I had a bit of a preview of the new Vertical system...the Summit. Based on what I heard and the phones I got to handle, this could very well be a very good system for up to 50 users or more with UC and BYOD options. I liked what I heard.

This system is based on the new IPECS eMG80 with their tweaks to make it work with older phones.

A lot of the capabilities we Vodavi guys used to have are back, better preset call forwarding both on the station, co and Did side. Still missing distinctive ring for a co or did. But that could be back by the end of the year.

Two basic cabinets, one with a PRI one without, no card PRI built into the cabinet. Price difference is the same as a PRI card. Voice mail built in and is expandable to 8 ports 16 hours with a license along with the one type expansion cabinet. A really strong ACD (not UCD) for a system this size.

HTML5 web based admin, no software required. Will work on Chrome or Explorer and the latest version of Windows.

True Unified Communications and I think it will have centralized voice mail as well. Sip extensions. Android and Apple Mobile extension app with full call control. Web phone, Ip nomad phones, soft phones. Multiple Dect extensions, up to 48, in addition to the present 48 digital terminals. Stronger AA and CCR capabilities.

The new 30 button backlit set has built in Bluetooth. Standard headset jack now a 4 pin jack on the bottom of the set, no 2.5mm jack.

It may not be an XTS but it sure plugs the hole between the SBX and MBX and gives features we have not had since the XTS and it borrows some good things from the Wave.

Comes out in July with first upgrade at the end of the year.

If you get a chance to make it to one of the road shows you should go.


Just a note...next release of the SBX will use the Vertical Edge 700 phones and add some call forwarding features along with other things. I don't think the Bluetooth option will be available. Another note, 30 percent of the SBX sales are under 10 phones with no voice mail. This system is sticking around if for no other reason than to fill that niche.

Derrick, Thanks for the info. I think we have a new reason to become optimistic about Vertical products. Its great to know that all this is in the works!

I don't know if the SBX will stay around. If the pricing is the same for the Summit as the eMG, most dealers will probably quit selling the SBX.

There is about a 15 percent list increase on the small end with the Summit over the SBX. I don't know how much difference that will make. If someone wants voice mail I would put them in a Summit first regardless of the size of the system.

I have not done a lot of price comparisons between the two, but the ones I have done seem about equal. But, I did not compare the MG to an LDK (SBX) that didn't have voice-mail.

Heck, I'd dump the LDK just because the MG phones do not need a wall-mount kit.

Derrick, Any word on voicemail to email with wav attachment on the SBX?

Nope. Edge 700 phones in the next release is the biggest thing I remember. Also talk of providing 8 pack pricing for SBX phones as well as the Edge 700 sets.

Distributors have price lists now.

Simple thing but makes a big difference to customers. The buttons on the phone are they in English or symbols?

Symbols

As I continue to service the 100 or so Vodavi/Vertical legacy systems that I have in the field and find tech support a challenge to come by, me personally, I would never invest a penny in another Vertical product. I sell the SBX as a simple down and dirty key system, copper dial tones, square key or front ended by an Auto Attendant. Its cheap, it plays cheap and I am honestly too lazy to take the time to find another low end product. If they pull another discontinue on the SBX, I will find something else at the low end. We had a system go down last week at a multi site school district, the usual non sense with the battery on the MPB failed. We brought a spare card to site then realized it was a networked system and we cannot get a network SW code from Vertical so we had to field repair the battery. Can you imagine? These systems are barely 5 years old, no support. Vertical lost me a while ago and I am never going back to them on a system that is anything but low end and almost disposable.

I think your reply is a bit off the subject considering I started this thread as FYI about the Summit...what we know now and what some of us will learn in the future.

So far I have heard postivie things about it. I happen to be one who thinks that if the factory (in this case Ericsson-LG) makes a good product and Vertical provides complete documentation than technical support becomes less of an issue.

The purpose of this thread is to help us learn just how good it is.

How can they do symbols. Try taking that home to your wife and ask her what the symbols mean. I bet she guesses half wrong. This is our typical customer.

Jim, I don't like the symbols either. However, I've yet to hear a customer complain about them.

BTW, Nortel did symbols for years on the T-series.

Sorry that you found my reply "off subject". To my mind, the product is as good as the company that sells it, in fact, the company behind it is probably more important to me than the product itself, which is a commodity. If you take the Summit on, best of luck with it.

Is anybody registered for any of the Vertical Summit classes? Not the online sales but actual installation training classes?

Our's is 60 miles away in Los Angeles, Ca. Traffic's outrageous. One day class. I'll wait for the online class. Hopefully they will add it soon.

Heading to school tomorrow in DC. The drive doesn't bother me, but the hotel room rates are murder.

Just finished up my training in Orlando! Mario Hernandez was the instructor and did a great job with the limited time we had. I will start off by saying that I know much more about the product than I did before the training, but won't fully grasp everything until I "play" with it on my own time. It's really difficult to learn everything you need to know in a 1 day course. The programming methods are very similar to the SBX. The features are pretty much everything you could ask for.
Pros: Smart phone app,VM to Email WITH a wave file, call accounting that will open in excel (so no 3rd party software needed), supports nearly every digital and voip Vodavi phone since the Infinite line, supports up to 140 stations (48 digital max),74 CO lines (24 analog loop start max),hybrid ports that use the inside pair for digital and outside pair for analog, it will network with the MBX and SBX, and my favorite new feature is that it can have up to 48 dect phones. The system has a WTIB card with 4 ports to connect wireless base units to and extend the range of the dect phones. I tested this at the training and can say that they work indoors at about 150' from the base unit (through several walls). They are supposed to work at about 300 meters in an open environment, so you could space these base units out and have a considerable amount of coverage. They will also automatically switch from one base unit to another if you walk out of range of one of them (awesome!).

