snom ONE IP Phone System Get Fixes and Cool New Features:

snom ONE, Release 2011-4.2.1.4025 is now available. It includes a bunch of fixes but some very cool new features as well. How about pressing "Intercom" button and then the extension button to intercom instead of needing dedicated intercom buttons for each extension? Nice. Also some improvements to CSTA implementation is welcome. But there's more, checkout the link below. (i'm busy with Microsoft Lync Server today ;-)

Here is the Link:
http://wiki.snomone.com/index.php?title=Release_notes

Quick Peak At snom ONE Plus Phone System Appliance

I had a few minutes to look at the appliance a few weeks ago and will report my very quick observations.

snom is promoting two distinct ways of buying snom ONE: integrate your own server/gateway/snomONE software or buy integrated snom ONE Plus appliance.

snom is positioning snom ONE plus as a closed and then the added benefit that it is fully supported IP PBX + PSTN. The operating system, telephone system is designed to be easy to use and ready-to-go out-of-the-box. The phone system is configured through a web interface as well as the telephone system. This snom ONE Plus way comes with a ready-to-go system, easy to configure and comes in a range of PSTN port connectivity using Sangoma. But don't expect it to be optimal to install lots of other Linux apps--not what its designed for.

If you want to fully control and install a snom ONE phone system, its recommended you buy a standard server, install your preferred OS (Microsoft Windows, of course-- ;-) along with the snom ONE yellow or blue. Of course the snom ONE works on windows, linux or MAC OS. In this senario for PSTN connectivity, you use any gateway company like patton or audio codes.

On to the photos...Here it is:
 

snom's new snom ONE Plus Appliance.

Not your standard rack mount server and having the back of the motherboard facing forward might take one for a loop but it actually looks better in person than on photos.

Close up of the LED's on the front. Yeah, they are not HP Proliant level of finese.

The unit has pretty solid looking rack mount and grips.

It appears the unit has included wall mounts (remove and flip) which is a nice touch.

Its okay if the salesman says the server is a "speed demon" but a sticker on the appliance saying the same looks a little cheesy.

The unit has an external power supply which could be considered a bit "consumer" grade.

One last thing that I found surprising was that the partner/user needs to install the Sangoma gateway card themselves. They are included in the box but not installed. This was explained as a way to get it to market faster to avoid some regulations.

Overall I think this box will make it easier for newcomers to snom ONE to get into the race. For our practice Windows Server OS and Proliant servers will be what we stick with for now. And with a blog called "windowspbx" is there any surprise? ;-)

Moving Soft-PBX From Atom Appliance to Proliant ML350 Hyper-V VM:

Yesterday we had an HP Atom based PBX appliance develope hardware problems. (hardrive or controller) Our pre planned disaster recovery plan was to restore a nightly Windows Image backup of the Windows7 appliance into a Hyper-V VM on an HP Proliant ML350 server.

The restore went without a hitch! (After realizing that the target VM needs to be bigger than the source image backup--my fault entirely) It took roughly 1.5hours to restore a 160GB Windows7 image into a Hyper-V VM. And the virtual machine booted and the restored Windows OS ran perfectly. In fact the snom ONE Blue Windows based PBX came up fully activated and ready to roll. This makes using snom ONE in a senario where you need a hot spare a very nice solution.

One thing that was unexpected was the fact that snom ONE pbx runs MUCH FASTER as a Hyper-V Virtual OS than on dedicated Atom hardware. It was immediately noticable on the web interface of snom ONE. In fact I'm starting to wonder: If Hyper-V is already in place, is there a need for a dedicated appliance?

As always, I'd like to hear your input.

Finally: Search snom ONE Support Resources With Ease

Try to search snom ONE forum only to be stymied by the 3 character limitation? Wish you could search all support docs at one place? Our snom ONE Search will do just that!

This will search all the support resources that I know of and if you want more please just note them in the comments.

http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/p/snom-one-search.html

See You At The Snom Training in MA on May 18 & 19, 2011

Want to talk shop and swap stories about SIP, Windows phone systems, snom ONE, snom deskphones, Lync 2010 and any other industry developements? Be at the snom Training in Woburn, MA on May 18 and 19, 2011!

