TrixBox Alternatives.

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Fine product as it was, Trixbox CE was killed by Fonality in 2012. If you are still clinging on to TrixBox, there are plenty of alternatives that are even better and keep you secure through timely updates and support,
Here are some of those (the list is organic and we will update is as necessory);

FreePBX GUI and Distro

The FreePBX project has been around for a very long time and we have written a whole lot about FreePBX. FreePBX is one of the most widely used management tool for Asterisk deployments. But it has much more to offer than just a management tool, the distro ISO comes with all the tools you need to run a super duper telephony system. The Distro is based on CentOS and you can select either 32bit or 64bit befitting your needs. Download from here.

AsteriskNOW IP PBX

AsteriskNOW is another fast and easy way to  way to get started Asterisk installed and start building custom telephony solutions or simply use as a telephony solution. We have been fans of AsteriskNow for a long while. Like FreePBX, you will have to download the .iso file, burn it to a CD, drop it into the CD or DVD drive on the target computer to build a complete Asterisk telephony solution. The installation will provide you with,  complete Linux distribution, CentOS again, Asterisk, the DAHDi driver framework, an administrative GUI (Thanks to FreePBX project above), the MySQL database, the Apache web server and a wide variety of development tools and components. Just like FreePBX, you can download 32bit or 64bit versions of AsteriskNOW.

Elastix

Elastix is a fine open source VoIP IP Telephony software package which brings together best-in-class tools for the task into a single, easy-to-use interface. Elastix a prominent IP Telephony distribution that is growing everyday. It has been translated into dozens of languages, and carries extensible modules and advanced features. Elastix is available to download from Elastix download site and it is also available for Raspberry PI with the moniker uElastix.
 

PBX in a Flash

Yes it used to mean on a flash drive but I am happy to say now I am referring 'FLASH' to the speed, in implementing a telephony solution based on Asterisk. An amazingly versatile turnkey PBX is based on the latest versions of popular Linux distribution, CentOS and your choice of Asterisk 1.4 or 1.6 with FreePBX, a Linux firewall, and Fail2Ban provides enhanced security.

Trixbox 2.8.Beta Released

Trixbox 2.8
Fonality has released a beta of upcoming Trixbox 2.8. The blog post mentions that Asterisk 1.6 will be a part of the new release and the poster offers everything but flowers to Digium and the Asterisk team for the reliability and capability of Asterisk 1.6.
The current 2.8 beta is basically Trixbox 2.6 with Asterisk 1.6 and currently carries no other new features. But they will be added in the future.
If you are an Trixbox fan, you can help out the new product by testing the beta. It is available for download at sourceforge, from old Asterisk@home project.
Blog post on Fonality.

Tags: trixbox, Asterisk 1.6, Asterisk@home

Gizmo5 SIP Trunks Trixboxed!

If you are a user of Gizmo Project, (Gizom5) and Trixbox CE, for your communications needs, you should be happier now. No more manual bungling to connect your Trixbox to Gizmo Project SIP Service. (We wrote earlier about how to connect Astrisk to Gizmo5)

The Gizmo5 team has released a module that takes care of all of your SIP needs regarding Trixbox and Gizmo Project. This module allows you to manage your account tasks like purchasing trunks, checking your account balance, top off minutes by purchasing. What is more is that it automatically setup your inbound and outbound routes.

You can get the module via Trixbox Package manager and will also be available via future ISO releases.

Following is the press release;

Gizmo5 SIP Trunks

World's Largest Open Source Telephony Community to Benefit From Gizmo5's Leading Standards-Based SIP Trunk Services

September 24, 2008 - Gizmo5, the leading standards-based consumer calling service, today announced Gizmo5 for trixbox CE, the world's largest free and open source telephony community. Gizmo5 is now providing SIP trunk services to trixbox CE, which will help SMBs save up to 98 percent on business calls. The new offering also includes pay-as-you-go and is fully integrated with the trixbox CE open source project. The company has also joined Fonality's FACE program (Fonality Authorized Certified Ecosystem) as a Gold partner to ensure its products are optimized and compatible with the trixboxCE platform.

