Zultys Scales Up with MX-E
Unified Communications (UC) solution provider Zultys has a new IP-PBX model, the MX-E. The new system is designed to support larger enterprises with up to 2,000 users on a single appliance and offers a level of redundancy and reliability over and above earlier MX systems in order to meet the requirements of larger corporations. Major hardware components are duplicated to help ensure continued communications; this includes redundant, hot-swappable power supplies and storage drives and multiple cooling fans.
Zultys’ MX platform 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 Unified Communications (UC) client application for desktops and mobile devices. Additional applications can be added optionally.
The new, larger-capacity MX-E appliance (to 2,000 users) runs the same MX software as the earlier Zultys MX-SE (to 50 users) and MX250 (to 250 users) IP-PBX hardware appliances and the MXvirtual virtualized software which is deployable on-premises or available from Zultys partners as a hosted/cloud subscription-based service. 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 – a benefit to resellers and customers (more on the flexible deployment options below).
Per Zultys, channel partners and enterprise customers have been asking for an appliance that can handle a higher capacity in terms of users, call volumes and SIP trunks, along with more built-in redundancy and reliability. The new MX-E broadens the market opportunity for Zultys, and as a pre-packaged single appliance, MX-E also simplifies support for partners and end users; previously, larger customers were required to purchase multiple MX250 units to attain more trunk capacity and redundancy. MX-E is generally available as of January 3, 2017.
MX-E Highlights
- MX-E comes in in three different models. The base MX-E model supports 300 users, the MX-E+ handles up to 1,000 users, and the MX-E++ can scale to 2,000 users on a single appliance.
- 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.
- Like the earlier MX-SE and MX250, the new MX-E includes a built-in PSTN and SIP gateway; MX-E, MX-E+ and MX-E++ support maximums of 300, 1,000 and 2,000 SIP trunks, respectively (compared to 60 SIP trunks for the earlier MX250 and 30 for MX-SE).
- The integrated voicemail capability supports 1,200 (MX-E), 4,000 (MX-E+) and 8,000 (MX-E++) hours of storage. Up to 400 Auto Attendants, ACD Hunt Groups and Paging Groups are supported on the largest model (100 for MX-E; 256 for MX-E+).
- Three hot swappable hard disk drives, with two configured in RAID-1 and one spare drive, helps to ensure continuous communications. MX-E also comes with dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies and three cooling fans specially designed and adjustable to meet emergency situations.
Multiple Deployments
Over the past few years, Zultys has steadily evolved the MX solution per discussions with its channel partners and evaluation of market trends. In early 2014 with R9, Zultys introduced MXvirtual, a virtualized software-only version of the MX that larger corporations can run on an existing VMware infrastructure. Or, authorized Zultys channel partners can act as managed service providers, hosting the virtualized software in their own facility and offering the solution as a subscription-based service to end customers as a wholesale managed services offer.
Later in 2014 with R10, the company introduced a 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, while Zultys is responsible for the hosting and billing and provides SIP trunking and carrier services. The latest software releases, R11 in 2015 and R12 in 2016, introduced a number of enhancements, including a new Web chat capability, a new disaster recovery capability and improved call center features, among others. The all-in-one MX-E just introduced in January 2017 accommodates businesses with a much larger call volumes and more stringent performance requirements, such as busy contact centers.
Having multiple pricing and deployment models is a differentiator for Zultys in the business communications space. Channel partners can choose the sales model that best suits their go-to-market strategy. Zultys offers the premises-based MX UC appliance or the MXvirtual VMware-ready virtual appliance as a standard, one-time purchase (the traditional capital expenditure or CAPEX model). Or, partners can offer a managed (hosted) subscription-based service (a recurring, operational expenditure or OPEX model) which also has flexible options, either a wholesale managed services model or the retail UCaaS model.