3CX
TypePrivate
IndustrySoftware Development
Telecommunications
FoundedNovember 1, 2005 (2005-11-01)
FounderNick Galea
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Nick Galea (Founder and CEO)
Products3CX Software PBX
Number of employees
200 (2018)
Website3cx.com

3CX is a software development company and developer of the 3CX Phone System, a business communication system that includes phone calls, video conferencing, live chat, Facebook and inbound WhatsApp messaging integration.

History

3CX was founded by Nick Galea in 2005. 3CX's first product release was 3CX Phone System which was developed and released as a free IP PBX in 2006.

In 2007, the company released the first commercial edition of 3CX Phone System, v6.0.

In 2013, 3CX acquired eWorks technologies and launched its first video conferencing feature - an integrated WebRTC-based video conferencing solution. This was followed by the release of 3CX WebMeeting Server in February 2015 (later discontinued following the release of version 15).[1]

On September 7, 2016, 3CX announced a partnership with BT Wholesale SIP Trunking platform to serve resellers.[2]

In 2016, 3CX acquired the Elastix project and PBX in a Flash. Following the acquisition, the Elastix Distro was switched to a proprietary software on top of Debian with the 3CX platform.

In 2017, 3CX became Linux-compatible, introducing a version that runs on Debian. That year, the 3CX also acquired Askozia, and released the Call Flow Designer, a visual app designed to automate call flows and phone related daily work tasks.

In March 2017, 3CX further expanded their Cloud offering by releasing PBX Express,[3] a service that creates a hosted PBX in minutes using an instance on any hosted virtual private server. In 2020, 3CX launched the “Hosted by 3CX” service.

In 2019, 3CX acquired WP Live Chat, a free WordPress plugin for live chat integration.[4] It also added Facebook and SMS integrations to the plugin. The same year, Stefan Walther was appointed as the new CEO of the company.

In 2021 with the launch of version 18, 3CX integrated with Microsoft Teams to allow direct routing through the Microsoft platform.[5]

On June 21, 2022, it was announced Walther would step down as CEO, with Galea returning to the position.[6]

In July 2023, 3CX announced the 3CX Small Business edition.

3CX Security Incident

On 29 March 2023, 3CX acknowledged its desktop client, 3CXDesktopApp, had been compromised to distribute malware.[7]Global cybersecurity firm Mandiant were appointed to conduct a full investigation.[7]

On 20 April 2023, 3CX published the investigation's conclusions, revealing the hacking operation was a byproduct of an earlier software hack from an application from financial software company Trading Technologies, accessed through a 3CX employee's PC.[8] The hack was linked to the same North Korean operators that compromised the Trading Technologies app.[9]

As a result, announced the implementation of a 7 Step Security Action Plan, in order to prevent any future attacks.

Awards

  • 2023: 'Best SOHO Service' by Comms Council UK
  • 2023: 'Product of the year 2023' in the Telephone Systems category by Connect Professional
  • 2023: 'Top Call Center Software' by Gartner
  • 2022: ‘Top Performer’ and ‘Emerging Favorite’ by Capterra
  • 2021: Leading ‘Business Phone System’ by GetApp
  • 2021: Top ‘Business Phone Service Provider’ by Software Advice
  • 2021: ‘Top Performer’ and ‘Emerging Favorite’ by Capterra  
  • 2021: 'Best Unified Communications Software Company' by Digital.com
  • 2020: 'UC Platform Supplier of the year' by Comms Business Awards
  • 2020: 'Business Software of the Year Award' Awarded by PC Pro
  • 2017: 'Business Software of the Year' Awarded by PC Pro
  • 2015: 'Price/Performance Value Leadership Award', awarded by Frost & Sullivan[10]
  • 2015: 'Tech Innovator Award', awarded by CRN[11]
  • 2015: 'Most Innovative Product', awarded by the Innovationspreis - IT[12]
  • 2012: 'Best Emerging Technology Vendor' awarded by CRN[13]
  • 2011: 'Best Emerging Technology Vendor' awarded by CRN

Association with sports

On 8 July 2016, 3CX announced that it has become an official sponsor of Cypriot football club, APOEL FC of Nicosia, Cyprus for a period of 3 years. The sponsorship was renewed once again in 2019 until 2022.

Presently, 3CX supports and takes part of the Corporate Futsal Tournament.

References

  1. ↑ "3CX WebMeeting goes completely WebRTC based". Comms Dealer. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  2. ↑ Savvas, Antony (2016-09-07). "BT joins forces with 3CX to offer channel software PBXs". ChannelBiz UK. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  3. ↑ "3CX PBX Express Review: Secure, Free Cloud PBX in Minutes". CommsTrader. 2017-03-18. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  4. ↑ "3CX Acquires WP-Live Chat to Expand Market Reach""3CX Acquires WP-Live Chat to Expand Market Reach". CX Today. Archived from the original on 2021-11-10. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "Connecting Teams and Customers". ITPro.
  6. ↑ "Nick Galea Returns to the Helm as CEO". 3CX. 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  7. 1 2 "3CX hack caused by trading software supply chain attack". BleepingComputer. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  8. ↑ Greenberg, Andy. "The Huge 3CX Breach Was Actually 2 Linked Supply Chain Attacks". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  9. ↑ Kovacs, Eduard (2023-04-20). "Cascading Supply Chain Attack: 3CX Hacked After Employee Downloaded Trojanized App". SecurityWeek. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  10. ↑ "2015 Global Unified Communications Price/Performance Value Leadership Award" (PDF). Frost & Sullivan. July 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  11. ↑ jcaponi. "2016 Tech Innovator Award Winners - Page 1". CRN. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  12. ↑ Dudley, Jim (2015-03-27). "3CX Wins "Most Innovative Product" Award". KeeFORCE. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  13. ↑ "CRN Recognizes 3CX as an Emerging Technology Vendor". CrossRealms. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
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