Switchvox: The History of Revisions

Our customers have asked us for a document that lists all of the Digium Switchvox software releases. We thought it might be of interest to other Switchvox owners, so we elected to offer it up as a Public Service Announcement, to borrow from the vernacular of the TV and radio industry.

What is Switchvox?

Switchvox started life as a creation of a company called Four Loop Technologies, located in San Diego, California. They created a powerful business communications solution built on the foundation of the Digium Asterisk open sourcetelephony software code. Digium was so impressed with the product that they purchased the company in 2007, and they have been on a very impressive growth path ever since. 

While TeleDynamic is under non-disclosure about new software releases, we think we can say that the biggest news to hit Digium Switchvox since it was purchased in 2007 will be made this year. Once again, Digium will be recognized as the premier innovator in business communication solutions. In the past couple of years, the highly innovative technologies that run the cloud are coming to Switchvox. Yes, it will be a disruptive year in the business phone industry.

For now, read on about the fascinating development of telecom’s largest open-source based telephone system.

We also invite you to download our complimentary guide, Switchvox & TeleDynamic, which outlines the Support options that we can provide your organization, based on our relationship with Switchvox. 

Digium Switchvox Revision History

5.11 RELEASE

February 2015

Enhancements: This release offers support for Switchvox Rescue

5.10 RELEASE

December 2014

Enhancements: This software release supports the Switchvox Softphone for iPhone App.

5.9 RELEASE

September 2014

Enhancements: The Switchboard includes a new WebRTC feature-preview: a Video Call panel in the Switchboard. The panel offers a WebRTC video communication between two Switchvox users. If both people are using the supported web browser (Chrome 35.x), and have an attached camera and microphone, a Video Call can be initiated from a Phonebook entry in the Switchboard.

5.8.5 RELEASE

June 2014

Enhancements & Changes

  • Digium Phone Voicemail App: Require Password.
  • Digium Phone Voicemail App: Screen Voicemail.
  • Digium Phone Sound Settings: Call Waiting Tone. Digium Phones can be set to play, or not play the call waiting tone while you are on another call. (This is the tone that plays during an active call, when another call is coming in.
  • Digium Phones now have a progress indicator during firmware updates.
  • SMTP has two new settings for port and encryption, which can be used as required by your SMTP server.
  • Alerts Manager lets administrators subscribe to system alerts.
  • Polycom Phone Feature Packs now support configuration for these Polycom VVX phones with firmware 5.0.2 Rev D: 300, 310, 400, 410, 500, 600..
  • In Peered Switchvox, the Published to Peer tab has been deprecated. All extensions on a peered Switchvox are automatically published for use by the peer.
  • Time Frame selection has been removed from the call rules’ block rules settings.
  • Alerts Manager: The admin can subscribe one or many people to various alerts.

    Alert Levels:

o   Info: Information that does not include failures or data loss.

o   Warnings that failures or data loss could happen.

o   Error: Failures or data loss.

Categories

  • Backups: Issues creating backup files, or transferring them to the FTP server.
  • Call Recordings: Issues creating call recording files or transferring them to the FTP server.
  • Faxes: Issues receiving faxes.
  • Peered Switchvox’s: Issues syncing data, and extension conflicts with the peer.
  • Scheduled Reports: Issues scheduling or running reports.
  • System: Issues with memory, disk, or load.
  • Voicemail: Errors saving voicemail.

5.8 RELEASE

January 2014

Important: To update to version 5.8, you must first complete an update to version 5.7.3. To use version 5.8 or later, we recommend using a recent Switchvox appliance (80, 310, 360, 380, 450, 470).  While it’s possible to run recent versions of Switchvox on older appliances, you may experience a degradation in the performance of your appliance.

General Enhancements for Administrators

  • Digium Phone configuration has 2 new options: Blind transfer rapid dial (by default, contacts on a rapid dial key use assisted transfer)
  • Number of rapid dial subscriptions (determines how many contacts show Status)
  • Backups now have an SFTP option
  • Music On Hold can now come from an external source via USB to the Switchvox appliance
  • A new Phone Network setting, UDP Persist-Connection, has the Digium Phone attempt to keep a NAT tunnel alive. If your router is shutting off port forwarding to a Digium Phone before the phone re-registers, turn this on. The interval depends on your router’s behavior.

General Enhancements for Extension Owners

  • Voicemail greetings can now be activated from a call rule’s Send to Voicemail action
  • Digium Phone configuration has the 2 new options for contacts on rapid dial keys
  • A timezone can be set for individual phones
  • (Press-and-hold a contact on a rapid dial key displays the contact detail page on the main screen
  • Digium Phone configuration has the 2 new options for contacts on rapid dial keys

Peered Switchvox’s New Feature

  • Peering two Switchvox’s is easier with a new interface
  • Adding peered extensions to the Internal Directory is easy
  • For extension owners:

o   Creating a phonebook entry for an extension on a Peered Switchvox is easier

o   You can forward a voicemail or fax to an extension on a Peered Switchvox 

Release 5.7

April 2013

Enhancements: A minor update has been applied to the Switchvox Linux kernel. Switchvox and Digium Phones now support Chrome for Linux and Mac OS, IE9 for Windows 7.