To join this valuable but very low cost event email Michael.Duguay@snom.com.

Event Description:
"This hands-on class will be taught by one of our snom experts, Kevin Moroz.  You will experience first-hand why snom ONE and snom phones can be a tremendous solution for your customers. You will see how easy the system is to deploy, and you will also gain valuable troubleshooting tips. Upon completion of the class, you will be snom certified and will be positioned to receive leads that will help you grow your business."

But the networking and story swaps are the best. ;-) See you there!

PS-At the moment I do not plan to be presenting.

snom ONE Phone System Future Discussed: Future Looks Bright!

 

snom unofficially discusses what the future of their cross-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac) software based phone system could look like on their forum. Each one of these sounds like great ideas to me. Remember that this is not an official or absolute roadmap but what is on the minds of those behind snom ONE.

• Windows Based Attendant Console: There are several clients for snom ONE currently: WAC, web-based WAC and 3rd party products such as yada, but it looks like snom looks to release an official client with more thorough feature set.
• Windows Based User Client that includes a SIP softphone: Currently snom has the snom m9 sip phone, the PAC but looks to sure up this area as well. For snom ONE users/partners this means dependence on Camrivox/Estoswould not be as important. 
• Even more Mobile Phone Functionality: The other thing is that the cell phone support which is good already can be extended by more "cool" (productive) features. For example, it should be possible to transfer calls that have been received on the cell phone to other users on the system. 
• Firmware upgrades per device: "...Domain / user level PnP support. Say, if you want to just upgrade/downgrade that 1 phone, you can do it, instead of forcing every phone in the system to be upgraded to the new/beta versions..." 
• SIP Trunk Improvements: Also the trunk SIP header manipulation (RFC3325 etc) must be a lot more flexible. 
• Support Even More Users Per Server: "...lift the restriction to have everything running on the same core..."

The source of this can be found here:
http://forum.snomone.com/index.php?/topic/4555-roadmap-of-snom-one/page__gopid__19748#entry19748

If you have ideas that you think should go into future versions of snom ONE, make sure your voice is heard by adding your ideas at this unofficial forum:
http://snomone.ideascale.com/

3CX Replaces 3CX Assistant in Version 10 With New Silverlight MyPhone Portal (and more)

Looks like 3CX is retiring the 3CX Assistant application along with the old 3CX Myphone portal in favor of newer Microsoft technology: a Microsoft Silverlight based client. This is a very smart move on 3CX's part as it starts addressing 2 serious pitfuls in its coming struggle to survive in the face of the very real Microsoft Lync threat: Embrace features that can survive in hosted mode (Silverlight Myphone portal could theoretitcally work beautiful in hosted mode) and support more desktop operating systems. (Silverlight apps are cross platform compatible & will run on Mac as well as Linux? Windows Phone7 eventually? etc.)

With Windows communication vendors like snom ONE providing very stable phone system with a mature feature set for extremely agressive pricing (10 extension/ no limits/ free!) and Microsoft continuing to bring Lync 2010 downstream (run on 1GB!) the Windows PBX market continues to be extremely in exciting times!
Checkout the 3CX Blog Update Here:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/p/microsoft-lync-resources.html

People Like the Free snom m9 Windows Softphone

Just got some feedback on the free snom m9 Windows softphone and thought I'd pass it on:

"It's easy to use, easy to set up, voice quality is great, and it looks awesome! We use it for VOIP and tested it on Telkom ADSL, Vodacom and MTN 3G as well and it works great. If the connection is not 3G, we struggle with it a bit but all problems can be sorted out. "

If you want the snom m9 softphone your welcome to download it:
http://wiki.snomone.com/index.php?title=The_snom_m9_softphone

Read my blog and video review of the snom m9 softphone:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search?q=m9+softphone

Give your feedback on the snom m9 softphone:
http://snomone.ideascale.com/

Gotchas to Watch for When Migrating from pbxnsip to snom ONE

When you switch from pbxnsip to snom ONE there will be some changes:

-Blue will allow up to 40 non-snom devices to register. (snom ONE looks at the user-agent string in SIP and if it doesn't contain "snom" it will limit it to 5 in snom ONE Free, 10 in Yellow and 40 in Blue respectively)

-Note that I used the word "allow" instead of "supported". This was intentional as you will need to do the interop testing yourself. Which usually is not a big hurdle for basic functionality.