Cons: You have a choice of 2 different KSU's. The KSUAD and the KSUID. The KSUID supports PRI and the KSUAD does not. If you install a the KSUAD and later on want to switch to a PRI, you must replace the KSU (Not Cool). It's sometimes hard to determine what a particular customer may want or need down the line. Why not install a KSUID every time and not worry about it? It's more expensive than the KSUAD and may over-bid you out of a potential customer. I'm not a big fan of licensing and there seems to be a lot of that with this system. You can get a 30 day license to unlock everything so the customer can see what features they want / like and they can choose which ones are beneficial to them(This is a "pro"). I'm not a huge fan of having to use the modular installation amphenol cable (like the SBX). I saw nothing else that I didn't like.
Overall, I am excited to get started with this new product. I also understand they are working on coming out with the same type of product that will have a much larger capacity. Hope this helps for those on the fence about this product.

Thanks Don. I can't attend an out-of-state certification course to be able to sell the Summit and on-line certification isn't buttoned down yet. So yesterday, I took a local 1-day course in the NEC SL1100. It looks like everyone is interested in having smart phone apps.

I do hope the larger product will be available through distribution. Not that I have many large applications anymore, but the last thing I want to do is have a customer outgrow an SL1100 and then lose them to an SV8100 dealer. The capacity of networking our XTS-IPs was huge!

Derrick,
Our site crashed and your last comment on the class along with on-line certification information disappeared. Would you mind reposting your class report?

No problem.

First of all, Summit certification will be available online Sept 1.

Target has a class Sept 9, I think it is the date.

There were nine guys in class, most of them from my area. One big Wave dealer from Buffalo sent down a tech as well.

There was no hands on systems because Mario, our instructor's, demo systems were lost in Philly. That was a bit disappointing but other than that and a fire alarm an hour into the class it was worth the trip. I was an hour late getting there (I screwed up the start time).

As I have said before..I like the system and believe me I am picky. Let me list the things about it that come to mind first.

1.Hybrid Analog and digital connections are reversed from the SBX
which makes it more "standard" if you want to use that phrase.

2.The first four station ports of the main cabinet are analog or digital...at the same time not either or.

3.Voice mail is configured for 4x16 out of the box. Adding the VVMU expansion card can take it with a license key up to 8x32.

4. The Summit handles a max of 44 digital wired stations plus another 48 DECT phones by adding the Wireless tech board and an array of base stations.

5. 2 voip channels out of the box, expandable to 8 when the same VVMU that expands the voice mail is installed.

6. Two Control units: the KSUAD comes with 4 analog co ports. A PRI CANNOT be added to this unit. The KSUID comes with no analog ports but they can be added with a 4x8 expansion card (not 3x8) and you can add a PRI as well. The PRI card is about the size of two thick post it notes.

7. This system is really small. The box takes up less wall space than the SBX but it is a bit deeper. The Expansion KSU is attached using two proprietary HDMI cables (they can be screwed in and they are a certain required length)

8. New NAD ram battery. It will never go dead, never.

9. Really strong get a license to turn em on applications. Mobility apps on Itunes and Google play. Can program the system from a smartphone, tablet or pc using Chrome IE 10 or above, Firefox. This system and XP may not get along for long.

10. The new phone sets are really good full duplex speakerphones plus you can use the legacy phones, Vertical Edge phones, SBX phones as well.

Any deep questions I will be happy to answer.

I went to the class at DC. I got a system here that I'm playing with. I must be getting to old to learn this stuff, but I think the documentation is terrible. No more user guides for the phones, they are on cd for each phone. It is a lot like the SBX & I can see some things easier to do. But I can't find how to do some of the first things I do with any system. First, all 4 co lines blink right out of the box. The only way to shut off the blinking is connect to a co line. Can't find how to put unused lines in different group & put out the lights. When you put them in another group, they still flash. This is going to take some time to learn.

David

Great update Derrick.

Put all unused lines in group 21, no where else.

They still flash in group 21

Use admin to reprogram the buttons as user keys instead of line keys.

Vertical has given me both ACD and networking codes when I replace MPB cards. I'm not sure why you had difficulty.

FYI, Desi is now selling a masking label for the buttons with symbols.
https://labels.desi.com/product-exe...9008D_Vertical_9000_30_btn_Masking_Label

Nice. That is great. I will check and see if they have for the wave ip phones as well. Since they are making them I must not be the only one who wants them. Thanks

On the Summit, how do you use a modem for remote programming etc. What is the feature number, and do you use hyperterminal, or what. Thanks in advance.

No modem, you use an ip address and web browser to program it remotely.

We just installed the Ericsson LG branded version of the Summit (eMG80) and I like the system so far. Found out that the bluetooth option will probably never be available in the states because it runs A-law codec. Apparently the 9000 series phones also don't have electronic hook switches so a lifter will be needed for wireless headsets unless we find another solution.

I attended the Vertical Summit webinar yesterday. Most of the information I already knew, but there are some good things coming in Phase 2 in a few months.

1. System will go to somewhere around 500 stations using multiple cabinets. I don't know how many of each kind, ip, sip etc. But I do know it will handle at least 100 digital phones.

2. Huge improvements with the call reporting, ACD, and Unified communications. The system will allow ACD management over multiple sites.

3. Lots of new and improved Web based aps.

I think the webinar will be posted on V-connect soon. Oh, before I forget, there will be an enhanced certification class online starting sometime next month for phase 2.

New item...in order to retrieve voice mail messages from outside the office...the option for enter station number and password must be enabled (which it is by default) and a station auth code has to programmed as well.