Taking control of your business communications has never been easier.

More than 2 years in the making, on a journey that started nearly 20 years ago, today’s V20 Final release signals the future of 3CX – and heralds a new dawn for global business telephony. 3CX architecture has been fully re-designed from the ground up, delivering so much more than any typical new version release.

Today, we say with confidence that 3CX V20 is the future of business telephony. Continuing to build upon our strengths in the small to mid sized market, we’re demonstrating just how easy it is for companies seeking to directly control their end-to-end business communications, with a fully optimized system created for future market realities.

Our contact center solution is stronger than ever. We’ve met the demand for an integrated multi-tenant solution. We’ve laid the foundations for native AI support. And last – but never least, we’ve focused intently on enhancing the security of 3CX. For any company that wants to continue to be fully in control and self-managing their own business communications, the road ahead is set to deliver for many years to come. Read on for the ‘best of’ Version 20 Final.

Hardened Security Delivers on Promises

In April 2023 we committed to actionable steps – 7 to be exact – to harden our systems and minimize our risk of future attacks. In V20 we’ve delivered on our promises. Significant amounts of both time and money have been invested to harden multiple layers of our network security: From a rebuild of the network, creating a dedicated build environment both hardened and isolated, to implementing new EDR monitoring tools. From employing off-site 24/7 monitoring, staffed by threat-hunting specialists, to stricter access control policies at all levels on a Zero Trust model. We worked closely with Mandiant to implement Remediation Plan Recommendations, and left no stone unturned in our bid to reinforce the security of our network.

It hasn’t stopped there. We’ve continued to enhance product security features with password hashing, removal of the password from the welcome email, lock down of the Web Client by IP – for system admin or all users. We updated our near-term product roadmap to include a version of our native windows app that can be installed from the Microsoft Store. This automatically added a level of security as well as automatic updates and quarantine if necessary. Additional security updates such as 2FA for non-SSO installs have also been implemented.

Our latest improvements include the Linux edition now running on top of Debian 12. We also have 2FA in addition to Microsoft and Google SSO. And finally, the unified client and Admin Console has removed an attack surface for hackers. Thoroughly reviewed by Mandiant, as well as checked by Reversinglabs, Coverity and Kaspersky, 3CX V20 is the most secure communications solution available in the market.

Looking ahead, we’re putting our security to the test with HackerOne. Ethical hackers worldwide will assist us in our ongoing attack resistance management strategy, to find and close gaps in the digital attack surface. More on that in future updates.

Remaining True to Telephony with a New SIP Call Manager

We’ve come a long way in 20 years, but we’ll never forget our telephony roots – and you shouldn’t either! In V20, we’ve rewritten our Call Manager so that we can deliver the best in call center features now and in the future.

We’ve added additional queue strategies – such as target agents with multiple calls, along with better and faster call barge in and pick up for call center supervisors. Our queues are now programmable. So with some scripting knowledge you can build any call center application you want. We’ve designed our reporting engine to improve existing reports but most importantly to allow it to be integrated with leading reporting and dashboard applications such as Grafana. We also have more reliable telephony features such as transfer back on busy. And finally we’re launching an all powerful API to allow companies to build telephony applications easily.

All-New Native Windows Softphone

One of the biggest additions in V20 is a brand new native 3CX Windows softphone. This app – similar to the iOS or Android apps – runs in conjunction with the Web Client, overcoming a number of limitations of PWA in terms of window notification control. Rather than a simple call notification, it comes with a proper answer dialog. As a native softphone it also allows for audio control to be independent from the browser.

Secure Deployment via the Microsoft Store

The new native app has one major difference. It will be deployed via the Windows store. This means much greater security right from the outset with each Windows native app security checked by Microsoft. It also means we can separately update the softphone from the main 3CX build for better manageability. The software app will be limited to call and essential PBX functions in the same way you have them on the iOS or Android app. With the 3CX softphone, the electron-based desktop app will no longer be needed.

AI Foundations Laid

Of course AI is a game-changer for communication systems. In V20, we’ve laid the foundations for deep integration of AI. Starting with call transcription and reporting, we’ve created the ability to not just transcribe calls but also analyze and report on them too. It’s a space to watch over in the coming months ahead.

New Admin Console

V20 introduces the ‘Admin Console’. An integral part of the 3CX Web Client, the Admin Console replaces the former Management Console and in so doing removes two former admin types: root admin and hosting admin. These “invisible” users had no audit logs and have been replaced in favor of a System Admin or Remote Admin.

The entire management interface of 3CX has been modernized to focus on features relevant today. We’ve also simplified the configuration of a great many advanced features. Built with the User in mind, you can switch easily to and from the Admin Console from within the client – using the same login and URL.

One Easy to Remember URL

With the Web Client and Admin Console now merged into one, you only need to remember one FQDN for both users and admins. The web client slug is no longer needed, therefore https://company.3cx.us/webclient/, becomes https://company.3CX.us. A major step forward for users.

More Granular Permissions with Departments

A major change in V20 is the introduction of Departments replacing Groups and acting like an Organizational Unit (Windows Active Directory). Departments have their own office hours, holidays, time zone, language settings and extensions. System extensions inherit these settings as members of a Department. Individual extensions can override the department hours. Gone are the global office hours, making configuration and management much easier for larger installs.

Departments are also the basis for setting permissions more granularly. For example, you can have a department with its own administrator in charge of user management and IVRs. In addition to users, you can make any system extension or trunk a member of a group. By default trunks are system wide. If you’re not interested in using Departments you can stick to the one default group included in every 3CX install. IVRs and other system extensions are part of this default group – by default!

VoIP Quality Monitoring

The event logs in the new Admin Console provide much more information than before. At a quick glance you can see what’s going on and how you can fix things yourself. Added is the new VoIP quality monitor which enables you to quickly locate networking issues that cause audio quality issues.

Roadmap for V20

At 3CX we’re always looking to the future. So what we’re releasing today is not a static version of our vision for the future. It’s a secure and expandable architecture that we can easily build upon as we pivot into global telephony leadership. Continue to watch this space for a soon to be released roadmap blog post detailing our plans for upcoming Updates 1 & 2, including Security, Microsoft teams Integration, Reporting capabilities (Grafana), Multi tenancy, On board video MCU and Programmability.

Upgrading to V20

Before you upgrade, make sure to read our V20 Upgrade Checklist & FAQ.

Also important to note:

• Scheduled Reporting: Coming in Update 1 or 2. If you can’t do without it, then wait for these updates.
• Currently V20 is available on Linux only: A Windows installer will come at a later stage and will require an enterprise edition. We’ll upgrade any PRO editions running Windows to Enterprise for the duration of the subscription. More information to follow.
• On-premise installations require split DNS: The 3CX FQDN must be fully resolvable on the LAN as well as outside of the LAN. This means your own DNS server or a firewall should be able to do hairpin nat. Very small networks might have to move to the cloud or replace the router.
• System Owner is required: You will not be able to upgrade without having a System Owner role set. Find more information here. Make sure you have control of this account!
• Global Office hours and holidays reconfiguration and use of Departments: If you don’t want to use Departments you can just use the default Department. However, until you do so everything will continue to work as before. You only need to do this if you want to edit the office hours.
• Read our updated manual: https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/

View the complete changelog here.

By Nick Galea|February 28th, 2024|29 Comments