1.Could you please give us an introduction to yourself, and Zed-3?

Iain Milnes, president of Zed-3, was born and educated in the UK. He started work as an electronic design engineer and worked at Hewlett-Packard in Scotland for four years. Iain was transferred by HP to the USA and has since lived and worked in California for 23 years. Iain moved to Silicon Valley in 1985 where he started his first company in 1987, his second in 1989, his third (Zarak Systems Corporation) in 1994. Iain sold Zarak in November 2000 for $420M USD. After Zarak, Iain moved his focus to the field of SIP IP PBXs. He went on to start his fourth company (Zultys Technologies) in 2001 which he left in 2006 after setting Zultys as a global brand in the IP communications industry. Iain started Zed-3 in January 2007 mainly focusing on the market in Asia.

Iain has been president and chairman of each of the companies he has started. With each company, Iain has focused on excellence at all levels of the organization. He has brought drive, enthusiasm, and vision to the company and has inspired employees to meet or exceed expectations. Iain’s strengths lie in corporate formation and governance, in engineering management, and in international sales and marketing. With each company there has been a focus on designing, marketing, and selling products globally, and that is a focus that he is vigorously pursuing with Zed-3.

Zed-3 is a manufacturer of voice over IP products sold globally. The company has its headquarters in the US and has regional offices in Beijing, Singapore, and Bangalore (India) for marketing, sales, and support. The focus is on products that function well and meet the needs of the customers.

2.As the founder of Zultys and Zed-3, what value, experience, and maybe lessons, will you bring to the new start up?

Zultys designed products that became the technology market leader. This came at a price that was out of reach for markets outside the USA and Western Europe. At Zed-3, we are making products that retain a set of features and functions most requested by the market in Asia. This allows us to produce products that have a much lower price that those of Zultys.

The knowledge of the market comes from the involvement of five years Iain took to establish the presence in Asia. Also, with many personal contacts throughout the region, Zed-3 has been able to quickly establish sales offices each staffed with a competent team of people. We have also been able to partner with value added distributors and value added resellers throughout the region who can provide direct service to the end users of the products.

3.How different, in terms of technology and marketing, is Zed-3 from Zultys?

The technology is more applicable to the market. That is, expensive technology is not used to make excessive features. Quality is improved by having products that are more optimized. Most marketing is done through the channel partners who are in touch with the customer base. In Asia, people buy from people, so the partners sell the relationship first and the product second.

4.How do you view the China market?

I have been serving the market in China for over 10 years, starting with Zarak, then Zultys and now Zed-3. During that time, there has been a great shift in the acceptance of this type of product and the market is very receptive to IP telephony.

Strategically, we have a major R&D centre in Beijing so we are able to build products that are localized for the Chinese market first and the rest of the world second. I think this gives us a huge advantage and see the prospects as very good in the long term.

5.Could you elaborate on Zed-3’s core advantages?

This has been answered above, but in general, the key advantages are: US brand with focus on quality; local service and support; good technology; local R&D.

6.As we know, Zed-3 merged with another IP product company, would you like introduce some details, and what will be reinforced after the merger?

I started Zed-3 to provide sales and marketing into Asia, then the Middle East, then Latin America, and finally the rest of the world. I sought a US company that had great technology that needed the skills of me and the team I had assembled. There had to be a match and I had to be satisfied that we could be successful. The senior people at the technology company had to have the right attitude, with a commitment to quality and a desire to strive for a global market. I think the company we have now formed provides all those things.

7.By focusing on Asia, do you aim primarily at the lower cost, or the potential of this market?

Products from Zed-3 are specifically targeted at the market in Asia. With a major R&D centre in Beijing, the company is well positioned to respond to the market demand within Asia. Products are priced right for the market, but the company focuses on the quality of its products and our service and support to attract customers.

8.How soon do you plan to turn Zed-3 profitable? How?

We will be profitable by 1Q08. We continue with the business of the earlier organization, of selling products on an OEM basis. We have many clients in China, some in Korea, and one in North America.

The channel sales, that is, of products under the Zed-3 brand, are now taking off, and will likely exceed the sales of OEM products in 1Q08. By then we will be profitable and we have plans to build up the sales, marketing, and support teams to build on that growth.

9.Tell us about the new team.

Throughout Asia, all of the former Zultys employees are now working for Zed-3. We therefore have a long history of working together and we have continuity of working with our business partners in the region.

10.How optimistic are you toward the IPT market, especially, China?

The market in China is a special market compared with many other countries because of operating limitations. We therefore are focusing on the SME business and believe that because of the huge economic expansion there is a lot of opportunity.