-Remember that these allowed non snom devices will have a limitation that they will not support a SIP REFER. In the real world this means that, for one, the Transfer button on software and hard phone will likely not work. This is not the end of the world though as with snom ONE you can put the call on hold and use the built in star code to transfer as a work around.

-Also note that snom ONE Blue only allow 5 domains (tenants) is not meant (licensing/eula) for reselling hosted service to other customers. I'm not sure how this is enforced and I suppose it can get grey? if a company owns a building and rents to tenants.

-snom ONE blue does not  automatically auto-provision brands other than snom handsets.

snom ONE Plus: The snom Phone System Appliance

snom seems bent on allowing you to get your PBX in whatever form you want: software on Windows, Linux or Mac (snom ONE Free, Yellow or Blue). Or in a complete appliance form via the just announced snom ONE Plus.

So if you want to integrate your own system using an HP Proliant (or other server) or Mediant 1000 hardware: have at it! Or, if you want the integration done for you: snom ONE Plus Appliance.

Mediant 1000 Unit: I haven't seen pricing but I expect the Mediant 1000 unit to be higher priced.

Also, the unit will require that you integrate it. Also, no unified web mangement port.

What is unique about this appliance over a regular server?

-No moving parts: solid state hard drive, fanless and external power (does that mean brick/wall wart?)

-No need to see an OS command line since it has a web interface for everything

-Integrated with 9 varients of PSTN: 4 FXO, 8 FXO, 12 FXO, 16 FXO, 2 BRI (4ch), 4 BRI, 6 BRI, T1/E1/J1 (up to 30 ch), Combo (T1/E1/J1 +4 FXO +1 FXS)

-No need to buy or install Operating system

What Hardware is in this Appliance?

-Intel Atom 1.6-1.7, 1GB ram, 2 Nics (snom says this will support up to 150 extensions!)

-Sangoma PSTN cards

-Linux operating system

How Is this Phone System Appliance Solution Unique?

-You get all the features with one purchase: No extra licenses to buy for voicemail, provisioning or Call Center features.

-Scalable: Go from 10 extensions to 150+ in one unit.

Distribution

snom says this unit will be distributed by the same distribution channel as other snom products. The appliance comes with 10 users. If you need to add Sangoma port you can source this through your favorite Sangoma Disty or Reseller. snom One Plus appliance pricing is not available at this time.

If you have interest in this appliance you are welcome to email us: sales@landiscomputer.com.

Big Interest in snom ONE Phone System: Over 1000 People Join Forum Since Introduction!

I was curious what the interest would be in snom's new snom ONE phone system when it was introduced. I scribbled down the forum member count on October 22,2010 (just around release time) and there were 2,156 members on the snom ONE forum. Today there is over 1,000 more members with a total cound as of today of 3,356!

The snom ONE phone system that runs on Windows, Linux and Mac is a product we have had a very good experience with: extremely stable, very feature rich, secure and tightly integrated to snom phones. On top of this all it is very reasonably priced. This product fits perfectly into a SMB's Windows Server network very nicely--so I'm not at all surprised at it's growing popularity.

So, welcome everyone to the snom ONE forum and the snom ONE PBX!

snom Releases snom ONE PBX Version 4.2 for Windows, Linux & Mac

snom has released version 4.2 of their full featured, stable and secure Windows phone system. This version includes a few fixes and some impressive new features/changes!

Some Fixes:
-The feature to retrieve a call that has already been sent to voicemail has a fix.
-Shared Line Apprearance has a fix.
-More...

