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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Jul. 17, 2007) —
Vertical Communications (VRCC.OB) ("Vertical"),
a leading provider of next-generation, IP-based
phone systems and applications that help
businesses better serve their customers, today
set a new industry standard for productivity,
affordability and expandability with the
introduction of the Vertical Wave IP 2500(™)
Business Communications System. With its unique
Applications Inside(™) architecture, Wave IP
2500 is the first comprehensive IP-based
business communications platform to include a
suite of powerful communications applications in
its base configuration, eliminating the need for
customers to evaluate, purchase, install and
integrate multiple VoIP applications and servers
as their business needs evolve. Next-generation
applications included as a part of the base Wave
system include the award-winning ViewPoint(™)
desktop call management tool, unified
communications, presence management, visual
voicemail and call recording. With these
compelling applications included as part of the
base system, Wave IP 2500 presents customers
with an unprecedented level of value, ease of
management and lower total cost of ownership ("TCO")
than any other IP-PBX on the market.
Beginning today, Company executives are
introducing Wave to more than 600 Vertical
business partners as part of the "Vertical Wave:
The Future is Calling" road shows, a series of
one-day in-depth partner briefings taking place
in 13 cities across the United States.
Wave IP 2500 is ideal for both cost-sensitive
small- to medium-sized businesses as well as
larger distributed organizations like retailers,
pharmacies and restaurants that depend on
powerful VoIP applications to drive growth. Wave
IP 2500 supports up to 500 users on a single
server, and multiple Wave systems can be
networked together to support thousands of users
across thousands of sites.
"While customers have been encouraged in the
past to move to IP from TDM phone systems based
on reduced system costs, many organizations are
now more concerned about the cost of application
development and integration," said Frost &
Sullivan Industry Analyst Krithi Rao. "Because
Vertical has bundled a number of
enterprise-class applications with Wave for
roughly the same cost as some of the competitive
systems, cost-sensitive organizations will find
great value in Wave."
"Our business success depends on our ability to
be responsive to our customers, and we believe
Wave IP 2500 will help us achieve our goals,"
said Steve Van Brocklin, senior vice president
of sales and marketing at Electrical Engineering
& Equipment Company, a 250-person electrical
distributor located near Des Moines, Iowa that
has participated in the beta test of Wave IP
2500. "We plan to leverage Wave applications to
intelligently route calls to the right sales
person as well as integrate our back-end data
stores with Wave to automatically notify
customers when a back-ordered item is available,
thereby improving efficiency and customer
service. We believe this is just the beginning
of how we can leverage the Wave application
portfolio to move our business forward."
"Over the past several years, our integrated
telephony applications and management tools have
brought considerable value to our large
enterprise customers," said Bill Tauscher, chief
executive officer of Vertical Communications.
"With Wave IP 2500, Vertical can now also
deliver these powerful and highly customizable
business solutions to our small- to medium-sized
customers in a very price-competitive package.
Its standards-based architecture supports a
self-paced migration to IP-based communications,
while its embedded portfolio of applications
will dramatically drive employee productivity
and create an improved and differentiated
customer service experience."
"Vertical has pulled out all the stops with Wave
IP 2500 in terms of its design, feature set and
applications," said Matt Tesdell, vice president
of Tesdell Electric, a Certified Wave Business
Partner. "I've been very impressed with how well
it performs, and I'm confident it will meet or
exceed the needs of even my most demanding
customers."
Applications Inside(™) Architecture
The Wave IP 2500 platform includes a dedicated
embedded application server that enables
delivery of an extensive suite of 'Base' and
ready-to-run advanced 'Add-on' applications.
Base applications are included in the cost of
the base Wave IP 2500 system. Optional Add-on
applications are available for customers to try
at no charge for 30 days.
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Base Applications are available 'out of the
box' to all Wave users. These include Wave
ViewPoint(™), Vertical's award-winning
desktop call management tool that supports
unified messaging, presence management,
visual voicemail, and more. ViewPoint
delivers a host of easy to use call
management capabilities to every user on the
system, dramatically extending the
capabilities of the phone on the desk.
Unlike competitive systems, Wave also offers
extensive call recording, archiving and
search capabilities to all Wave users
without any additional software license or
platform costs.
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Add-on Applications are ready-to-run and
ready-to-license. Wave's uniquely designed
Applications Inside(™) architecture gives
businesses the flexibility to enable - on
demand - advanced applications like Wave
Contact Center, Wave Conference Manager,
Wave Voice Server and Wave Fax Manager. As
with Base applications, all Add-on
applications are supported on the Wave
platform, thereby avoiding the additional
cost and management headaches associated
with setting up and managing multiple
servers and associated disparate management
frameworks.
Modular Design Eliminates Costly Future
Upgrades
Wave IP 2500 incorporates advanced
dual-processor architecture for support of
embedded SIP-based call control as well as
application services. Wave offers support for
both SIP and legacy endpoints and trunking. An
embedded voice gateway supports a mixed
environment, thereby allowing customers to
migrate from TDM to all-IP environments at their
own pace.
