The system is not ready to network with the XTS. Eventually all three systems will talk to each other..the SBX, MBX and XTS. The zero out of voice mail should be in the next release along with DTMF tone timer adjustments, DID ringtones, DID calls directly to voice mail for message retrieval, (can't do that now you have to go through a CCR first). There is a possibilty of backlight support for both Edge and STS phones.

I have to admit this...I have been a Vodavi dealer for a long time and although nervous was hopeful that the meger with Vertical would work out and to that end I have supported Vertical. I have been selling the SBX since 3.0 came out ( did not care for SBX 1.0 at all) The MBX makes me a bit uneasy. I felt the same way when the Triad first hit the market. I sold only one Triad 3. Once it became the Triad XTS we were off to the races. I hope that the MBX can become as good a replacement for the XTS as the XTS was for the Triad. However it has to be ready to do that before the last XTS is sold, not after. I think anyone can see the logic in that.

I hope the powers at be at Vertical understand your logic.

I agree 100%

I WANT to believe in the MBX, but as the fourth quarter draws closer, I get that queasy feeling that we will not be able to provide a good replacement for the XTS or a system that is comparable and can network with the XTS.

Even if the MBX improves, I am not really pleased in the current fragmentation between programming the SBX and MBX. We were spoiled with the Triad, XTS, and STS I guess, and I liked it.

We have been a vodavi dealer since '02 and we have sold more than our share of XTS and we always loved it. I have grudgingly been installing SBX since they killed the STS last year. Its ok, no more and the STS was easier to program, easier to use and thats because it had the same feature and programming set of the XTS. The XTS was to my mind the most flexible, easy ot program, easy to work around and easy to network product I have ever installed. I sell IPitomy on the IP side and need a replacement for the XTS on the TDM side. I am not at all sure the MDX is in my future. Based on my SBX experience, I am not sold on the whole concept. That said there are a lot of manufacturers looking for dealers and I for one am going to explore all the options. Vodavi gave us a great ride but clearly Vertical is a different animal.

It appears to me that Vertical wants a system that is backwards compatible with certain Vodavi products, but moving forward with a somewhat new and independant product line in the SBX and MBX.

The Wave has become the "In House" system for Vertical. I believe that is where most of the software R&D is going. The MBX is an LG product both hardware and software unlike the Aria which shared hardware in common with the XTS but had totally different OS. The MBX sofware will end up being a hybrid...LG software that networks with an XTS but that is still going to make us Vodavi dealers learn something almost 99 percent new to us. I wish the XTS os could still be used as a platform for the MBX but you can't always get what you want...lets hope we get what we need!

I loved Vodavi. No further comment....

I think the MBX is here to stay. Its made by LG, sold by other companies besides Vertical, and LG owns a big chunck of Vertical already. It will be harder on you Vodavi guys because of "similar but different"

Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all! :toast:

MnDave,

I loved Vodavi as well, I would suspect that they had the happiest dealer chain in the industry.

Or perhaps the most spoiled!

I dont know about spoiled but I know that the culture there was that if the dealers were successful then Vodavi would be successful and they were. Before being bought out by Vertical they were doing very well and so were we.

Somebody didn't like the price of the VTECH stock. It was stagnant for years. The buyout was so company officers and large stockholders could cash out. I made about 153 bucks when the stock sold to Vertical for 7.5 a share. I bought in at 6.5 many years earlier. Now if I had bought a 1000 shares when it was .99 a share that would have been okay!

Greg Roper cashed out big time and basically the rest is history. I bought a bunch of Vertical Stock and have watched it go down to less than a penny, then recently had a big run to 8 cents. Hopefully Vertical gets it back to where Vodavi was at the buyout (7.5) and when that happens I wont have to put phone systems in any more.

LG owns a large chunk of Vertical, so it would be my guess that they will do what is necessary to make it a viable company that competes.

I hope so Z-man. I am warming up a little to the MBX as I get to know it a little better however it still has a lot of room for improvement. I hope the new software fixes a lot of small issues.... speaking of software, wasn't the new stuff supose to be released by now?

The new software 1.7 is on V-connect now. We have installed it on our house system but have not check out the fixes yet.

I have installed a 1.7 on my latest MBX in hopes of fixing a bug with SIP trunks.. Even after the install, we still dropped calls, but we THINK it is the provider.