Some Changes/New Features:
-Administrator email when user disconnects call has more SIP trace info included.
-A New "Web Page Control" tab added to allows access to editing any snom ONE admin page
-Registrations to third-party devices have been increased: snom ONE free supports 5 third-party devices, snom ONE yellow supports 10, and blue supports 40.

-New product edition: snom ONE green (includes call support for third-party devices).
-snom m9 Firmware update

To see more details or to update you snom ONE click below:
http://wiki.snomone.com/index.php?title=Upgrades

"Homebrew" Solution "Marries" 3CX & Microsoft Lync Server

All kinds of cool "homebrew" solutions have been released for Windows Phone 7 and it looks like some "unauthorized" solutions are coming out for 3CX Phone System too! A 3CX administrator has found a way to link 3CX and Lync!

This solution uses FreeSwitch (also a Windows PBX) as a go between.

Note: The author notes that this is not supported by 3CX or Microsoft so do it only on a test system.

http://www.3cx.com/forums/how-to-integrate-lync-2010-and-3cx-18643.html

If you want to link to Lync using directly there are several Windows PBX's to consider: snom ONE, Brekeke and FreeSwitch. They all support OCS/Lync integration natively.

How Many Calls Can Your PBX & Hardware Handle?

It seems like software PBX vendors are very "coy" about saying what hardware is required for what call volume. A lot of equivacating, etc. What most people want is just an idea: What are people doing out there? In this blog post I'll give what some brave vendors are giving as examples.

Brekeke PBX (Windows/Linux)
Brekeke has a Windows based PBX product and they have a nice chart in their electronic user manual at http://wiki.brekeke.com/wiki/BPBX_History . I've been hearing good things about these folks and just noticed this very nice chart as I was perusing their product. Below is a screenshot of the page:

Yeastar BizPBX (Windows/Linux)
At this page http://www.yeastar.com/Products/BizPBX.asp Yeastar say that:

Intel Core Duo & 2G RAM for 64 Simultaneous calls & 4 Skype trunks; Windows XP Professional SP2 or Windows 2003 SP2.

This one is a bit unusual as they throw in 4 Skype trunks. But one thing it shows: Skype trunks are "expensive" performance wise!

snom ONE Windows Phone System (Linux/Mac/Windows)
snom ONE is a B2BUA system so all traffic flows through the PBX. snom suggest 150 extensions as a good system size for todays servers using snom ONE. But on their forum they note that many more extensions can be registered (1500 extension system in production) as this takes very little CPU--the key is simultaneous calls. In this post it is noted the 250 extensions and 50 simultaneous calls should not be a problem on todays servers.

3CX Phone System
In a blog post in 2010, 3CX did some benchmarking on a Intel Atom processor and concluded that they will handle roughly 20-30 calls well. You can read the whole article here:
http://www.3cx.com/blog/voip-howto/atom-processor-n270-benchmarking/

If you have more SIP PBX server sizing resources, I'd be glad to hear from you!

Missing 3CX Feature List Looks Like snom ONE Current Feature List?

[Fair Disclosure: I have contributed thousands of posts to the 3CX forums, our company, Landis Computer, was the first 3CX Premium Partner in the world and I have co-written a book on 3CX . Currently we do Windows communication solutions consulting on the products snom ONE, 3CX and Microsoft's Lync Server 2010. Note that we are currently a snom reseller and recommend snom ONE for our clients, but I will try to give both sides.]

[Note: I made some serious mistakes on the blog post! Actually some features I though were not in snom ONE ACTUALLY ARE! They are listed in read. Soo, even less more missing 3CX features snom ONE has!]

I was reading over the 3CX suggestion list today and was thinking...
hmm...the missing 3CX phone system feature list looks surprisingly close to the current snom ONE phone system feature list! ;-) I'm astonished.

Comparison of Some of the Missing Features:

A yes indicates that snom ONE has implemented this feature already. This was done quickly so if there is an error please let me know and I'll correct. (Note that snom ONE missing feature list is below also.)

