3CX Phone System Gets Skype Connect Certified

3CX Phone System for Windows allows businesses to connect with Skype users worldwide with its support of Skype Connect.

3CX, developer of the award-winning 3CX Phone System for Windows, has announced that its internationally used cross-platform communications application has received Skype Connect™ interoperability certification. Businesses of all sizes that are using the 3CX Phone System can now communicate more efficiently and economically by directing their outbound calls to mobile phones and landlines around the world through Skype. It will also allow those companies to receive inbound calls from their clients, partners and suppliers who are Skype users.

“By utilizing Skype Connect, businesses running a 3CX Phone System can allow customers, partners and employees to call them. Click & Call buttons on a company’s Web site can make it quick and easy for customers to reach out and buy – thereby increasing sales.” – Nick Galea, CEO, 3CX.

Businesses of all sizes are looking for ways to reduce their communications costs. Skype Connect™ delivers an offering to business customers that can interoperate with existing SIP enabled PBX or UC systems. Skype Connect integrates easily with a business’ 3CX Phone System, enabling employees to use Skype to make outbound calls to landlines or mobile phones at Skype’s standard calling rates. In addition, through the separate purchase of Skype’s online numbers, a company can receive inbound calls via Skype from business contacts and customers calling from landlines and mobile phones.

Customers can also call a business by using Skype’s Click & Call feature. By adding a Click & Call button to a company’s Web site, email and other online promotions, customers using Skype can call with just a click of a button, making the business easier to reach, as well as providing a free communication between your business and your customers. All Skype calls being received in the 3CX Phone System via the Click & Call button will be handled like any other call, which means call queuing, transferring of calls, making use of the digital receptionist and additional features available with the 3CX Phone System can reduce the barriers to communicating with your business and help increase sales, as your business will be far more accessible to potential and existing customers.

The 3CX Phone System can help improve employee productivity since users can take advantage of Skype Connect™ to call around the world, while also taking full advantage of the additional key features of the 3CX Phone System, such as call switching, routing, queuing, call recording and more.

3CX Version 10 BETA Released!

3CX, the company behind the IP 3CX Phone System, have announced BETA of their new version 10 PBX. Version 10 is a major release, using Silverlight for the user portal, 3CX MyPhone for the first time. MyPhone replaces the 3CX Assistant and the old 3CX MyPhone portal as everything has been grouped in one easy to use portal.

The new 3CX MyPhone will be web based, but users will also be able to install MyPhone as a desktop app (it does also work on Macs). 3CX say that in this mode it uses the browser in the background but allows the user to resize 3CX MyPhone to their preference, as well as launch it automatically.

I'm definitely going to be checking it out, especially when I saw these these features:

• Notification to Windows Event log, 3CX Event Log and optionally by e-mail on key events
• PnP support for 3CXPhone for iPhone, Android and Windows, Grandstream Executive GXP-21xx and Yealink phones. This means that you can just plug in the phone, assign extension in the management console and the phone will be automatically configured. This eliminates the need to specify the provisioning URL in the phone or via DHCP option 66.
• Complete support for the new Grandstream GXP-1450, GXP 2100, GXP 2110 and GXP 2120 phones. Requires firmware v. 1.0.1.56 and up. Note that these phones are still in BETA
• Support for the Grandstream GXP 3140, GXP 3175 video phones
• Support for the Yealink VP 2009 video phones
• Ability to black list IPs
• Ability to block extensions being registered from outside the network
• You can configure that particular extensions can not be used outside of the local network
• Ability to limit extensions registering externally to use tunnel
• Native 64 bit version (not available in beta)
• Ability to record prompts via the phone – simply click on prompt, enter extension name and record prompt
• Reduced memory footprint and elimination of extra service
• Specify extension group in outbound rules to easily create Class of Service rules

3CX have provided a downloads section where you can try out the BETA version 10.

3CX BETA Version 10 Phone System can be downloaded here. The administration manual can be found here (PDF). The 3CX MyPhone and Extension user manual is web based and can be found here while users can post any questions about the BETA here in the 3CX Phone System V10 BETA forum.

You can use this Beta V10 Demo Key to activate enterprise features: LFMD-4QDR-7OHP-ZZO2

3CXPhone 5 adds video, BLF to free soft phone in Smartphone Look

3CX’s popular free business soft phone does Unified Communications and becomes ‘Zero Admin’

London - November 30, 2010- 3CX today announced a new version of its popular free VoIP soft phone for Windows, 3CXPhone 5. New features added to 3CXPhone 5 include standards based video support, multiple SIP profiles, BLF and the ability to provision and manage all soft phone installations network wide. 3CXPhone 5 will remain completely

free.

