On your own server or cloud

The server sits on your network, in your building. Internal calls keep working when the line to the outside world does not, which for a hotel, a factory or a hospital wing is the whole argument.

Worth reading before you plan this, because it is where these projects go wrong. 3CX installs its own web server and database, so it is not happy sharing a machine with something else that has opinions about ports 80 and 443.

• A machine of its own. Physical, virtual or a cloud instance, but not one already running your file share or your accounting system.
• Debian Linux. We can install and harden it as part of the setup; you do not need a Linux person on staff for that.
• A fully qualified domain name pointing at it. Take the name 3CX supplies and the certificate is issued and renewed for you; use one of your own and renewing it stays your job, which a support plan from us can cover if you would rather it were ours.
• Split DNS for a server in your building, so that name resolves correctly both inside the building and outside it. This is the single most common cause of "it works at my desk but not at home" — and it is also what lets internal calls carry on when the line to the outside world drops, because the phones can still find the server without asking the internet.
• SIP and RTP ports open to the trunk provider, and to nobody else. Remote staff and branch deskphones need their own ports on top of that, which we set up and lock down with your IT team.
• Power that does not flicker, for a server in your building. A UPS. The phone system is the thing you need most in the ten minutes after something goes wrong.

We'll agree an installation date with you.

A straightforward office is usually a couple of weeks from order to live: a few days waiting on hardware, a day building and configuring, and a cutover we schedule with you rather than spring on a Tuesday morning. In a cloud account there is no hardware to wait for, and the time goes on access instead: a role provisioned in your account, and the network questions answered by the people who own them.

You pay for the machine, either a server once or your cloud provider's monthly bill, then the 3CX licence each year, the setup, and a support plan if you want one. Your numbers and calls are billed by your phone line provider. We put our part in one quote, because the whole point of owning the machine is knowing what it costs.