Digium on Monday went live with the latest version of its open-source VoIP-PBX solution Switchvox, adding fixed mobile convergence and other features to a platform that's gaining increased traction with unified communications solution providers.
Switchvox 5.0 is the biggest update to the Switchvox platform since Digium added a mobile version of Switchvox last summer. With the 5.0 version, users can now integrate any type of phone, from VoIP, digital or analog to PC soft phone or a mobile device, to Switchvox, which can support seamless call transferring for up to six phones.
"We talk about mobile twinning, but we're not limiting the type of phone you can have -- we can do up to six phones," said Angie Reed, Digium product marketing manager, to CRN.
Other new features in Switchvox 5.0 include call logs with more granular details, such as lists of abandoned calls and call queues, and the ability to more easily export data to spreadsheets and other software. In addition, Digium has extended the application programming interfaces (API) in Switchvox to make integration with third-party business applications easier, and launched a new graphical user interface (GUI), stronger online support, and additional failover options for Switchvox communications.
Current Switchvox customers will receive an update to Switchvox 5.0 automatically starting Monday. New Switchvox deployments start at $3,195 for up to 30 users.
The growth of Switchvox and the Digium channel, coupled with greater acceptance of Asterisk, the open-source PBX platform for which Digium is the prime maintainer, has helped Digium scale its solutions toward larger business beyond its SMB base, said Tristan Barnum, product line director for Switchvox at Digium.
"The biggest request we get is more devices supported with no big gaps in features," Barnum said.
Digium drives a lot of its platform updates for Switchvox from customer feedback, Barnum said. Partners and customers often come up with nice-to-have features in their phone systems in practice. One new feature in the 5.0 interface, for example, is the ability to leave notes in the interface about why a call routing or policy element was set up a certain way.
"You don't care about that until you're one of these partners that works with a complicated call routing set up, walk away for a year, and then forget why you set it up a certain way," Barnum said. "So you try to change it, and you break stuff, or you leave the company and the person after you has no idea what's going on."
Digium has been promoting both Switchvox and its channel program, including the Digium Channel Certification Program that went live about a year ago and which partners told CRN fulfilled a need for more formalized training on Digium solutions. Expect more program updates later this year, Reed and Barnum said.
