Zed-3 is the company most people have never heard of but it is backed by telecom veteran Iain Milnes who launched Zarak -- the successful testing company later sold to Spirent and Zultys -- the company which made a huge splash in enterpise telecom, went bankrupt and later emerged from bankruptcy and is now up and running.
Milnes shared the details of how he founded Zed-3 about a year ago and more recently he announced a brand new product which he was excited to tell me has no match in the market.
I got Milnes to share his enthusiasm on a podcast where he explained the company has developed a modular gateway called the GS8 Modular Gateway where you can plug CDMA, GSM and analog modules enabling you to connect your communications system into a variety of wireless networks.
This solution allows you to connect your network directly to the wireless network of choice without the need to connect with a traditional telecom carrier. This product fits into the suite of phones and PBX systems the company sells and Milnes thinks this gateway will not only be used with their SIP products but expect to see it communicating with other SIP boxes and even other telecom systems not using IP.
I could go on and on talking about how you could create a virtual gateway with these devices and so on and how you could save a ton of money in many countries by bypassing more expensive phone networks but I would ruin the podcast for you which you definitely want to listen to.
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Why on earth do you waste your time on Milnes? He is a bust. Remember what he did to Zultys?!?
"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." - Abraham Lincoln
5 yrs ago he sold a company in the UK for ~$400M, I figure there is probably 20% FUD factor here... as he always said more than reality could support.
In March this year he said he invested $72M in Zultys but the motions from the court only mentioned $30? So who knows... more FUD on his part, probably?
Leaving him: ~$325M.
Divorce from wife #1 in CA: cost? worst case 50%: Leaving him ~ $160M
Divorce from wife #2 in CA: cost? worst case 50%: Leaving him ~ $80M
Two rather large and expensive houses in CA: (guess $5+M each): Leaving him ~ $70M
Cash he may have spent because he could on man-toys to feed his ego ($10M): Leaving him ~$50M
Figuring in BS, exaggeration, and FUD my guess is he has ~$20M to play with which may or may not be in liquid assets.
Plus, this product is nothing new. Cellular gateways for routing calls through a wireless network have been around for a while: http://www.multitech.com/PRODUCTS/Categories/Telephony/
The reason I cover Milnes and his company is the same reason I cover everyone else in the market -- because I have a covenant with my readers to cover all news and announcements objectively.
Generally, people make buying decisions based on product features and this podcast is a great way to ascertain if these products make sense for the customer to purchase.
MultiTech did launch similar products at the CTIA show a few years back – this is an accurate statement and I was briefed on this product line at the show.