"Gizmo5 for trixbox CE is delivering great value to the trixbox CE community by providing cost effective phone services that can easily purchased and managed directly from within the trixbox CE dashboard. Users just create an account, purchase credit, and click one of the outbound route setup options and they can be making calls within minutes," said Chris Vuillaume, vice president of channels and business development at Fonality. "Gizmo engineers even went a step further with their module by providing the simplest way possible to setup SIP trunk services and inbound and outbound routes."

New users of trixbox CE or those performing upgrades can now set up a full range of SIP trunking services and be making calls within minutes from the same easy-to-use interface they already use to set up office phone networks. Administrators can purchase inbound telephone numbers from more than 20 countries and quickly map them to their business. Economical pay-as-you-go calling credits can be leveraged by the entire business to avoid costly per line setup or monthly fees. In addition calling credits can be rolled over each month for a more affordable option than phone systems that require a per user fee.

"For over a hundred years the phone company has charged businesses vast premiums for domestic and international business calling without providing any increase in quality. Now, with trixbox CE and Gizmo5 businesses can pay for only for what they use, save up to 98% over the phone company and have superior call quality", said Jason Droege, President at Gizmo5.

The calling service for trixbox CE is pre-configured to use the Gizmo5 calling network and includes a new UI for easy administration. Also included is a Tech Check system that confirms basic setup of a trixbox CE system and notifies users when new Gizmo modules are available.

Snap VoIP

Tags: Gizmo Project, gizmo5, trixbox, SIP, SIP Trunking

trixbox CE 2.6 Beta Is Ready

trixbox CE 2.6 Beta is the latest version of trixbox and is ready for you to download at Sourceforge. This release comes with CentOS 5.1 as the OS and Asterisk 1.4 as the engine, trixbox CE 2.4 is the best release of trixbox ever!. 
2.5.0.12 Second beta of 2.6 Cleaner modules Embedded FreePBX Improved Asterisk Info module.
tag: trixbox, Asterisk, freepbx, IP PBX, VoIP

Did TRIXBOX Trick You?

I was shocked to learn that Trixbox phoned home, delivering more than the version you were using. It seem to have dumped more information based on a request to a remotely-configurable BOT, a software program that can execute certain commands locally once it receives its instructions, any command that Fonality's TrixBox team wanted.
Initially Trixbox tried to brush off the fact but later agreed that it made a mistake! Yes, in my world we do not program mistakes. Since then they have fixed the issue. But it takes more to convince and I am happy for fonality to have more forgiving customers than me.
This is the best part of open source software, if you do not like them, you do not have to stay with it.
I was a fan of Asterisk@home since it's inception and had my doubts when Fonality took over the project. But I was happy for the developer who toiled away for while to get some money in his hand.
I do not know about Fonality folks that much to say if they are crooks or Gents but Nerd Vittles, where I got this news says they are not crooks, so I will take that word. But that is not good enough to make the sour taste go away. For me Fonality have to convince me, very hard, to host my or my clients VoIP with them.
As far as Trixbox goes, I have dropped it and replaced with AsteriskNow. I am also testing Nerd Vittles "PBX in a Flash" which I think is also a viable option.
Thank you Asterisk@home, TrixBox, It was good knowing you. (This is in connection with my personal operations). I will continue to cover information about them as we know we all can change. It is never good to think your customers are stupid.
Also please do not forget to read this post by Philippe at FreePBX, another alternative and one I have been using for a long while.

tag: trixbox, Asterisk, trixbox bot, ip pbx, nerd vittles, asterisknow, asterisk@home

TrixBox Pro, Breaking Records and Setting a New Phase

Today I heard some good news that made me smile. Fonality has proved, once again that OSS Software is viable and people with capability could really make profit and achieve success with Open Source Software.
Not so long ago, TrixBox was a one man SourceForege based project (Under the name Asterisk@home), a good one at that. Over the time the project matured enough to be acquired by Fonality.

After the acquisition, Fonality did a good job of bringing the TrixBox in to the SMB market. First it released the Trixbox 2.0 and subsequently Fonality also released the TrisBox Pro in August 2007.

Now Fonality has announced discounts up to 50% and the fact that 10,000 downloads of the product. To support larger resellers and deployments, Fonality has introduced a revised pricing structure that makes trixbox Pro a compelling alternative for companies with up to 500 seats. These changes can reduce prices up to 50 percent for very large capacity deployments. A new release of trixbox Pro, available now, also supports larger deployments with unlimited mailboxes for voicemail-only extensions, and unlimited use of the Agents on Cell Phones feature which provides enhanced mobility by allowing agents to log into queues remotely.