3CX and Phonzo offer complete VoIP PBX solution in Norway and Sweden

Nicosia, Cyprus and Oslo, Norway - 12 November 2010 - 3CX, the international developer of the award-winning 3CX Phone System for Windows has completed full interoperability testing with VoIP service provider Phonzo and announced today a strategic partnership providing a fully integrated VoIP solution for SMB markets in Norway and Sweden.

Polish foundry forging ahead with 3CX Phone System

Large manufacturing companies use GUSS-EX to provide design, production planning and casting of machine parts. They also provide warehouse logistics services for clients that want to plan and optimize their storage systems. This foundry focuses on streamlining its operations and enhancing the competitiveness of the Polish foundry industry. GUSS-EX is based in Poland and recently expanded with new offices in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.IT Manager of GUSS-EX, Piotr Rowinski, wanted to network these new offices to the Polish headquarters. While researching, he found that the current system they had was not scalable, it was extremely expensive, they were locked into one vendor and it was complicated to deploy to remote offices. Piotr decided that he needed to find an alternative solution and this is where 3CX stepped in.

3CX Phone System solved all the problems that Piotr was faced with, but also found 3CX to be flexible, low on cost, easy to manage and administer. 3CX works with standard SIP phones, supports various VoIP providers and is far less expensive than a traditional PBX.

After the installation of 3CX, GUSS-EX immediately noticed a rise in productivity since calls are not dropped or lost ‘on hold’. The management team was more than satisfied with the level of support and because of the user friendly interface, both users and administrator were up and running in no time with the new system.Piotr Rowinski says, “After I discovered 3CX I can’t really understand why people keep on spending so much money on their ‘old fashioned’ closed telecommunications systems.”

The full case study can be found here.

Neon Healthcare organisation glows with 3CX!

Neon Health Services Inc., a well known organisation in Cleveland Ohio, which is now entering its 40th year as a network of community health centers, has entrusted 3CX as their telephony provider.

Neon Healthcare has an overall staff of 280 and a network of six health centers. They offer accessible, comprehensive primary care services to the entire family, including Adult Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Practice, OB / GYN, Behavioral Health, Dental Optometry and Podiatry services.

Al Barker, CIO, Neon Health Services, was looking to find a new solution to replace the complex and unreliable phone system they had. He was looking for something that was Windows based, reliable, able to accommodate to a large number of calls and to integrate their stock of existing SIP phones. After downloading and testing the free version of 3CX Phone System, Al found 3CX to be the perfect match.

A key factor to Al’s decision on implementing 3CX was that it is Windows based and easy to manage. This would have been unthinkable with Linux. Al found that not only are the cost savings impressive from installing 3CX , but it has also increased productivity and mobility to the staff by staying connected while out of office. Staff member are now able to stay in touch at all times with the free 3CXPhone (soft phone) and/or 3CX Assistant.

“..The installation of the 3CX communication system has transformed me to a hero. Thanks 3CX!” says Al Barker.

The full case study can be found here.

3CX releases free VoIP phone for Android: 3CXPhone

3CX, developer of the popular Windows softphone 3CXPhone and VoIP PBX 3CX Phone System, announced the release of a free SIP phone for the Android Smartphone operating system. With 3CXPhone for Android, users can make free phone calls via wireless and 3G (mobile operator permitting). Examples of Android based phones are the HTC Desire, HTC Hero, Sony Ericsson Xperia, X10 Mini and Pro, Samsung Galaxy S and the Google Nexus.

3CXPhone for Android works with standards based SIP servers – including 3CX Phone System, Asterisk and popular SIP VoIP Providers. Unlike other “free” Android SIP phones, 3CXPhone is NOT locked down to a particular provider or PBX. Users can pick and choose their favorite provider or VoIP PBX and switch at any time or use different VoIP providers simultaneously. 3CXPhone is available free of charge for commercial and non profit organizations as well as private users.

“Smart phones will soon be the defacto mobile phone and with a docking station will act as a desk phone in time. A VoIP PBX must embrace this technology and deliver seamless integration to provide true mobility to its users.” said Nick Galea, CEO, 3CX. “Smartphone support is a key component of our strategy and the availability of 3CXPhone for Android delivers on this vision”. Nick Galea continued “We chose Android as our first platform – it is rapidly gaining market share because it’s open, standards based, vendor independent and evolving at a rapid pace. Android based Smartphones are available in different form factors and at competitive prices.”

3CXPhone for Android is based on SiPagent, a popular SIP phone for Android that 3CX acquired in June 2010. SiPagent users are able to upgrade free of charge to 3CXPhone.