Automatically Set a different attendent message for Holidays = Yes
Ability to Disable Voip trunks = Yes
Busy Tone Instead of License Message = Yes
Extension can be part of multiple groups = Yes? (outbound calling groups handled smoothly)
Music on Hold Live Stream Ability = Yes
Active Directory Integration = No (snom ONE does not integrate to AD. It also does not import AD like 3CX does)
Server Health Page = Yes
Bank Holidays = Yes, Partially. (snom ONE does not do 1st monday, but does do date range and one off's.)
Bulk Extension Import/Export = Yes
Ring Back for Call Parking = Yes
Seperate Greeting for each presence mode = Yes, partially. (snom ONE has 5 voicemail greetings set via voicemail menu )
Ability to Change Trunk Names = Yes
Increment Next Extension Number = No
Copy Settings Among Users = Yes, BLF assignment is much easier to manage. No copying required.
Chat History/Logging of chats = No
Ringgroup Mailbox = Yes
Different Operator for each extension group = snom ONE can do multitenant which accomplishes this and more.
Average Wait time announcement in queues = No, position but not wait time.
Multiple break in announcements in queues = Yes, 10 messages and music on hold is automixed too!
Softphone syncs Outlook Contacts = The Personal Call Assistant Imports Outlook contacts, but not syncs
Import/Export Rules = snom ONE domains can be sent to a different snom ONE install.
Global Change to a specifc field in extension = No, but some fields in snom ONE can be cleared/changed globally: clear cellnumber, reset DND status, clear emailaddress, etc.
Recorded Call available from User Portal = Yes
Extensions Grouped into "Call Pickup" Groups = Yes
Improve System Logging Features = Yes, Excellent logging

Monitor Max Number of Trunk Lines in Simultaneous Use = Yes, a live graph
Granular Control of User Portal = Yes (SysAdmin | Settings | User Page Control)
Live Queue Call Statistics Monitoring = Yes
First Time Voicemail Setup Prompt = Yes
Indication of what codec is in use = You can press ? on snom phone during call to see codec in use.
Confirmation on restart all = Yes (not needed because there is 1 service and it is rarely restarted)
Display Caller ID from PBX PhoneBook = Yes
Send Fax Plugin = No
More options when leaving a voicemail = Yes
SNMP Interface for Monitoring = Yes
Ability to change other users status/presence = No
Clear Log File Should Clear Log File = Yes
Hierchical Structure for Extensions Groups = Yes (each user can see the extensions they need to on Operator panel)
Queue Missed Calls Should not show on phone = ?
Anti-Hacking Features = Yes (list of addresses, email to admin, etc)
Record Prompts using Handset for Digital Receptionist and Call Queue "Extensions" = Yes
Record Digital Receptionist Prompt from Handset = Yes

I stopped after first two pages.

More Items:
Allow Extensions to be grouped into Call Pickup Groups: Yes
Music on Hold Volume: Yes, via the MOH server. Also built in MOH is right volume.


Some Area 3CX Phone System Excels:
-Great Call Assistant (software call assistant)
-Great reach products: iPhone app, Android App, Softphone
-Easy gateway provisioning
-Wider handset support

With the free edition of snom ONE you get all  those features above (and lots more:call recording, call center features...) for 10 extensions and no call limitation. snom ONE free is made to work with snom's free softphone or snom deskphones and limited non snom devices. (2) If you don't like snom deskphones then snom ONE is not for you.

3CX Missing Features: http://3cx.ideascale.com
snom ONE Feature List: http://bit.ly/g2inLn
snom ONE Missing Features: http://snomone.ideascale.com/

Sample Patton Smartnode 4912 12-32 Port FXO Gateway Config for snom ONE/pbxnsip

We spent quite a bit of time collaborating with Patton to get this config for the Patton Smartnode 4912 12 port FXO (12-32 port models) to work with snom ONE (aka pbxnsip). So here it is!

Click Here to Download

snom M9 To Hit USA in January 2011?

