VOIP and SIP News

3CX Windows based software PBX and Polycom audio quality convince Audio Industry Giant

LONDON, UK and Mountain View, Calif. - Sep 07, 2009 : Euphonix, a leading manufacturer of large-format digital audio consoles, media controllers, and peripherals, has provided customers worldwide with trusted broadcast, post, live sound, and music production solutions for over 20 years. As a leader in their audio industry, Euphonix employees value high quality, high definition communications. So when it came to replacing their outdated telephone system, the Euphonix IT team turned to 3CX and Polycom, Inc. [Nasdaq: PLCM] for a state-of-the-art VoIP PBX system.

Tasked with the modernization of the Euphonix phone system, Euphonix’s Director of IT, Andor Izsak, found the offerings of traditional PBX vendors to be cost prohibitive and limited, forcing Izsak to find an alternative.

Izsak began researching IP PBX solutions and quickly realized he did not have the time for an open source Linux solution, where support, timely updates and ongoing product development may be an issue. He required a solution that could run on Microsoft Windows and had tight Windows integration

“I came upon 3CX, downloaded the free software package and was very pleasantly surprised by how quickly and easily I was able to set up a small home phone network,” recounts Izsak. “I started talking with 3CX and settled on the enterprise package with two years of support. Within a week and a half, I had the basic functionality of the old systems replicated at the new site. Not only was the roll out simple and fast, we saved a substantial amount of money going with 3CX.”

Izsak estimates savings of up to $100,000 in the first 12 months of use and anticipates the new phone system paying for itself in reduced operating costs within a year. Izsak said that they plan to implement the same Polycom/3CX VoIP solution in New York, London and Tokyo offices.

About Euphonix

Euphonix is based in Mountain View, Calif. and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London and Tokyo. Founded in 1988, Euphonix has satisfied more large-format digital console users worldwide than any other manufacturer and continues to redefine the state of the art with its new slim-line controller products. For more information, visit www.euphonix.com/pro/about/.

About 3CX

3CX is the market leader in Windows VoIP PBX software. Its product, 3CX Phone System for Windows, has earned Windows Server Certification and has received numerous awards, including The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, the Windows IT Pro magazine 2008 Editor's Best Award and a Best Buy Award by Computer Shopper Magazine. 3CX has offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Cyprus, Malta, Australia and Hong Kong. For more information visit www.3cx.com.

3CX Launches Free SIP to SKYPE Gateway for 3CX Phone System users

3CX today announced that it has released 3CX Gateway for Skype, which allows VoIP Phone System users to receive and make SKYPE™ Calls company-wide

3CX Gateway for Skype is software based and will run on a non dedicated Windows System and on the same computer as 3CX Phone System. It is a free add-on for 3CX Phone System users, including those using the free edition. 3CX Gateway for Skype integrates Skype™ calls seamlessly into the phone system, allowing inbound Skype™ calls to be forwarded to call queues, ring groups, IVR, Voice applications and more.

“3CX Gateway for Skype allows companies to save significantly by using Skype for outbound calls. More-over, users can redirect calls to Skype™ numbers when out of the office and leverage Skype clients on iPhone and Windows mobile.” Said Nick Galea, 3CX CEO.

“A Skype™ account can also be published on the website so that customers can call the company free of charge. Skype™ calls will be channeled through the company phone system just as any other call and be forwarded to regular call queues. This can be significant competitive advantage for many web based businesses” continued Nick Galea.

Features

• Completely software based, no need for a separate box
• Full support for inbound and outbound Skype™ calling
• Ability to specify a master account, which will transfer incoming
• Calls to other Skype accounts and so keep the main Skype account free for calls
• Supports latest versions of Skype™ client
• Quickly add additional Skype accounts from the 3CX interface
• Shows credit available for each Skype account
• Automatic call logging

Obtaining 3CX Gateway for Skype

3CX Gateway for Skype can be downloaded from here. A detailed configuration guide is available here.