Wave IP 2500 facilitates cost-effective business
growth by eliminating both forklift upgrades and
the need for additional servers when adding
users and applications. Scalable from 10 to 500
users on one system and with the ability to
support thousands of users by networking
locations, Wave provides customers with the
flexibility to support users regardless of where
they're working - at headquarters, in a branch
office, at home or on the road.
Cost Savings and Enhanced Functionality
through SIP Trunking
In addition to the cost-savings offered
by Wave IP 2500's modular design, Applications
Inside(™) architecture and feature set,
customers can further reduce communications
costs and enhance business communications
through SIP trunking. Offered through a number
of Wave-certified SIP carriers, SIP trunking
offers significant reduction in calling costs,
whether long distance, site-to-site calling,
DIDs or other enhanced services. In addition,
SIP trunks can be provisioned quickly and in
smaller increments than those traditionally
offered from analog and digital providers.
Consolidated billing services further simplify
communications management for customers.
Robust Remote Management Tools
Included as a Base application with
Wave IP 2500, Wave Global Administrator is a
powerful Web-based management tool that makes it
easy to manage moves, adds and changes while
providing extensive proactive diagnostic
capabilities. Optional Add-on Wave management
tools include Wave Global Manager, an advanced
multi-site management tool that facilitates
automation of system administration tasks, and
Wave Global Reporter, which offers an array of
detailed call activity reporting and business
intelligence capabilities.
Extensive Endpoint Support
To provide optimal business
flexibility, Wave IP 2500 supports a broad array
of Vertical-branded SIP and digital phones, as
well as many third-party IP, analog, wireless
and soft phones. Importantly, a large percentage
of Vertical's large installed base of an
estimated 200,000 customers will be provided
significant investment protection through a
low-cost migration path to Wave by virtue of the
fact that Vertical Comdial® and Vertical Vodavi®
digital endpoints are supported on Wave IP 2500.
Wave enables customers to leverage existing
legacy handsets and migrate to IP over time as
they are ready, all the while leveraging Wave's
portfolio of communications applications.
Availability
The Wave IP 2500 will be generally
available this quarter through Certified Wave
Business Partners.
About Vertical Communications, Inc.
Vertical Communications is one of the
largest telephony vendors in North America and a
global leader in next-generation IP-based
business communications systems and
applications, with a current installed base of
over 200,000 customers. Vertical combines voice
and data technologies with business process
understanding to deliver integrated IP-PBX and
application solutions that enhance customer
service and business productivity. Vertical's
customers are leading companies of all sizes,
from small to large and distributed, and include
CVS/pharmacy®, Staples and Apria Healthcare.
Vertical delivers its solutions through a
worldwide network of over 1800 business
partners. With headquarters in Cambridge MA,
Vertical has facilities in Charlottesville VA,
Phoenix AZ, Santa Clara CA, Sarasota FL, Munich
Germany and Hyderabad India. For more
information about Vertical, please call
877-VERTICAL or visit our Website at
www.vertical.com.
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"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
This document contains forward-looking
statements based on current expectations or
beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions
about future events, and these statements are
subject to important facts and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking
statements in this document address a variety of
subjects, including, without limitation,
statements about the benefits of certain of the
Company's products, including, without
limitation, the improved cost and customer
service benefits for the Company's business
partners and customers provided by Wave IP 2500;
the Company's assumptions about the costs saving
opportunity from SIP trunk connectivity, the
Company's assumptions about the future
performance of Vertical Wave IP 2500; the
Company's ability to enhance its revenue
opportunities in the IP-PBX marketplace; the
Company's ability to continue providing products
to the IP-PBX marketplace, the Company's ability
to eliminate forklift upgrades through Wave, the
Company's ability to deliver Wave-branded
communications solutions in the future, the
Company's ability to deliver Wave systems this
quarter and others. The following factors, among
others, could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in these
forward-looking statements: the risk that the
Company may fail to achieve the anticipated
benefits from Wave IP 2500, including, without
limitation, failing to obtain the desired
benefits for the Company's dealers and
customers; the risk that the Company's
assumptions about the future performance of Wave
IP 2500 may prove to be incorrect; the risk that
the Company may be unable to become a
significant player within the IP-PBX telephony
market; the risk that the Company's dealers and
customers may be unable to attain the cost
savings from SIP trunk connectivity, the risk
that the Company may not be able to eliminate
forklift upgrades through Wave, the risk that
the Company may not be able to deliver
Wave-branded communications solutions in the
future, the risk that the Company may not be
able to deliver Wave systems this quarter and
other risks and assumptions detailed in the
Company's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the most recent
filing of the Company's Form 10Q.
Trademark Information
Vertical Communications and the Vertical
Communications logo and combinations thereof,
Applications Inside and Wave IP 2500 are
trademarks and Vertical Networks, Comdial, and
Vodavi are registered trademarks of Vertical
Communications, Inc. All other brand and product
names are used for identification only and are
the property of their respective holders. |