The VoIP-News Enterprise PBX Buyer's Guide

On premise IP PBX systems provide a great upgrade path for medium to large businesses to move to VoIP and get a wide range of new features and capabilities for their phone systems and business operations. In this buyer’s guide you will find details on what to look for, how to buy, what you can expect to pay, and how to get the most out of your investment in VoIP. You'll learn about the critical features and issues that will help you differentiate between the wide range of solutions on the market from established vendors like Avaya, Cisco or Nortel and also upstart new vendors like Fonality and Shoretel. This document covers the following topics:

  • Premise-Based PBX Overview
  • Market Overview
  • The Benefits of Premise-Based PBX
  • Descriptions of Basic and Advanced Features
  • Cost Breakdown

3CX and VoIPon Offer Enterprise Level IP Telephony Solution for Businesses

A fully integrated and easy to use VoIP solution is delivered through tested interoperability

London, 9 April, 2008 – 3CX (www.3cx.com), the international developer of the multi-awarded 3CX Phone System for Windows, and VoIPon (www.voipon.co.uk), a worldwide business to business distributor of the highest quality voice over IP solutions, have announced a strategic alliance providing a fully integrated business grade voice solution using VoIP (voice over IP) telecommunications technology.

Companies using 3CX IP PBX for Windows can now take advantage of the many voice services in VoIPon’s portfolio with assurance that the products have been tested for interoperability. The solution, which integrates VoIP and SIP technologies, is intended to help businesses increase employees’ mobility and productivity while reducing the cost of local and international telephone calls.

“We are pleased to have achieved comprehensive interoperability with VoIPon services”, said Nick Galea, CEO of 3CX. "The combination of VoIPon voice services and 3CX Phone System for Windows delivers a great value and innovative IP telephony solution that enables the business community to reduce telecommunications costs and to boost their profit margins."

Alexis Argent, Sales Manager at VoIPon Solutions said: "We are excited to have 3CX as a partner. 3CX Phone System for Windows has a unique feature set that is ideal for the SMB market and perfect for our customers. It offers a scaleable and easy to install alternative to proprietary PBX telephony solutions; and with VoIPon services the solution can help businesses enjoy substantial savings on traditional telephone bills."

The solution is offered worldwide, providing businesses with VoIPon services such as call credit, incoming 01/02 Geographic numbers, 0800 VoIP freephone number, 0845 VoIP local number, VoIPon tariffs, and much more, all securing low call rates. This is brought together with 3CX software-based IP PBX, a phone system that is extremely simple to install and configure, and yet includes advance features such as integrated fax server, phone provisioning, and unified messaging.

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About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in Cyprus, USA, UK and Hong Kong. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and is backed by an experienced management and development team. Its product, 3CX Phone System for Windows, developed specifically for the SMB market, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including the TMC Labs 2007 Innovation Award, The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, as well as, the IT EXPO Best of Show award 2007 and the INTERNET Telephony Magazine Product of the Year Award, all in recognition to the company’s commitment to innovation and quality. 3CX maintains a global presence with offices in four countries and localized information available in various languages.

About VoIPon Solutions

VoIPon is a trading division of Keison International Ltd, which has been successfully distributing industrial products around the world for over 20 years. VoIPon utilises this experience in the rapidly expanding area of voice over IP telecommunications technology. Since 2005, VoIP on has gone from strength to strength, growing rapidly year on year by diversifying their product portfolio and building ongoing relationships with manufacturers and re-sellers, cementing their reputation as one of the most progressive companies in their field. VoIPon’s portfolio features the widest range of market leading brands available today. VoIPon shares the industry's vision, and believes in this market's potential, due to the multiple innovations and benefits available through VoIP. VoIPon is accredited to both ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 Quality and Environmental international standards.

3CX and snom Team Up to Deliver a Comprehensive VoIP Telephony Solution

The strategic partnership secures an integrated solution pairing 3CX IP PBX for Windows with snom VoIP phones to deliver mobility, productivity and cost-saving advantages to businesses.

