unified Communications is a new Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) “retail” offer whereby the channel partner acts as the reseller, making the sale and providing support to the customer; meanwhile, Zultys (News - Alert) is responsible for the hosting and billing and provides SIP trunking and carrier services. This new sales model gives Zultys channel partners an alternative to the MXvirtual “wholesale” model introduced earlier in 2014 in which the channel partner acts as a managed service provider, hosting the solution in its own facility or in the Zultys data center and offering the solution as a subscription-based service to end customers.


Flexible Sales and Deployment Models

Having multiple pricing and deployment models differentiates Zultys from many of its competitors in the business communications space. Channel partners can choose the sales model that best suits their go-to-market strategy. Zultys offers its premises-based MX IP phone system or the MXvirtual VMware-ready virtual appliance as a standard, one-time purchase (the traditional capital expenditure or CAPEX model). Alternatively, partners can offer a managed (hosted) subscription-based service (a recurring, operational expenditure or OPEX (News - Alert) model) which also has flexible options, namely the wholesale managed services model or the recently announced retail UCaaS model.

Unlike many competing solutions, all deployment options (cloud or on-premises) are based on the same Zultys MX software. Features and functionality, administration and user device options are the same, regardless of the deployment chosen by the end-customer. The Zultys MX solution is known for “all-in-one” functionality that embeds capabilities like voicemail and call center (basic ACD) as standard features, with other collaborative functions built-in and easily license-activated as needed, including unified messaging, meet-me conferencing and the company’s MXIE UC client application for desktops and mobile devices. Additional applications can be added optionally.

The Hybrid Cloud

Zultys offers an identical user and administrator experience whether the solution is deployed at a customer premises, as a managed/hosted service or in a hybrid environment with both types of deployments.

Using the same MX software stream for both premises-based and cloud-based deployments is an advantage for channel partners and end-customers due to the common experience. This also opens up new hybrid cloud-premises opportunities. Zultys already has a cloud-based disaster recovery option, offering its hosted MXvirtual system as a back-up system for an on-premises MX or MXvirtual solution.

Moreover, multi-site customers can mix and match cloud and on-premises MX solutions within the same corporate network. For example, existing customers that have MX IP phone system at some sites can subscribe to the Zultys hosted/cloud service when opening a new office location. This not only minimizes the upfront capital expenses, but also allows the quick integration of the new office into the existing network. A company-wide MXnetwork, with both physical MX systems and on-premises or cloud-based MXvirtual deployments, can include up to 128 systems or instances and 10,000 users connected as a single system.

In the future, Zultys may offer some standalone cloud-based services such as voice and video conferencing. Having the infrastructure in place within the data centers makes additional new services a logical next step.




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
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