Speaking to Comms Business Magazine last night Milnes said that the company has downsized but was definitely trading and the UK office was open for business.
“Staff layoffs were required to bring the company back in to profitability are at least temporary until we get additional financing. The company has not shut down, we continue to sell and support products globally, and each of our offices around the world is staffed.
“We have had a reduction in personnel globally. We have been seeking capital to expand the business and that has not yet materialised. There are offers on the table and we hope soon to announce the complete rehiring of all personnel.
“While some of our competitors would like to spread the rumour, news of our death is premature!” he said alluding to Mark Twain’s famous quote.”
One of the key catalysts for believing the company had stopped trading had been the automatic email responses coming back from the US marketing team at Zultys which starkly noted: “Unfortunately, Zultys has ceased day-to-day operations as of July 26, 2006. All company inquiries should be directed to Iain Milnes, president of Zultys Technologies.”
Milnes told Comms Business Magazine that auto responses had now been changed to reflect the clarified position.
However, the same Zultys marketing team member later contacted us again to say:
“As you probably know by now, Zultys has ceased day-to-day operations. When I arrived at the office on Wednesday morning, I (along with all other employees) was notified that all were being laid off effective immediately. Zultys executives had been involved in presentations to several interested investor groups, but apparently all pulled out - the last one on Tuesday evening. There was not enough money on hand to make payroll, so Iain (Milnes) decided to close the doors. It was quite a shock.”
Last month the company released a new range of phones and version 3 of their PBX was heralded by many of its channel partners as excellent.
Comms Business Magazine spoke to one of Zultys US distributors, North Carolina based CTD where principal George Sanderson said, “Zultys is a great product and we continue to take and ship orders. There are issues regarding funding and we hope these will be resolved. To be honest the troubles have come at a time when their product is at its strongest. The new phones and version three of the product make Zultys a powerful proposition.”