Hannover, Germany – 29 February 2008 – 3CX (www.3cx.com), developer of the award-winning software-based IP PBX for Windows, and snom technology AG (www.snom.com), developer and manufacturer of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones, have announced that interoperability testing between their products has been completed successfully. This certified interoperability ensures that small and medium businesses have access to a reliable and affordable VoIP solution when using 3CX’s software-based IP PBX for Windows together with snom’s VoIP-based products.

Businesses looking to replace their traditional proprietary hardware PBXs with an easy to install, manage and use VoIP Telephony system can now benefit from the very cost effective combined solution of 3CX Phone System for Windows and snom’s VoIP phones, knowing that it is and fully supported by both vendors. Furthermore, businesses can now easily implement a complete telephone system that helps them give employees mobility, rids them of costly phone tag and reduces administration and training time by IT staff.

Nick Galea, 3CX CEO said: “We are delighted to confirm 3CX IP PBX interoperability with snom VoIP products. Companies can now implement a complete and reliable software-based IP PBX solution that is more manageable and scaleable than traditional PBXs and also costs a fraction of the price, whilst delivering more features.”

Dr. Michael Knieling, Executive VP of Marketing and Sales, snom technology AG said: “"Interoperability is extremely important in the world of VoIP nowadays and we are pleased to have completed all the required tests to secure that snom and 3CX can offer the SMB market an excellent value and innovative solution that poses no instability risks to businesses.”

Key advantages of 3CX & snom VoIP telephony solution

  • Increases mobility – allows workers to be seamlessly integrated to the company’s phone system any time, any place.
  • Eliminates expensive telephone tag by allowing users to see if colleagues are there or not.
  • Businesses profit from less costs and more features compared to traditional telephone systems.

Both companies are participating as exhibitors at CeBIT 2008 from March 4-9 in Hannover, Germany (Hall 13 Booth D26).

About 3CX

3CX (www.3cx.com) is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in Cyprus, USA, UK and Hong Kong. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and is backed by an experienced management and development team. The company is focused on the Windows IP PBX market with its innovative and award-winning 3CX Phone System for Windows, which has been developed for the SMB market. 3CX allows businesses to experience the multiple benefits of an IP PBX through its fully functional 3CX Phone System Free Edition and its commercially supported and competitively-priced Commercial Editions.

About snom

snom technology AG (http://www.snom.com) develops and manufactures Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephones and related equipment based on the IETF open standard, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Recognized for its high quality, customizable and cost-effective business solutions, snom is also differentiated by the company’s history in the VoIP industry, and its dedication to high security standards. All of snom’s software exists in the firmware on the phones – making it easier for users to download updates and new features. snom customers benefit from the interoperability and flexibility that the snom telephones offer, including plug and play integration and universal compatibility with any SIP-based telephony platform.

3CX Phone System v5.1 makes integration of remote workers and branch offices easy

3CX’s innovative tunnel makes firewall configuration for remote extensions using VoIP a breeze

London, UK - 20 February 08 – 3CX has announced the release of version 5.1 of 3CX Phone System for Windows. The latest version of the award-winning IP PBX has an integrated 3CX Tunnel which simplifies firewall configuration by channeling all VoIP traffic over a single port; making it easy for remote workers to connect to their company’s PBX and for Network Managers to connect different remote PBX systems between them. Traditionally, firewall configuration for remote SIP / VoIP systems and/or extensions can represent a challenge, because it requires many open ports.

Nick Galea, CEO at 3CX said: “We know how important it is for businesses nowadays to have remote workers and branches seamlessly integrated to their company’s phone system, and the addition of the 3CX Tunnel to 3CX Phone System for Windows facilitates this process.

“The 3CX Tunnel, unlike other similar tunneling protocols, is not proprietary and can be used with popular VoIP softphones and hard phones. This is ideal for businesses, as they can use a variety of telephone options with their IP PBX depending on their needs and budget.”

