atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Iwatsu Telephones & Systems Considering Iwatsu

My company is reviewing proposals to replace our Nortel Meridian option 52 c pbx. One of the proposals is for Iwatsu Enterprise Communication Suite with TASKE contact Call Management. WE have 100 total users in a single site with a customer service department of 10 agents that currently participate in an ACD queue. Until I received the proposal I had never heard of Iwatsu. Can anyone offer insights or recommendations. The other systems in consideration are Avaya and Shoretel.
Anyone out there with experience in one or more of these?

We just became an Iwatsu dealer recently after carefully shopping for an additional product line to carry. This came after years of being pushed by a close freiend in NY that has been carrying their products for ten years. Iwatsu products are not for everybody. They are certainly not the least expensive manufacturer out there and they don't want to be. I compare them to being the "IBM" of telephone systems.

Here is my take on the company: They are great. Iwatsu was founded by the electric utility company in Japan many years ago. The US operations are headquartered in the Dallas area and I've been there for a tour of their facility. I was impressed to say the least.

Believe it or not, the thing that impressed me the most about this company is that their entire repair department consists of only six people. When I questioned this, they responded with the statement "it just doesn't break". They said that over half of the warranty repair items that they receive are deemed to be "no trouble found".

The company seems to be extremely efficient. They have a dealer support group ("SILO") that offers an incredible level of assistance in more ways than I ever imagined.

They even have one guy there who's job is to continually try to break their systems. From what I could see, he's not having much luck.

As always, the most important decision is the long-term relationship that you will form with the system's vendor. You will be entering into a relationship with the vendor, not with the manufacturer. The product may be fantastic, but if the dealer isn't standing behind it, the quality of the system doesn't mean a thing. You need to shop based upon more than price. Get references and check them thoroughly. Ask the potential vendor to let you visit some of their local customers.

Lastly, please make sure that the vendor maintains all appropriate licenses and insurance. You should be able to find out what is required of them from city hall or Maricopa County. Don't forget that there may also be state licensing requirements. If the vendor doesn't maintain the proper credentials and something goes wrong, there's not much that can be done. I seriously doubt that you'll have this problem, but there's nothing wrong with doing a thorough check for you company's protection. Best wishes for a smooth transition.

Joe Boudrie to the BB.

I do not have current experience with Iwatsu but twenty years ago it was a favorite of auto dealers...got big and was near in-destructible.
Plus they had nice looking sets.

And, yes, some of them are still out there pounding away.

Take it from an old timer....follow Ed's advice and you can't go wrong!

:toothy: :thumb:

I'm a ten-year vet with Iwatsu installation and maintenance and I highly recommend the system. I'm factory certified on other manufacturer's systems, but the Iwatsu is my favorite because of it's reliability, flexibility and ease of use.

As Ed posted, your relationship with your vendor is as important as the equipment you decide on, so a certifed Iwatsu dealer will have access to great tech support, so you have very little to worry about in terms of the phone system.

I still see plenty of Iwatsu systems that are 25 years old and are still chugging away! Like others have said, they just do not break!

Ditto to Ed. Perfectly worded.

I was the ops mgr for a company, that SOLD IWATSU and MITEL, and repaired the other brands, for 12 years. It was Reliable, tough and factory support was supurb. I don't know if this is still true or not, you'd have to check with Ed, but up until 2002, the software developement actually happened in Dallas, rather than Japan. They actually asked for suggestions for new 'bells and whistles'. Most manufacturers don't do that! They basically react to problems with new SW releases, rather than push the envelope like Iwatsu did/does. And Iwatsu's SW releases almost never caused problems. They Alpha, Beta, and whatever 'c' would be, before they released them to the dealers. John C. (Not Garand)

I agree with all, I have been involved in one form or another with Iwatsu for the past 11 years. It is a great product that doesn't fail. Iwatsu develops very strong systems that are very feature rich. I would put one in at my grandmothers house if she needed it! :thumb:

Iwatsu was the first manufacturer my company took on and that was in to 70's. We still sell it and still have systems from the 80's out there. Dependable and reliable has always been Iwatsu's trademark. They also listen to their dealers for future application development