atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Vodavi Telephones & Systems XTS EOL?

I was told that Vertical in a webinar today announced the XTS will be discontinued at the end of this year. Can anyone confirm this?

This would not surprise me, seeing as how Vertical is very quick to put the cart before the horse. It only took two years for the WAVE to even be sellable, if it even is. Their typical CG motto is to make a new product that produces less, take a year to work out the bugs and then leave us dealers hanging in the process. Hey, Microsoft does it all the time, right?

I hope that you are wrong, but I'm sure that you aren't.

I built much of my business on the XTS but I just sold a 40 station SBX system to a customer who also wanted a bid from me on the XTS. They wanted to know why I was encouraging them to buy the SBX over our more successful XTS. It was an existing account that was happy with their older discontinued Vodavi system and was happy to stay with the "name" and maintain us as their vendor. I was honest with them and said I couldn't reliably assure them it would still be current in 2 years. There are just too many undercurrents that I have become all too familiar with in the past. I am now only honestly quoting XTS for expansions and the like. Not for brand-new sales if the SBX will fit the bill. I have lost confidence in the extended future of my beloved XTS despite any assurances to the contrary.

I have the same feeling about this as you do Dave. However my largest accounts are multi-site. The SBX does not network with the XTS and neither does the MBX at this point. I can't tell my customers to change out all systems so they can talk to the new one, if it were an SBX or MBX going into the newest office now can I? Vertical needs to address this before they discontinue the XTS. They also need a beefed up voice mail option for both systems as well.

Dave, I have no problem quoting the XTS. It's super solid and parts will be available for longer than you're going to be working. It's absolutely reliable and virtually all issues are worked out. I still can't get an SBX to notify cell phones every single time. How many years will it be before the SBX is fully sorted out?

Not only that the voice mail is way too poor for a larger install except for the most basic use. Until they fix notification and a few other quibbles I'm not selling it.

I'm hoping the MBX is better sorted out. I would like to stay with Vertical for the larger system. I'm going to go ahead and order the dealer kit in a few weeks and give it an in depth test drive.

I don't have a problem with the SBX. My customes who have it are all very small with the exception of a plastic surgeon who has two offices networked together. The system still bugs me a bit, cause I don't know the flash codes well enough to program from memory. I guess I should dig one out of my stock and play with it a bit more.

The system still bugs me a bit, cause I don't know the flash codes well enough to program from memory. I guess I should dig one out of my stock and play with it a bit more.

Thats it! That's me in a nutshell! I'm going to break down and order a system to install in my shop so I am forced to start learning all the intricacies. I do agree about the networking too. If I get a request for robust networking or voice mail, I have to quote the XTS. It is such a solid system.

We have been selling the XTS pretty much since its introduction and we have found it to be the most flexible, user friendly system we have ever sold. In addition, it lasts forever. We have quite a few systems in networked environments and they work beautifully. We have started to install the sbx only because the STSe is no longer able to be price competitive (price increase last year). The SBX to my mind is OK, but, not nearly as flexible, not nearly as easy to flash program and the documentation leaves a lot to be desired. I personally would not quote the sbx in any sort of network application. I also believe that the XTS will be EOL very shortly. The MDX took care of that. I honestly dont know if I am going to go through the exercise of the MDX. We sell a pure IP pbx now (open source) and it works fine. Not for all applicaitions so we will need a TDM. Vertical makes it hard to stay with them. I am old school Vodavi and thats all I am going to say as I believe these boards are monitored. We will ride the XTS horse as long as we can but the hand writing is on the wall for sure.

I just got an email from Vertical with a recap of their recent management conference call and roadmap. In the email it clearly states that the XTS is gone Q4. Parts obsolesence and replacement by the MBX and the Wave. Its a done deal, it was great while it lasted.