3CX Assistant preview

And here it is. A sneak preview of the new 3CX Assistant. What will it do? Well its an easy to use utility to allow users to manage their extension - take, transfer or park calls. It works in tandem with any phone. It also shows presence of all other users, and can be used to see Queue status as well if you have the rights.

We are working on a beta, which should be available in a few weeks time.

Stay tuned!

Data, Data….. Where are you? Gdrive is calling…..

Considering the flurry of news about the rumored Gdrive today, it would appear that the much awaited Google Gdrive data storage is just around the corner. And this is good news for Google fans like myself. Although there are several free data storage services available, I prefer to have it all tied to my google account.

I am assuming the new Gdrive service will be free, though I don’t see how they will be getting ad revenue out of it. Wait… maybe they will insert ads into the documents you store on the free space? :-)

Together with the Gdrive rumors are the forecasts of the death of the PC and as always Microsoft. I really cant see how an online data storage service means the death of the PC or Microsoft for that matter. We are going to need a user friendly OS, and therefore Windows, to keep running our applications, and access our shiny new online data storage.

New 3CX Softphone

Over the past few months we have been working on a new, light weight soft phone. It should be quicker to install, load and easier to use.

Get more information about it here.

Or download it directly here.

Let us know what you think!

Nortel bankrupt!

A few months ago i wrote about how i questioned the future of Nortel, the biggest
telecommunications vendor in North America. Nortel just filed for bankruptcy! Even I didn't think it was going to go this fast!

Nortel lost a whopping C$3,4 billion in the third quarter. Its shares were down to 11 canadian dollar cents, making its market cap a mere C$57 million. In 2000, its market cap was $350 billion. Hows that for loosing value? :-)

Blame it on the economy, if you want, but the fact is that Nortel just didn't have a future. Consequently it filed for Chapter 11. Probably the credit crunch was just a catalyst. Businesses are increasingly looking for communication tools that help them cut costs and become more productive and efficient, and this is something that in the PBX world only software-based phone systems like 3CX can offer.

I've always said that in the near future, we will see a strong consolidation trend across the VoIP & PBX industry. There will be more price competition, better quality and more innovative products and only those with the best offer will survive.

A happy new year to all and for VoIP!

First of all happy new year to all of you! I believe 2009 will prove to have many positive sides to it. Out with the old, in with the new as they say! The shake up of the financial world will undoubtedly continue, but as with every shake up, a great many new opportunities will be created for those that can act swiftly, nimbly and more cost effectively. Shake ups create an even playing field as it allows new companies to challenge the old established ones. It forces companies to change.

Being swift and nimble requires state of the art communications and mobility - empowering your users to work from anywhere. And all this must happen whilst making your company communications more cost effective. There is only one technology that can make this happen and its VoIP! VoIP is inexpensive to deploy and could make the difference between ‘being shaken up’ as opposed to ‘doing the shaking up’

VoIP technology is ready for prime time and I believe 2009 will be a great year for VoIP!