Key advantages of the 3CX Tunnel:

  • Easy firewall configuration – choose any port (ie. port 80) for seamless networking
  • Remote workers do not need to edit the firewall configuration to be able to connect to the IP PBX from any location (ie. home, hotels, conference centers, airports, etc.)
  • Mobility, productivity and cost-saving advantages for businesses from the integration of remote workers and branches to the company’s phone system

3CX Phone System for Windows allows businesses to completely break free from the restrictions of hardware-based, proprietary phone systems. Built on the open SIP standard, 3CX IP PBX interoperates with all popular SIP phones, VoIP Gateways and VoIP providers.

Main advantages of adopting 3CX Phone System for Windows:

  • Increases mobility – allows remote workers to be seamlessly integrated to the company’s phone system
  • Eliminates expensive telephone tag by using the inbuilt Presence feature
  • Simpler phone system administration via a web-based configuration
  • Vendor independent – significant cost savings by choosing VoIP provider and SIP equipment of choice
  • Delivers unified communications technology by merging voice and data networks, allowing businesses to simplify real time delivery of information.

Four available editions: Small Business, Pro, Enterprise and Free

3CX Phone System for Windows is available in four editions: Free, Small Business, Pro and Enterprise, all supporting an unlimited number of extensions. The Free edition is limited to 8 simultaneous calls, whereas the Small Business edition supports up to 8, the Pro version up to 16 and the Enterprise edition supports up to 32 simultaneous calls. Call capacity can be expanded with upgrade packs. A detailed edition comparison table can be found on http://www.3cx.com/phonesystem/edition-comparison.html

3CX Phone System Free edition

A Free edition, supporting an unlimited number of extensions, is also available. The Free edition can be downloaded from http://www.3cx.com/phone-system/download-phone-system.html.

# # #

About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in Cyprus, USA, UK and Hong Kong. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and is backed by an experienced management and development team. Its product, 3CX Phone System for Windows, developed specifically for the SMB market, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including the TMC Labs 2007 Innovation Award, The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, as well as, the IT EXPO Best of Show award 2007 and the INTERNET Telephony Magazine Product of the Year Award, all in recognition to the company’s commitment to innovation and quality. 3CX maintains a global presence with offices in four countries and localized information available in many languages.

Useful Links:

3CX website - www.3cx.com
3CX Case Studies & Testimonials - http://www.3cx.com/clients/index.html
IP PBX, SIP & VOIP FAQ - http://www.3cx.com/PBX/SIP-faq.html
Nick Galea’s blog - www.nickonit.com

The Free edition of Acunetix Cross Site Scripting Security Scanner reaches 50,000 downloads in only 20 weeks

The Free edition of Acunetix Cross Site Scripting Security Scanner reaches 50,000 downloads in only 20 weeks

Businesses have been quick to identify the benefits of protecting their websites from the growing threat of Cross Site Scripting vulnerabilities

London, UK – 25 January 2008 – Acunetix announced today that the Free Edition of its web vulnerability scanner has been downloaded more than 50,000 times since its launch in early September 2007. Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner (WVS) allows companies to test for cross site scripting vulnerabilities in their websites without incurring any costs.

Sarah Tabone, Sales & Operations Manager at Acunetix said, “We are delighted to see that the free edition of our product has been so well received in such a short period of time. Businesses are starting to recognize the danger their web sites are under and are using the free edition of Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner (WVS) to protect them.

“The free XSS scanner is giving security officers around the world access to a specialized cross site scanning tool that allows them to evaluate their web sites for the threat of cross site scripting.”

Hackers use Cross Site Scripting (XSS) to embed malicious scripts into a vulnerable dynamic page to deceive the user, executing the script on his/her machine to collect data. The use of XSS can compromise valuable private information, manipulate or steal cookies, create requests that can be taken for those of a valid user, or execute malicious code on the end-user systems. The data is typically formatted as a hyperlink with malicious content that is then distributed on the internet. Cross site scripting vulnerabilities are highly dangerous and there has been a serious increase in the number of the attacks in recent years.