Digium Phones: 

  • App Development Mode enables a developer to write custom apps for telephones.
  • A selection of language/locales is now available, including Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, and Dutch.
  • Additional QoS settings provide more networking options.
  • Electronic Hook Switch option lets you specify a Jabra IQ or Plantronics headset for EHS.

You can take advantage of these new Digium Phone features using Switchvox’s interface:

  • The new Digium Phone Apps tool lets you deploy custom phone apps to your Digium Phones
  • New Custom Extension Settings let you define your own custom settings for phone extensions
  • Digium Phones automatically use the language/locale defined for a Switchvox phone extension.
  • The Phone Networks tool reflects the new Digium Phone QoS settings

5.5 RELEASE

February 2012

Enhancements

Digium Phones: Assignments and Configuration, and Contacts

Phone-Users: Status and status-based Call Rules. A new Call Rule for Status Do Not Disturb: queue calls are declined, and direct calls go to your voicemail.

5.1 RELEASE

August, 2011

Enhancements: Spanish and Italian are now supported for the new features in version 5.0. A driver is included to support the new Digium Echo Cancellation Module (VPMOCT032) 

5.0 SOFTWARE RELEASE

June, 2011

New Features

  • Converged Phones: Find out all about the new Converged Phones and InCall Menu features in the Features and Support sections. To set up Converged Phones go to Features > Converged Phones in the Extension Suite (/main).
  • Queue Logs & Reports: You’ll find detailed information in the queue logs and reports. Now you can see where callers are abandoning your queues, how your queue members are performing in their queues, and more. This new information can help you refine your business processes, and make staffing decisions based on real data. Also, Queue Reports are now available as Scheduled Reports. This new information will be available in queue logs and reports beginning on the date and time that you update to version 5.0.
  • Concurrent Calls Report: Prior to version 5.0, concurrent calls were displayed on the Current Calls page. Concurrent Calls is now available as a report that shows concurrent calls by type or provider, for a range of dates and times. (Reporting > Call Reports > Concurrent Calls) This new information will be available in concurrent calls beginning on the date and time that you update to version 5.0.
  • Bulk-Modify for Changing Multiple Phone-type Extensions: Bulk-Modify Extensions (Setup > Extensions > Manage) is a new tool that lets you modify the settings of multiple phone-type extensions. You just collect the extensions you want to modify, then create a set of modifications to make on all of those extensions.
  • Outgoing Call Failover Options in 5.0: Outgoing Call Rules now have a failover feature, and you can add up to five failover routes. This means that you don’t have to create multiple rules to cover failover.
  • Ordering Call Rules in 5.0: Caller ID Rules (incoming and outgoing), and Incoming DID Routes can now be ordered.

5.0 SOFTWARE RELEASE

June, 2011

Reminder Notes: Several Setup tools now have Note capability so you can annotate items you create:

  • Extension Groups
  • Outgoing Call Rules
  • Outgoing Caller ID Rules
  • Incoming Call Rules
  • Incoming DID Routes

Enhanced Features

Main Menus: The new menus group your Switchvox tasks together more effectively. If you mouseover the new menus, you’ll easily see where everything is. 

Here are some menu changes that might be of particular interest:

  • Phone Set up is now Setup > Extensions > Phones.
    In 5.0, you can no longer create an extension from the Unconfigured Phones page, you must have the extension available to choose from in that interface.
  • URL Manager is now Tools > PBX Tools > Event Triggers
  • Voicemail Templates and SMTP settings are now under Tools > Notifications
  • Hardware Setup is now Server > Maintenance > Telephony Cards
  • Network Settings is now Server > Networking > IP Configuration
  • System Status is now Server > Diagnostics > Connection Status
  • Disk Usage information is now on its own page: Server > Diagnostics > Disk Usage

Managing Phones with Phone Setup

Phone Setup is now available from Setup > Extensions > Phones. In 5.0, there are also some specific changes:

  • Unconfigured Phones: You can no longer create an extension from the Unconfigured Phones page, you must have the extension available to choose from in that interface.
  • Configured Phones: You can now easily assign a different extension to a configured phone. Click the phone’s Details icon to do this.

