User:Mattlandis/3CX

3CX IP PBX is a Microsoft Windows based telephone PBX created by the 3CX company which was founded in 2005 by private investors. Like a hardware based PBX, the system allows calls between phones on the system and to external phones on the public switch telephone network and to phones via SIP VOIP services. The 3CX IP PBX is very comparable to the Asterisk PBX in that it is a software version of a phone system.

While there is a free edition of 3CX it is not open source or GNU software. While it is a commercially supported product it is also actively supported by a community of users, network and telephony experts via an internet forum.

The 3CX IP PBX was created as a deliberately Microsoft Windows based system and there is no Linux version of 3CX. It is based solely on the SIP standard and does not support protocols such as IAX.

Features
The essential features found in 3CX are comparable to the features found on propietary hardware PBX phone systems: extension to extension calling, paging groups of phones, voicemail, interactive phone response phone menus. Because 3CX is a computer based system it includes features not found on traditional PBX systems such as a voicemail-to-email option, music on hold based on computer sound files, call recording and the ability to connect applications directly to phone system information such as call logs. 3CX also includes a SIP softphone that provide presence information about all the phones connected to the sytsem. The system also allows for branch offices to be connected to headquarters by internet connections.

Organizations can use their existing PSTN telephone lines via a PSTN-to-IP gateway device (FXO) so there is no need to migrate entirely to the VOIP world. Or they can have a hybrid system that uses PSTN and SIP VOIP phone service to leverage cost and availability.

Configuration
The system is configured via a web administration interface and has been designed to be easy to configure and use even for non-telephony experts. The three basic steps to configuring the system are:


 * Configure phone extensions
 * Configure SIP or PSTN telephone lines for incoming and outgoing calls.
 * Setup IVR (Phone menus) to direct callers.

Regional Features
The system has been designed for an international audience and includes multiple languages in its base configuration. It is designed to easily allow more lanquage sets to be added.