Fonality has also announced a new reseller tier into the trixbox Reseller Program that allows smaller resellers to qualify for discounts on Fonality products and services by becoming FtOCC (pronounced “F-talk”) certified. The certifications, FtOCC Administrator, FtOCC Technician and FtOCC Engineer are each customized for a different level of technical expertise and depth of experience with trixbox.No quotas are required and certification training includes a free demo kit with two trixbox Pro Call Center Edition lifetime licenses, and one free month of support with certified hardware. Certification and a low initial investment give resellers the accreditation, discounts, and tools to resell and support trixbox Pro without a sales commitment. For more information on registration for FtOCC go to; http://www.trixbox.com/support-and-training/training.

Fonality, www.fonality.com,

Fonality's trixbox, www.trixbox.org, is home to trixbox CE, trixbox Pro.

Tags: FtOCC Administrator, FtOCC Technician, FtOCC Engineer, trixbox, trixbox Pro, Fonality, Asterisk@home, Asterisk

TrixBox Pro, officially out today

LOS ANGELES — August 13, 2007 — Small and medium-size businesses no longer need to pay for a phone system or in-network phone calls worldwide, according to an announcement today from Fonality, a maker of business phone systems. Companies can now download trixbox® Pro, a free business-grade phone system that allows companies with five to 500 employees to make free VoIP calls. In addition to traditional PSTN dialing and PBX features, trixbox Pro also includes conference calling, unified messaging between voicemail and email, employee presence management, embedded corporate chat server, and the ability to integrate with Microsoft Outlook, Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.

trixbox Pro includes trixNet", a free in-network calling service which lets any trixbox Pro user call any other trixbox Pro user, using their regular phone numbers. Calls over trixNet are not subject to any local or long-distance charges. Fonality will soon extend trixNet to the trixbox CE (Community Edition) platform, its popular open source Asterisk®-based software which has been downloaded more than 1.4 million times. In early 2008, Fonality will also extend free trixNet calling to include anybody using GoogleTalk, Google's instant communications service.

"As the lines between the PC and phones increasingly blur, the data community is asking for a low-cost commercial IP phone system that they can install along with the routers and firewalls they already service, said Fonality CEO Chris Lyman. trixbox Pro, as a brandable software-only product, stands to create a whole new revenue stream for this community of VARs."

trixbox Pro is a hybrid-hosted phone system, which means the free software is first downloaded by a business and installed on a local computer and local IP phones. After this step, the local computer connects to the Fonality network where server health, call quality and usage are constantly monitored. The hybrid-hosted nature of trixbox Pro also securely extends the phone system outside the corporate firewall, so an employee's extension can follow them when they work from home, remotely on a laptop, or even on a mobile phone. Fonality's hybrid-hosted services are market proven and have processed more than 120 million calls for 2,500 companies with 53,000 individual extensions worldwide.

The base edition of trixbox Pro is free and there are two paid editions tailored specifically for the reseller market that are available for a monthly fee or one-time, per-seat charge. trixbox Enterprise Edition (EE) and trixbox Call Center Edition (CCE) have the enterprise feature sets required for larger businesses and professional call centers, but at a low fixed or monthly fee. Fonality developed trixbox Pro EE and trixbox CCE to give resellers and IT professionals simple, easy to use phone software that saves them time so they can focus on growing their business, increasing revenue and delivering a higher level of customer service. Additionally, all three editions of trixbox Pro can be easily branded by resellers for a custom look-and-feel. Product logos, screen appearance and color schemes can all be tailored to match the brand of the reseller or end-customer. trixbox Pro will be available in seven languages: US English, UK English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Want it? get it at Trixbox.com

Tags: Trixbox, TrixBox pro, Trixnet, fonality, VoIP, IP PBX, PBX, PSTN, Outlook, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, trixbox CE

Trixbox 2.4 released with ASTERISK 1.4 on CentOS 5

Last week seems have been a very busy one. FreePBX has released a the first RC1 for FreePBX2.3 and TrixBox has released TrixBox 2.4 witch incorporates the newest releases of CentOS 5, Asterisk 1.4 and FreePBX 2.3 for broader compatibility, choice and usability.
Here is the News Release.
LOS ANGELES –August 7, 2007 – Fonality®, a leading open source telephony company, today announced the beta release of trixbox 2.4, the latest version of the Asterisk®-based telephony platform that has become synonymous with open source telephony and home to the largest Asterisk-based community. trixbox 2.4 incorporates the newest releases of CentOS 5, Asterisk 1.4 and FreePBX 2.3 for broader compatibility, choice and usability. trixbox 2.4 is beta software and timing of the general release will be gated by stability of Asterisk 1.4, as well as integration of all of the components and testing to ensure that it is ready for deployment in a demanding production environment.