About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Cyprus, Malta, Australia 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, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, the Communications Solutions 2007 Award, the Windows IT Pro magazine 2008 Editor's Best Award and a Best Buy Award by Computer Shopper Magazine, all in recognition to the company's commitment to innovation and quality.

For more information visit www.3cx.com and 3CX VoIP Blog.

VoIP News' in-depth comparison of leading Enterprise phone system PABX Vendors including Avaya, Cisco and Shoretel covers features, services, pricing, support and more. This guide for customer premise equipment focuses on the needs of medium and large businesses.

This in-depth guide includes a comparison table of:

• Pricing
• Features by Vendor
• Security
• VoIP News Comments
• And More . . .

This comprehensive guide will simplify your research time. Please provide your contact information to download the comparison guide.

Read more about it here.

Leading Windows Networking resource site, WindowsNetworking.com, announced today that 3CX Phone System for Windows was selected the winner in the IP PBX Server category of the WindowsNetworking.com Readers’ Choice Awards.

“Our Readers’ Choice Awards give visitors to our site the opportunity to vote for the products they view as the very best in their respective category in Voip business,” said Sean Buttigieg, WindowsNetworking.com manager. “WindowsNetworking.com users are specialists in their field who encounter various solutions for Enterprise Networking at the workplace in unified communications. The award serves as a mark of excellence, providing the ultimate recognition from peers within the industry.”

WindowsNetworking.com conducts monthly polls to discover which product is preferred by network administrators in a particular category of third party solutions for Enterprise Networking. The awards draw a huge response per category and are based entirely on the visitors’ votes. WindowsNetworking.com visitors on VoIP can submit their votes for the current Readers' Award poll in the site’s left-hand bar.

About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Cyprus, Malta, Australia and Hong Kong. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner for VoIP and is backed by an experienced management and development team. Its product, 3CX Phone System for Windows, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, the Communications Solutions 2007 Award, the Windows IT Pro magazine 2008 Editor's Best Award for SIP and a Best Buy Award by Computer Shopper Magazine, all in recognition to the company's commitment to innovation and quality.

For more information visit www.3cx.com and 3CX VoIP Blog.

About WindowsNetworking.com

WindowsNetworking.com is a Microsoft Windows Networking resource site. It is a leading Enterprise Networking site, attracting over 650,000 Network administrators and specialists a month. The site provides the latest Windows Networking services, articles and tutorials by leading Windows Networking experts, message boards, software listings and product reviews.
WindowsNetworking.com forms part of a group of sites run by TechGenix Ltd., including:
http://www.windowsecurity.com, a Windows security resource site;
http://www.msexchange.org, a Microsoft Exchange Server resource site;
http://www.msterminalservices.org, a Server Based Computing resource site and
http://www.isaserver.org, a Microsoft ISA Server resource site

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

3CX releases a Whitepaper explaining the benefits of a windows based phone system over a Linux based appliance or “VoIP enabled” proprietary PBX

London, UK, 21 May 2009 - Companies planning to take advantage of cost savings and productivity increases achieved by using VoIP face a difficult decision what PBX solution to choose. Amongst the options are a Windows based software solution, a Linux based black box style appliance or a “VoIP enabled” proprietary PBX. The whitepaper released today by 3CX titled ‘The top 10 advantages of a Windows based PBX’ details the key benefits of a Windows phone system and explains why customers should shy away from yet another black box solution.

“A Windows based PBX solution is by far the best choice for any company that relies on Windows networks & servers. Hiding the complexity of a Linux based PBX solution in a dedicated appliance or Linux distribution is only a short term solution that will result in a much higher TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) over time. Furthermore, companies will not be able to take full advantage of VoIP and Unified communications because integration possibilities with existing Windows applications will be limited”, said Nick Galea, 3CX.

“VoIP enabled” proprietary PBXs provide only limited VoIP support and because in most cases they do not adhere to the open SIP standard, customers will be limited in choice of phones, VoIP services and gateway hardware and will not be able to get the full benefit of the VoIP ‘revolution’.

