The 3CX Phone System is the

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

-based

private branch exchange A business telephone system is a multiline telephone system typically used in business environments, encompassing systems ranging in technology from the key telephone system (KTS) to the private branch exchange (PBX). A business telephone syst ...

(PBX) Phone system developed and marketed by the company, 3CX. The 3CX Phone System is based on the SIP (

Session Initiation Protocol The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used in Internet telephony, in private IP telepho ...

) standard and enables extensions to make calls via the

public switched telephone network The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides Communications infrastructure, infrastructure and services for public Telecommunications, telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that ...

(PSTN) or via

Voice over Internet Protocol Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

(VoIP) services on premises, in the cloud, or via a cloud service owned and operated by the 3CX company. The 3CX Phone System is available for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...

and supports standard SIP soft/hard phones, VoIP services, faxing, voice and web meetings, as well as traditional PSTN phone lines.

History

The 3CX solution was developed by 3CX, an international VoIP IP PBX software development technology company as an open-standards, software-based PBX. First published as a free

IP PBX An IP PBX ("Internet Protocol private branch exchange") is a system that connects telephone extensions to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and provides internal communication for a business. An IP PBX is a PBX system with IP connectivi ...

product in 2006, the product was intended to provide a VoIP solution for use in a

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

environment. The first commercial edition of the product was launched in 2007. Reviews of the product have noted its easy configuration, management, and hardware compatibility. Smith on VoIP commented in a blog post about 3CX that it was very easy to use. In 2009, it was featured on the internet TV show

Hak5 High Affinity K+ transporter HAK5 is a transport protein found on the cell surface membrane of plants under conditions of potassium deprivation. It is believed to act as a symporter for protons and the potassium ion, K+. Firstly discovered in bar ...

. On 7 June 2017, 3CX released version 15.5 with a complete feature set from WebRTC video conferencing, presence, chat, voicemail and a brand new Web Client. In the next years, Live Chat, SMS and Facebook integrations were added, as well as the Microsoft Teams in the latest V18.

Features

3CX Phone System consists of a number of software-based components. The PBX, accessed and managed via a web-based management console,

softphone A softphone is a software program for making telephone calls over the Internet using a general purpose computer rather than dedicated hardware. The softphone can be installed on a piece of equipment such as a desktop, mobile device, or other compu ...

for

, and

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

clients for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and Android. The phone system can be used with either SIP phones or the clients, or a combination of the two. The PBX provides

unified communications Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept describing the integration of enterprise communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including e ...

functionality including presence, chat, voicemail to email, fax to email, integrated video conferencing, call conferencing, Live Chat, SMS, and additional integrations with Facebook and a number of CRM platforms.

Release History

Table created according to the "3CX Phone System Build History".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:3CX Communication software Telephone exchange equipment

History

Features

Release History

See also

References