For greater compatibility, this release gives trixboxers the option to deploy trixbox on CentOS 5 compatible hardware and reduce install time with the 100 percent Red Hat Package Manager Installer. For greater choice, trixbox incorporates Asterisk 1.4, the latest release from the Asterisk community. The new version of FreePBX 2.3 included in trixbox 2.4 also improves usability with new features including an updated flash operator panel and an improved FreePBX landing page with more status information.

trixbox 2.4 beta, like previous versions of trixbox, includes a host of stable and reliable packages and applications, including Apache, a modified version of Asterisk, FreePBX, Flash Operator Panel, MySQL, phpMyAdmin and SugarCRM. trixboxers who prefer a hardened and supported version of trixbox can still download and use trixbox 2.2. Other key features included in trixbox 2.4 include an automatic back-up and restore system and DHCP manager.

“Listening to the trixbox community is our first priority. They wanted to see Asterisk 1.4 incorporated into trixbox, so we are delivering just that. This beta release is just the first step,” said Andrew Gillis, trixbox founder at Fonality. “And, by having trixbox 2.4 based on CentOS 5, trixbox is compatible with the newest hardware on the market.”

The release of trixbox 2.4 is just one of the latest improvements in a series of updates for both trixbox itself and the community. In recent months, Fonality has added service and support for trixbox, the trixStore, the trixbox Buyer’s Club, additional Fonality trixbox Open Communication Certifications (FtOCC, pronounced "F-talk") and the popular trixbox Appliance that was awarded four stars by PC Magazine and was named a 2007 TMC Labs Innovation award winner.

FtOCC courses consistently sell out and have proven to be a useful and important way for Asterisk resellers to get practical, hands-on experience with the latest software developments, and also share best practices. There are two upcoming FtOCCs scheduled; FtOCC at ITEXPO will take place in Los Angeles on September 10-12, 2007 and FtOCC London will take place in London from October 9-11, 2007. To register for FtOCC go to http://www.trixbox.org/ftocc

For more information on trixbox or to download trixbox 2.4 for free, go to www.trixbox.org.

TrixBox News Release.

Tags: Asterisk, trixbox, FreePBX, Asterisk 1.4, trixbox 2.4, FreePBX 2.3, CentOS 5, ITEXPO, TMC Labs

ASTLinux, Trixbox, Ferrari, Prius they are not all Apples!

Update:
Kristian used a Toyota Siena in his example but I used Prius as it is closer to my real life situation! I used to like high power cars but one day rented a small Prius car. Although I was little uncomfortable, I was traveling at the same speeds (about 65 mph) but saving a lot of gas (from 14 miles per gallon to 45-50 mile per gallon!).

Kristian of ASTLinux fame has done a very nice article on comparison of ASTLinux and TrixBox. First I was wondering where he was going then it hit me! I think if you know Asterisk and have been plying with it's numerous incarnations, this is a good read.
Kristian, I like fast big hose power cars with stick shift! But I also liked what you wrote about. I think you hit the nail right on the spot.
"In my VMWare session, it (Trixbox) also uses over 200MB of RAM (doing nothing). AstLinux comes in at about 20MB of RAM (doing nothing). That's a smaller but still significant factor of 10."

Well that's why I like ASTLinux for where there is not much room and less resources, Trixbox for people who like mice and nice screens a lot. (these are about 75 present of people ask for)

Here is the artile by Kristian Kielhofner, the creator of ASTLinux!

Disclaimer!
I use both the products! in different situations. Both does what it supposed to do but I will not compare the two. It will be like comparing my Ferrari (only in dreams) to my Prius (real, 'cos I love this earth). Both are cars! I dream about Ferrari and love and use Prius every day!

Tags: Asterisk, ASTLinux, trixbox, Ferrari, Prius

TrixBox Appliance! Sold to the first ever customer!