The Free Edition of Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner is available at: http://www.acunetix.com/cross-site-scripting/scanner.htm.


About Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner ensures website security by automatically checking for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities. It checks password strength on authentication pages and automatically audits shopping carts, forms, dynamic content and other web applications. As the scan is being completed, the software produces detailed reports that pinpoint where vulnerabilities exist. Acunetix WVS Reporting Application allows security alerts to be presented in a document which abides by the PCI Compliance specification.

About Acunetix
Acunetix was founded to combat the alarming rise in web attacks. Its flagship product, Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner, is the result of several years of work by a team of highly experienced security developers. Acunetix is a privately held European company.

Meet us at INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO East 2008 in Miami

3CX to Feature Latest Version of its Phone System for Windows at INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO East 2008 in Miami

Miami, Florida — 20 December 2007 — 3CX today announced it will have the latest version of its IP PBX for Windows, 3CX Phone System, on display at TMC’s INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO East 2008 (booth #327), from January 23 to 25, 2008 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Florida (www.itexpo.com).

INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO is the world’s largest and best-attended IP Communications trade show. Last year’s East coast event, held in South Florida in January, drew over 7,000 buyers and sellers of IP Communications products and services. The upcoming show in January will be the 17th INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, and TMC projects total attendance to exceed 7,500.

“3CX participation at INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO exemplifies why this show is widely recognized as the #1 venue where service providers, enterprises, government agencies, developers and resellers gather to learn about the benefits inherent in IP Communications products and services,” said Rich Tehrani, TMC President. “The evolution in this industry has been monumental and it still continues to grow. We are proud to have 3CX and 3CX Phone System for Windows as a key part of this year’s program telefonközpont.”

3CX Phone System for Windows is an award-winning software-based IP PBX that replaces traditional proprietary hardware PBX. It is entirely SIP-standard based, and therefore interoperates with most popular SIP phones, SIP VoIP Gateways and SIP VoIP providers. It frees businesses from the shackle of hardware-based proprietary phone systems and is very easy to manage by system administrators as it integrates well with Windows Network infrastructure.

3CX Phone System for Windows won a “Best of Show” Award at Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC®)’s INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West 2007, which took place in September 2007.

“We are excited to be participating as exhibitors at INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO as this is a great opportunity for us to promote our innovative product. We have just launched version 5 of 3CX Phone System for Windows with a set of features that help businesses give employees mobility, rids them of costly telephone tag and reduces administration and training time by IT staff. We look forward to meeting the key players in the industry who will attend the event and to promoting our product to them,” said Nick Galea, CEO 3CX.

Registration for the show is now open. Anyone interested may register by visiting www.itexpo.com.

About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in Cyprus, USA, UK and Hong Kong. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and is backed by an experienced management and development team. The company is focused on the Windows IP PBX market with its innovative 3CX Phone System for Windows, which has been developed specifically for the SMB market. For additional information on 3CX please visit www.3cx.com.

About TMC®

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) publishes four print publications: Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, SIP Magazine and IMS Magazine. TMCnet, TMC's Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. Ranked in the top 1,600 sites in the world by alexa.com*, TMCnet serves more than one million unique visitors each month. TMC is also the first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories, TMC Labs. In addition, TMC produces INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, Communications Developer Conference, VoIP Demo, IMS Expo and Call Center 2.0 Conference. TMCnet.com publishes more than 15 topical online newsletters. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com. (*alexa.com is an Amazon.com company that ranks Web sites by their traffic levels. Neither alexa.com nor amazon.com is affiliated with TMCnet.)

3CX Proves That Soft Is Better Than Hard - When It Comes To Phone Systems

3CX’s software-based phone system frees businesses from proprietary hardware with an easy to install, manage and use SIP-based IP PBX

London, UK - 05/12/07 – 3CX has announced the release of version 5 of 3CX Phone System for Windows; the newest version of their award-winning software-based VOIP PBX for Windows which helps businesses give employees mobility, rids them of costly phone tag and reduces administration and training time by IT staff.