The whitepaper is available in PDF format from this location: http://www.3cx.com/voip-articles/whitepaper.pdf

Accompanying the whitepaper is a Youtube video presentation highlighting the key points, available here.

About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Cyprus, Malta, Australia 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, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, the Communications Solutions 2007 Award, the Windows IT Pro magazine 2008 Editor’s Best Award and a Best Buy Award by Computer Shopper Magazine, all in recognition to the company’s commitment to innovation and quality.

Here is an interesting article about Voip and E911.

Like mobile-phone users in the 1990s, VoIP subscribers in the early 21st century began requesting landline-equivalent 911 calling capabilities on their phones. Demands from the public, the media and lawmakers for VoIP E911 service quickly mounted after several highly publicized cases in which crime victims were unable to call for police help because their VoIP phones lacked 911 calling capabilities.

New 3CX VoIP Phone System for Hotels slashes phone bills using VoIP and eliminates PBX maintenance and expansion costs

London, UK – 6 May 09 – 3CX announced today the availability of 3CX Phone System Hotel module, which allows Hotels to replace aging and expensive Hotel PBXs from Mitel, Alcatel, Siemens and others with 3CX Phone System for Windows, a modern software based VoIP IP PBX. The 3CX Hotel module adds important hospitality functions such as support for Check IN/OUT, DND, Room status and Wake up calls. It integrates with leading Hotel Software / Property Management Systems.

“Traditional Hotel PBX vendors have charged a hefty premium for their ability to perform hotel related functions” said Nick Galea, CEO of 3CX. “3CX costs a fraction of a comparable hotel PBX and in addition halves the hotel’s phone bill by allowing the use of VoIP gateway”

Hotels can eliminate Lease Payments

Hotels paying high monthly lease payments for their current PBX can drastically reduce their monthly operating cost by replacing it with 3CX. The cost of outright purchase of 3CX is so low that hotels can earn back the investment in just a few months. Coupled with drastic reductions in the phone bill, 3CX can be an important part of reducing operating costs in these times of economic crisis.

Re use analog phones

Existing Analog phones in the rooms can easily be re-used with the use of low cost FXS gateways, further reducing the initial investment cost. Re-using analog phones also means there is no need to re-wire – existing analog phone points can continue to be used. IP Phones can be used only where it matters – for example in reception. Re-using analog phones also helps the environment by reducing unnecessary brown good wastage.

Wide range of Hotel Software/ Property Management Systems supported

3CX Phone System integrates with leading Hotel Software / Property Management Systems via several interfaces, including Legacy PBX emulation, the Fidelio FIAS protocol as well as support for Comtrol’s Lodging Link middle ware. Other interfaces are easily implemented and available on request. A subset of supported PMS systems includes Agilysys, Autoclerk, Cenium, Maestro for Northwind, Fidelity Hotel Management Systemm, Micros Opera, Brilliant Hotelsoftware, CMS Hospitality Guestcentrix, ResortSuite, Gracesoft, Hotec Expert Hotelier Suite, VoIP gateway, Hotel Concept, WebPMS, Atrium INN client server systems, HSS Hotel Software Systems, Innfinity software systems and InnRoad. A complete list is available here.

3CX Phone System Hotel module is available immediately and starts at €750/$895. More information is available here. An example costing to determine ROI can be found here.

About 3CX

3CX is an international developer of telecommunications software, headquartered in Europe with offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Cyprus, Malta, Australia 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 (small & medium business) market, has earned Windows Server 2003 Certification and has received numerous awards, including The Windowsnetworking.com Gold Award, the Communications Solutions 2007 Award, the Windows IT Pro magazine 2008 Editor’s Best Award and a Best Buy Award by Computer Shopper Magazine, all in recognition to the company’s commitment to innovation and quality. 3CX maintains a global presence with localized information available in various languages. For more information, visit www.3cx.no and the 3CX blog.