Press Release

World’s first small-enterprise, IP-ready hybrid phone system hits market

ESI first to build all-in-one system with remote phone and multi-site capabilities

Plano, Texas, February 7, 2001 — While global manufacturers continue to tinker in the lab and industry pundits tout voice over IP (VoIP) as the future technology of telephone communications, an innovative private telephone system manufacturer in Plano, Texas is already building and shipping an IP-ready digital PBX system targeted for smaller enterprises, the new IVX® 128 Plus.

ESI’s network of authorized resellers are the first interconnect providers in the U.S. qualified to offer this new hybrid technology. ESI’s IVX Series digital phone system has been available for over four years and has proven to be the most feature-rich and cost-competitive system available for small to mid-sized businesses. Now, with IVX 128 Plus, ESI has broken the technology barrier and delivered true network-based communications as an integral part of the proven IVX platform. This new hybrid technology allows both traditional telephone switched signaling and network-based VoIP packet signaling through a single, free-standing telephone system.

Doug Boyd, President of ESI, said, “This means small to mid-sized businesses can buy the finest, easiest to use, all-digital system today, and have confidence that it will meet their future potential needs for routing calls over LAN/WAN systems for remote-phone and multi-site capabilities. There is nothing else available today that even comes close.”

Based in Plano, Texas, ESI has been a leading telecom innovator since 1987.

Innovative technology

Not only will ESI’s new system offer remote phone capability (allowing fully functional “virtual extensions” to be connected from off-site), users will also be able to have extension phone connections in offices in other cities, known as multi-site capability. The system is also designed to accept an optional ISDN/PRI port card to offer all of IVX’s award-winning functionality over a wideband connection.

ESI’s flagship IVX Series has won many industry awards for outstanding design, including Teleconnect’s “Product of the Year.” Eric Suder, ESI’s founder and CEO, said, “We approach product design from the end users’ perspective. Our goal is to make phone systems with features that customers not only want, but can actually use because of our intuitive, easy to understand approach [to functionality]. Nobody else had solved the technology puzzle of how to make voice over IP reliable, secure, and feature-rich, and yet maintain high voice quality with low costs. We were confident we could accomplish all this as a natural extension of our highly-engineered IVX 128 platform.”

Network connectivity is accomplished on the new IVX 128 Plus through an optional IP card, while the heart of the system is the proven IVX platform that allows the cost effective mix of IP phones with digital and analog phone sets. ESI has also developed two all-IP systems, the IP 200 and IP 40, for those applications that will benefit from 100% Ethernet-based connectivity and IP phone sets across the system. The IP Series, hailed as “Product of the Year” by Internet Telephony Magazine and “Key System of the Year” by Teleconnect Magazine, will begin shipping this spring. Continuing with the IVX value pricing philosophy, ESI’s IP Series is priced significantly below other all-IP systems currently available.

Superior features

Not to be overlooked are the outstanding functional features of the system that has made ESI’s IVX Series a best seller. The IVX 128 Plus includes voice mail with 16 ports and over 140 hours of voice storage, automated attendant, automatic call distributor, one button call recording, AutoPage (which allows the caller to direct the system to automatically page the user), off-premises “reach me” call forwarding, and the Virtual Answer Key™ (which allows users to prerecord custom greeting messages which can be directed to only specific callers).

A pioneer in digital voice mail systems, ESI introduced the IVX series in 1996 as the first all-in-one digital phone system for smaller applications. Spurred by the system’s popularity, ESI has steadily grown by more than 40 percent annually. Suder explains, “We’re nimble enough to respond very, very quickly to the demands of the marketplace. We have some of the most innovative telecom engineering minds in the world, and a gutsy, ‘don’t tell me I can’t do that’ attitude throughout the company. ESI is rapidly becoming recognized as the leading innovative manufacturer of high-technology phone systems for small and mid-sized businesses.”

Boyd agrees: “There are dozens of manufacturers out there, but ESI’s products are the best overall combination of features, price and innovation, backed up by high quality and terrific service support. The expanded IVX capabilities offer the latest in network-based capabilities within the proven design of a legacy, all-digital system.” Boyd confirmed that the new IVX 128 Plus is now shipping to dealers and encourages those interested in learning more to contact their local ESI authorized reseller or visit ESI’s Web site: www.esi-estech.com.

***

Note: IVX is a registered trademark of ESI (Estech Systems, Inc.). Other registered trade names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. ESI’s IVX Series and IP Series products are protected by U.S. Patent 6,067,349 and others pending.