3CX Phone System version 6 on the way

The 3CX development team have been keeping busy over the past few months, and I am happy to report that version 6 of 3CX Phone System is just around the corner. We have added numerous features, including;

• Conferencing server - to make conference calls with up to 32 callers
• Intercom - intercom/page any extension
• Call Queue status update information from the 3CX Softphone / VOIP client
• See parked calls in 3CX Softphone / VOIP client
• See all active calls in the system from the admin interface - ability to disconnect calls
• Improved provisioning - we can now also provision the BLF lights on a phone
• Phonebook - we can provision the most popular phones with a phonebook
• HTTP API to enable/disable call recording for any extension
• HTTP API to disable/enable extensions or to disable outbound calls for an extension
• Improved call logging with extensible call reports
• Improved IVR and Call Queue functionality

We have also spent considerable work on the backup and restore procedure. Version 6 should be a painless upgrade, not requiring separate backup and restore and making the restore process much faster. (reduced from hours to minutes)

All in all a considerable upgrade from v5.1. We we're not able to add the new interface yet, but its in the works. We are hoping to release a beta of v6 within the next 2 weeks......

Aastra and Linksys support added

At CEBIT I met up with Product managers of Aastra and Linksys phones. With their support we have been able improve our support for both phone brands of phones. Build 4393 of 3CX Phone System now includes provisioning support for Aastra phones as well as BLF support.

Linksys provisioning support will be added by next week, whilst Linksys has announced BLF support in its new firmwares out in about 1-2 months. (BLF support is already available on Linksys 962 phones, but we need to make changes to support Linksys BLF) We are busy working on supporting Linksys BLF in version 6 of 3CX Phone System - due out some time in May.

The good thing is that companies now have more choice of phones they can use with 3CX: Aastra, Linksys, Grandstream, Polycom and of course SNOM.

CEBIT 08 – some observations in regards to VOIP

Just got back from the yearly ‘CEBIT trip’. It was the first time we represented 3CX at the worlds number one IT fair. We exhibited in Hall 13, and I joined my Colleagues Chris, Kevin from 3CX and Andreas from our distributor Ebertlang.

I must have spoken/demo’d 3CX to at least 100 people – and noticed a number of trends in the VOIP business:

• Hall 13 – more or less the ‘VOIP’ hall, was one of the strongest visited sections of the show. There was constant and strong traffic. It would seem that VOIP is gaining in popularity and the market is ready to start mass deployment
• The use of VOIP gateways rather then PCI add in cards is clearly more advantageous – people are seeing the advantages of taking the Analog/ISDN to IP conversion off the box and making the gateway independent from operating system versions. Especially in the linux area where a kernel update can effect the device drivers of the voice cards.
• Virtualization of the PBX seems to be well received. Rather then using a separate IP PBX appliance, virtualize the PBX under Vmware, or Hyper V of Windows 2008 server.
• VOIP equipment is becoming more mature and more widely available. I picked up a Siemens DECT IP phone for 80 euros at the local Media markt in Hannover – something that was unthinkable a year ago. It worked out of the box with 3CX Phone System

3CX Phone System v5.1 with tunnel feature available!

We finally got it ready – 3CX Phone System V5.1. A lot of hard work of the 3CX team went into that one, and I think it shows. We have made numerous improvements and fixes, and introduced the much awaited 3CX Tunnel feature. The 3CX Tunnel allows for remote extensions and branch offices to be connected via a single TCP port.

You no longer need to open a range of ports for RDP and SIP traffic but you can tunnel it all over a single, configurable port. That means you can use port 80 (if you are not using a web server in your office location) and be sure that remote extensions can connect from anywhere, even if they are in hotel or airport wifi networks which sometimes block higher ports in order to block VOIP traffic.

The 3CX tunnels regular SIP traffic, which means that you can use popular SIP hardware phones as remote extensions. They simply use the 3CX tunnel as an outbound proxy. See a configuration guide here. This in contrast to other tunneling protocols such as IAX which require the remote party to implement the IAX protocol and thus limit the devices/software that you can use. Download 3CX Phone System V5.1 here.

3CX Phone System V5 stable beta out

It took some time, but today we finally uploaded a really good beta of 3CX Phone System V5. The reason it took so long is because we packed a lot of new functionality in there. We also made significant changes to our phone system in order to prepare for new features and scale even better.

3CX Phone System V5 adds 3CX bridges, allowing for easy connection of remote branch offices. It has a built in VPN to allow external extensions to connect with a minimum of firewall configuration. It features phone provisioning, call recording, an inbound fax server, sip forking, BLF (so that you can see busy status of other lines on the phone), SIP trunking and G729 codec support. Many other the hood features too, such as a fully configurable SIP templating system. Check out version 5 by going to our version 5 beta forum

3CX Enterprise Edition is ready

3CX released the Enterprise edition of its new product 3CX Phone System, a Windows-based IP PBX / SIP server that completely replaces a proprietary PABX. 3CX Phone System is based on the open SIP standard and interoperates with a wide range of popular SIP phones, VOIP Gateways and SIP-based providers. The Enterprise edition of 3CX Phone System implements enterprise telephony features such as Call Queuing and Exchange 2007 integration. It has been independently tested and certified for Microsoft Windows 2003.