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
The TrixBox Appliance that is a hardware appliance designed only by Trixbox for Trixbox has been sold to it's first customer at VON.
The product is slated to ship by June 24th 2007, and available in Seven configured forms;
From the base model to the single span T1 in the standard form. There is also a Enterprise version again expanding from Enterprise base to Dual T1 model.

According to the Trixbox Appliance site; (Where you will also be able to find the models and pricing)
TrixBox Appliance features,

• Rackmount Options – The trixbox Appliance can be mounted five different ways: 19” telephony relay rackmount, cabinet slide-mount, wall mount and free-standing floor or tabletop.

• Telephony Expansion Capability – trixbox Appliance can scale up to 4 T1s or 48 analog lines. The trixbox appliance supports Asterisk®-compatible cards from virtually any telephony card manufacturer.

• Enhanced Reliability – With the dual power supply, the trixbox Appliance Enterprise Edition offers high reliability with the ability to run on multiple power sources; a feature you won’t find on any other telephony appliance.

• Data Security – Mirrored hard drives ensure that your data is always safe from a hardware failure.

• Easy Networking – Featuring network connectivity on the motherboard and an onboard 4-port switch, the trixbox Appliance can be networked in a variety of configurations to meet your specific business needs.

• Increased Air Flow – What’s that loud noise you hear? It’s not your trixbox Appliance! With its intriguing one-of-a-kind custom front panel and limited fan noise, the trixbox Appliance was designed to be seen, not heard.

• LCD Display – With a back-lit 4 line LCD included prominently on the front of your trixbox Appliance, you can check the status of the system, including call and queue metrics/details, all in a single glance.

• Quality Hardware – The trixbox Appliance Enterprise Edition comes with pre-configured Sangoma line cards with industry-leading Octasic echo-cancellation hardware inside to give you high quality phone calls.

Customer who purchased the first Trixbox Appliance.

Tags: trixbox, Asterisk, trixbox appliance, Octasic echo-cancellation, Sangoma, VON

Trixbox 2.0 in CentOS VE, Virtual Environment

VoIP IP Telphony @ snapvoip.blogspot.com

I wrote about OpenVZ on the gridtech blog; Link is below,
It is a virtual environment for Linux, like vmware or Xen. But today I noticed that their is an article on OpenVZ wiki, how to run Trixbox 2.0 on this environment.
The wiki article goes to expand on following topics;
1. Create VE from CentOS Template.
2. Add character device /dev/tty9 to VE
3. Install rpmforge & apt
4. Add DAG repository
5. Install yum
6. Install speex and libspeex-devel
7. Download Trixbox 2.0 tar.gz file (not ISO) and extract to /var/trixbox_load
8. Change to /var/trixbox_load and run install.sh script
So if you are looking to test trixbox in a virtual environment or want to test OpenVZ, follow the links below.

Links;
OpenVZ main site
Trixbox in a CentOS VE
gridtech: OpenVZ, another player in virtualization space

Tags: Trixbox, asterisk, OpenVZ, gridtech

Mark Spencer, Asterisk Creator, Presents AsteriskNOW

Although many times I have gone through the same procedure, quite a few times, it is good to see and hear Mark. Hello people it is this easy, try it out. Is this the end of TrixBox? I don't think so! My TrixBox still got a few more tricks under it's sleeves. But I think I will follow Mark sooner or later.



Links;
AsteriskNow
Trixbox

Tags: Asterisk, trixbox, asterisknow, Mark Spencer, asterisk video

Webinar, Building an Open Source IP-PBX with trixbox 2.0

Trixbox maker, Fonality announced the first of a series of free webinars to help users make the most of their trixbox installation. This webinar series will cover topics for beginners to advanced users. The first webinar entitled “Building an Open Source IP-PBX with trixbox 2.0” will cover the basic aspects and features of trixbox. This is a good introduction to the features, installation, and basic configuration of trixbox. The agenda for this webinar includes:

* System requirements
* Installation
* Hardware and ITSP support
* Skills required
* Basic configuration
* Basic troubleshooting
If you are Trixbox or Asterisk user, I am sure you will gain valuable lessons and techniques from this type of activities. Follow the link to get yourself registered.

Links;
Webinar, Building an Open Source IP-PBX

Tags: Asterisk, trixbox, webinar