3CX Phone System allows businesses to completely break free from the shackle of hardware-based, proprietary phone systems. Built on the open SIP standard, 3CX Phone System interoperates with all popular SIP phones, VOIP Gateways and VOIP providers.

Nick Galea, CEO at 3CX said, “We are excited to deliver version 5 of 3CX Phone System at a time when the market is realizing that proprietary, hardware-based PBXs are becoming obsolete. 3CX IP PBX is a modern software based PBX that evolves the communication of businesses to the 21st century, by delivering mobility, productivity and cost-saving advantages”.

Key advantages of adopting 3CX Phone System:

  • Increases mobility – allows remote workers and tele-workers to be seamlessly integrated to the company’s phone system
  • Eliminates expensive telephone tag using the inbuilt Presence feature
  • Easier phone system administration via a web-based configuration
  • Vendor independent – significant cost savings by choosing VOIP provider and SIP equipment of choice

“The feedback we have received from clients following the successful deployment of our previous versions in thousands of sites is very positive, and I feel confident that with all the great new features that we have incorporated in this new version, our product will help SMBs get even more advantages out of the migration to a software based PBX in a cost-effective and innovative way”, added Nick Galea.

Key new features of 3CX Phone System v5:

  • Call recording – easily record calls for monitoring purposes
  • Phone provisioning – set-up new extensions automatically
  • Firewall friendly VOIP client with included mini VPN – ideal for remote users
  • Integrated fax server
  • G729 codec support
  • 3CX bridges for branch offices
  • SIP Trunking support

And many other features that make 3CX Phone System easy to install, configure, manage and use; allowing employees to increase mobility and productivity.

Four available editions: Free, Small Business, Pro, Enterprise and Free
3CX Phone System for Windows is available in four editions, all supporting an unlimited number of extensions: The Small Business edition supports up to 8, the Pro edition up to 16 and the Enterprise edition up to 32 simultaneous calls. Pricing is very competitive: Small Business costs €375, the Pro runs at €795 and Enterprise costs €1150.

3CX Phone System Free edition
A Free edition, supporting an unlimited number of extensions, is also available. The main differences with the commercial editions are that it is not possible to buy a support package for the Free edition, it does not offer fax, call queuing, Exchange 2007 support, call pick up and call parking, MWI, presence (to check extension status of other users), remote configuration of extension options, G729 codec support, 3CX Bridges (to connect remote branch offices) and call recording. Not withstanding, the Free edition does more than most commercial PBXs do; it includes an auto attendant and Unified Messaging. The Free edition can be downloaded from http://www.3cx.com/phone-system/download-phone-system.html.

About 3CX
3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in Cyprus, USA, UK and Hong Kong. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and is backed by an experienced management and development team. Its product, 3CX Phone System for Windows, developed specifically for the SMB market, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including the TMC Labs 2007 Innovation Award, The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, as well as, the IT EXPO Best of Show award 2007, all in recognition to the company’s commitment to innovation and quality. 3CX maintains a global presence with offices in four countries and localized information available in German (http://www.3cx.de), Swedish (http://www.3cx.se), Norwegian (http://www.3cx.no), Finnish (http://www.3cx.fi), Dutch (http://www.3cx.nl), Spanish (http://www.3cx.es), French (http://www.3cx.fr), Italian (http://www.3cx.it), Portuguese (http://www.3cx.com.br), Japanese (http://www.3cx.jp), Simplified Chinese (http://www.3cx.cn) and many other languages. 3CX keeps a comprehensive IP PBX, SIP and VOIP FAQ on its website covering all the most common questions on the topic.

Useful Links:
3CX website: http://www.3cx.com
3CX Case Studies & Testimonials - http://www.3cx.com/clients/index.html
3CX Phone System Free, Small Business, Pro and Enterprise editions comparison table - http://www.3cx.com/phone-system/edition-comparison.html
IP PBX, SIP & VOIP FAQ - http://www.3cx.com/PBX/SIP-faq.html
Nick Galea’s blog – http://www.nickonit.com