The Call Queuing feature allows companies to hold callers in a queue, whilst agents answer calls. Agents are able to login and logout to queues from Windows seeing the exact number of callers in the queue.

The Exchange 2007 integration feature allows 3CX Phone System to use the Unified Messaging Server in Exchange Server 2007 as the voice mail server. This way, users can connect to their Exchange Server to listen to their calendar, have Exchange read out mails and receive their voice mail in their email inbox.

“The release of 3CX Phone System Enterprise edition is set to accelerate the massive change occurring in the Enterprise Telephony market space. With 3CX Phone System Enterprise Edition, advanced features such as Call Queuing can now be obtained for a fraction of the price of traditional Enterprise PBXs. What’s more, advanced features such as integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging are not even available on today’s proprietary PBXs,” said Nick Galea, 3CX CEO.

Key features of 3CX Phone System Enterprise Edition:

• Complete office phone system - provides call switching, routing & queuing
• Eliminates phone wiring & patching of extensions to a particular network point
• Makes teleworking easy because employees can answer extension from home
• Purchase cost dramatically lower than a traditional hardware PBX
• Scalable - Unlimited extensions and phone lines. No proprietary expansion modules needed!
• Web-based configuration & status indication - Easy phone system management!
• Unified messaging - Receive voice mail via e-mail
• Auto attendant (e.g. 1 for sales, 2 for support etc.)
• Reduces long distance and inter office call costs using VOIP providers.
• Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging integration
• Call Queues
• Certified for Windows 2003

Four available editions: Small Business, Pro, Enterprise and Free
3CX Phone System for Windows is available in 4 editions: The Small Business Phone System Edition supports up to 25 extensions, the Pro edition supports an unlimited number of extensions. The Enterprise edition includes advanced features such as Exchange 2007 integration and Call Queuing. Pricing is competitive: Small Business costs $350, the Pro runs at $895 and Enterprise costs $1250.

3CX Phone System Free edition
A free edition, supporting an unlimited number of extensions, is also available. The main difference with Pro and Small Business is that it’s not possible to buy a support package for the free edition, nor does it include the advanced features of 3CX Call Assistant. Not withstanding, the Free Edition does more than most commercial PBXs do; including an auto attendant, voice mail and even user-to-user support via the 3CX moderated product forums at http://www.3cx.com/forums/. The free edition can be downloaded from here.

Information in German , Spanish, French , Italian and Portuguese

3Cx Phone System 3.1 released

Its been a very intensive 2 months working on this latest version of 3Cx Phone System. Its a major step forward since we have reworked the interface and included support for many more gateways and providers.

Download the beta here http://www.3cx.com/downloads/3cxphonesystem3_2295.exe

3CX Phone System gets gold award...

3CX Phone System windows Gold award...

3CX today announced that WindowsNetworking.com, one of the leading resource sites for network administrators and IT professionals, awarded 3CX Phone System the prestigious Gold award. The award serves as a mark of excellence and dependability, providing the ultimate recognition from peers within the industry.

“Only outstanding products receive the WindowsNetworking.com Gold award. In winning this, 3CX Phone System has distinguished itself as a solid, innovative, and essential product,” said Sean Buttigieg, Managing Director, TechGenix.

The WindowsNetworking.com review team consists of leading authors and administrators, experienced in offering advice to network administrators in order to set up, maintain and troubleshoot network environments of any size from SMBs to the corporate enterprise.

“We are honored to receive this award from WindowsNetworking.com as the site is a leading resource site and held in very high regard. Being recognized by editors from such a prestigious website is great reward for our product,” said Nick Galea, CEO 3CX.

Read the full review at: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/3CX-Product-Review.html

We're going east...

Released this press release today : http://www.3cx.com/news/asia-offices.html

3cx Opens offices in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea to serve booming Asian IP PBX software market.

The IP PBX / VOIP market is increasing at a staggering rate and Asia is no exception. According to a study conducted by consulting company Frost & Sullivan, in 2002, sales of IP PBX systems in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, were at US$100.8 million. In 2005, this number multiplied by 10 times and reached US$1.1 billion. According to predictions, sales are expected to reach an astounding US$3.2 billion by 2012 in the region.

3CX will be capitalizing on this growth and is setting up a partner network of resellers and distributors across the region. To this end 3CX has opened offices in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan and is planning to open another office in China in the coming months. 3CX has already setup localized websites including Japanese (www.3cx.jp), Traditional Chinese (www.3cx.hk), Simplified Chinese (www.3cx.cn), Vietnamese (www.3cx.vn) Korean (www.3cx.co.kr) and Malaysian (www.3cx.com.my). In addition, 3CX will be localizing the interface of 3CX Phone System for Windows.

“VOIP is booming in Asia. 3CX is in an ideal position to capitalize on this growth. We will be setting up a network of value added distributors and resellers as well as localizing the software in all major Asian languages, including Japanese, Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chinese," said Mr. Nick Galea, CEO 3CX.