It is believed most key staff have taken positions with Zultys’ competitors locally.
The closure of Zultys also sent shockwaves through its distributor and partner channel. Local networking carrier ISPhone CEO Gavin McDougal says while rumours about the company’s troubles had circulated, the sudden decision to lock up shop was unexpected.
ISPhone had Zultys products on its distribution chain. “We didn’t have any warning—it seems that this was something that came about rather suddenly and unexpectedly for quite a few of us,” McDougal says.
“There were always rumours going around but nothing for certain and I didn’t realise that the company was in such bad shape.”
McDougal says Zultys was known for its quality of products in the market, and the amount of research and development that had gone into them. “I think they spent a lot of money on research and development and didn’t perhaps market or sell or distribute their products as well as they could have.”
It has been speculated that Zultys on-demand model of manufacturing and distribution also held it back from reaching key profit targets.
McDougal says the rise and popularity of open-source vendor Asterisk's IP PBX has also attributed to a downfall in IP telephony sales overall. Asterisk allows the sale of cheap IP PBX solutions running off a Linux-installed server.
“The whole Asterisk development is making it difficult for traditional IP PBX carriers—those that have products such as Zultys--to be run,” McDougal says.
As for companies using Zultys’ products, it is believed channel partners will still be required to see out support and service contracts, although no official confirmation could be made at the time of going to press.
See the December issue of Technology & Business for further coverage and analysis.
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