3CX The Heir Apparent of Windows Based VoIP Phone Systems

Depending on who you listen to, Microsoft’s Response Point VoIP Phone System for small businesses is either:

A – Running out the clock
B – On life support
C – Dead and Buried

Regardless of personal opinions on future development of Microsoft’s Response Point product, everyone seems to agree that Microsoft was vastly “underwhelmed” by demand for the product, and reseller sales were sluggish at best. Perhaps small businesses just didn’t care about VoIP, saving money or increasing productivity. Microsoft and Syspine even loaded up the shelves at Sam’s Club with Response Point gear, betting that Joe Small Business might add Unified Communications to the shopping cart along with their new snow tires, 3 month supply of chicken quesadillas and 64″ LCD televisions. Sam’s Club shoppers will buy almost anything, heck they’ll buy two, but sadly not what Microsoft was selling. The question is who’s to blame….consumers, resellers or Microsoft themselves?

Where Microsoft seems to have missed the mark, 3CX seems to be hitting their stride in building, supporting and yes, actually SELLING, a Windows based VoIP phone system geared toward the needs of small business customers. 3CX Version 8, affectionately known as “V8″, runs on practically any current Microsoft Windows operating system, including Windows 7, XP, Vista, 2003 and Small Business Server. 3CX is typically run on a dedicated Windows PC or Server, but can also run on existing Microsoft servers along with other business applications and services.

3CX is a software package which is combined with some basic PC/Server hardware and standard SIP telephones to create an easy to manage, VoIP capable phone system. Initial configuration, setup and ongoing management of the phone system can be performed right from your web browser, via a well organized and easy to understand user interface panel. For most users (aka the non-IT crowd), the learning curve for 3CX is considerably less steep than many comparable Linux based VoIP phone systems such as Asterisk or Trixbox.

3CX doesn’t trade on bells and whistles for user friendliness – everything a growing small business needs is here, including flexible auto attendant….web based call control and real-time user presence via 3CX Assistant….integration with Microsoft Outlook or SalesForce.com….and you can use 3CX with traditional (PSTN) phone lines, VoIP trunks, heck even Skype is supported the folks at 3CX have a big tent.

3CX plays well with SIP phones from practically any manufacturer, including Linksys, Cisco, Polycom, Aastra and many others. 3CX also recently released their own softphone client called 3CXPhone, a free VoIP phone that allows you to use your PC or laptop as a phone when connected to your 3CX phone system or another VoIP provider. There’s also an absolutely free version of 3CX available for download if you want to kick the tires a little. The staff at VoIPLink are happy to answer your 3CX questions and/or provide pricing on 3CX based solutions for your small business.