According to a snom support person the snom M9 SIP DECT phone should be available in the USA in the January 2011 time frame. Billed as the "first Lync" Dect phone, it also brings DECT roaming between multiple base stations. (albeit not during a live call)

snom is also quick to note that this device is entirely owned and manufactured by snom. (unlike the snom M3) That means it has a full snom firmware, allows roaming between multiple DECT access points (when not in a call), allows 4 calls and 9 handsets (versus m3's 3x8), and can act as a full Lync Server 2010 endpoint! It can also sports several apps including RSS feeds, support Vcard 3.0 and can do over the air FW upgrade.

The snom m9 and m3  seem to share a similar housing (similar in quality but not identical in shape; M9 has a new button design), both screens are 128 x 128 color and the primary charging cradle appears similar. (while m9 also can be charged with mini USB)

snom has been working hard to bring the new snom m9's firmware up to speed. They seem to be focusing on features around integrating the m9 into a PBX senario at this time but it's not hard to recognize that people may want to use this device in a standalone fashion as well. Will snom accomodate that?

While I do not own a snom M9 (because it's not available in the USA), I did have had a chance to look at one for a few minutes. I'll admit  I was expecting the phone to "feel" more like an enterprise grade (think Cisco  79xx/ Spectralink) portable phone. (perhaps too high expectations?). The fit and finish looks and feels largely like the RTX sourced M3--which is to say, just a bit cheap. (and, I should add, very similar to other dect handsets in this price range) Although I do think the new rounded buttons will be an improvement over the M3's tiny, flat buttons.

Another thing I noticed is that while it is mentioned that USB can be used as a method of charging the M9 users should note this means removing the battery cover. Perhaps not a great day to day option?

As I think about the m3 and m9 a question does come to my mind: Does snom plan to continue both units?

Update on 02/2011: snom m3 will be discontinued.

I think the big value that snom M9 brings to the DECT field is the snom SIP firmware. Among other things this allows this phone to be a Lync Server 2010 endpoint--a first.

Available Jan 2011: Click Here
Read More About snom M9: Click Here

snom ONE PBX Tip #1: Press # During Voicemail Announcement to Let Message Right Away

BREAKING NEWS: snom Releases Free Windows SIP Softphone

snom has just released a free, Windows, SIP softphone in an effort to provide a complete phone system solution. They now provide a completely free phone system along with SIP softphones. As always, I have commentary & opinions about this new solution but I'll hold that for another post. But you can go download and check out this new softphone right now.

How to use it:
http://wiki.snomone.com/index.php?title=The_snom_m9_softphone

Where to download it:
http://forum.pbxnsip.com/index.php?/topic/4140-snom-m9-soft-phone/page__pid__18038#entry18038

Patton Provides Free PSTN Gateway Configuration Tool for snom ONE & pbxnsip Phone System

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know that I am a fan of Patton gateways. But I've come to realize that it's not only me but the whole Windows PBX community seems to prefer Patton PSTN gateways over the alternatives by a pretty big margin according to my Feb 2010 survey.

Why? Rock solid quality and mind blowing level of support! I can't stress enough how good Patton support is. Just today, once again, I was struck by Patton's unusally proactive and astonishing support. I was talking to Daniel Lizaola at Patton support about the trouble new snom ONE administrators are having configuring gateways for snom ONE/pbxnsip because there is no built-in gateway "configurator". (otherwise an incredible pbx--one you should not miss!) Daniel said he can email over a free configurator developed by Patton for snom ONE!

This tool will also configure FXS ports on the Patton gateways for snom ONE. Unfortunately at this moment snom is limiting non-snom devices. (2 for free, 5 for yellow and 10 for blue) I would really like to see Patton's FXS unit as an "allowed & unlimited" device on snom ONE. If you would want to see this too I suggest you vote for this feature here.

So checkout this tool which will save you hours of "fiddling" and I'd be glad for feedback via comments.

Click Here to Download the free snom ONE, pbxnsip, 3CX and Generic Patton PSTN Gateway configurator.

Click Here to Read all my articles on Patton gateways for IP PBX's.