5.0 SOFTWARE RELEASE

June, 2011

Managing Phone Extensions

The following are changes to the individual phone-extension page:

  • Extension can be dialed from an IVR is no longer set per-extension, it’s set in the IVR options. Every extension that was previously set to allow dialing from an IVR is now part of an Extension Group call Can Dial from IVR.
  • Phone settings that were previously set in the Extension Suite can now be set from the Admin Suite also. (These phone settings require a Phone Feature Pack.) You can use these settings in Extension Templates, too, to keep your extension settings consistent.
  • Outgoing Call Rules are now managed as a collection. You can put a rule into the collection as Allow or Deny. If a rule should be ignored, then leave a rule out of the collection.
  • Extension Groups are now managed as a collection. You can put as many Extension Groups in the collection as you want, but remember Groups can now contain Groups. For example, you might have a Group called Sales California, and one called Sales New York. If you need a Group that includes sales people on both coasts, create a Group called Sales All, and put the CA and NY Groups into the Sales All Group.
  • Permissions for all of the Switchvox features have been grouped to help you manage them more easily.

New IVR Option—Enable Extension Dialing

  • Enable Extension Dialing lets you specify an Extension Group that can be dialed from the IVR. If a Group is specified, any extensions in that Group can be dialed from the IVR.
  • If you have existing IVRs that are allowed to dial extensions, this option will be set to the Extension Group Can Dial from IVR (which was created when you updated to version 5.0). You can change this option throughout your IVRs, and you can change or delete that Extension Group.

Managing Extension Groups

Extension Groups can now include any kind of extension, and even other Groups. Group members are ordered.

Groups can be used in:

  • Call Queues, as members
  • Outgoing Caller ID Rules
  • IVR Options, to allow dialing from the IVR

5.0 RELEASE

June, 2011

Queue Status Changes: The Queue Status page no longer includes historical information. Queue Status is now a current view into your queues, with statistics about what’s going on today. For historical information, see Queue Logs or Queue Reports. Also, Queue Status includes new information, such as abandoned calls and members missed calls.

Enhanced Charts under Reporting: The new charts look much better and solve some display issues.

Enhanced Disk Usage has its Own Page: Disk usage information is now available on Server > Diagnostics > Disk Usage and includes more information that it did previously on the Server Status page.

Collection Tools: Now you can put items in a collection, mark items with a particular setting, and put items in order. Here are the uses for this new tool:

  • Manage Phone Extensions: Outgoing Call Rules. Put a rule into the collection marked Allow or Deny. If the extension should ignore the rule, then do not put the rule into the collection.
  • Manage Phone Extensions: Extension groups. Put a Group into the collection if the extension belongs in that Group. Keep in mind, Groups can contain Groups now, so your extensions probably don’t need to be in lots of Groups.
  • Extension Groups: Put any extension or Group into the collection. Non phone-type extensions are ignored where appropriate. For example, if a Group is a Queue Member, only the phone-type extensions are actually considered members.
  • VoIP Providers: Outgoing Call Rules. Put a call rule into the collection marked Allow or Deny. If the rule should be ignored, then do not put the rule into the collection.
  • VoIP Providers: SIP Provider Host List.
  • Scheduled Call Recordings: Put extensions, Extension Groups, or Call Queues into the collection to be recorded.

Tabs for Viewing and Editing: Horizontal tabs are used to break up extra-long pages.

5.0 RELEASE

June, 2011

Error Correction Assistance: As you enter information in Switchvox, errors are identified so you can correct your entries quickly and efficiently.

Icons/Buttons: Many repeated actions, such as Modify, Delete, and Preview are now represented with icons not words.

Browsers: See Switchvox Browser Support for information about which web browsers are supported for version 5.0.

Web Suite Minimalist Mode: Web Suite Minimalist Mode allows administrators and extension owners display the Web Suite interface with reduced graphics.

If Minimalist Mode is set to Yes:

  • Background graphic and larger graphics on buttons and tabs are removed.
  • Some text, especially in section headers, is smaller.
  • Animations are removed.

4.6 RELEASE

Oct. 4, 2010

Switchvox Protection Enhancements: Automatic IP blocking denies a network connection to IP addresses that have repeatedly tried to reach Switchvox with bad login information. Requiring strong passwords means that outsiders won’t be able to easily discover good login information.

Administrative Enhancements: A new Switchvox tech support access tool, so you don’t have to make changes to your firewall. Separate Download and Apply options for Updates so you can manage when restarts happen. Segmented Backup files so you can safely restore from backup even when files get big.

4.5.2 MOBILITY RELEASE

June 2010

Switchvox Mobile Applications for iPhone and BlackBerryThe freely downloadable applications integrate with Switchvox to bring advanced UC functionality to employees even when they are away from the office. For more information, please visit http://www.digium.com/switchvox-mobile

Switchvox Mobile applications are connected to an employee’s phone extension, so when mobile workers make a business call through Switchvox Mobile, the call appears to be from their work phone, rather than their mobile phone, and billing can be handled like any other call they would make from the office. To place a call using the Switchvox Mobile application, mobile workers can select a name from the company directory, dial the employee’s extension from the keypad, or easily return calls from the Voicemail and Call Log tools.

Switchvox Mobile applications provide key features, such as the ability to control voicemail greetings, access the full company directory, view missed calls, check voicemail, and easily return calls, all from a smartphone. Users can also set call rules while away from the office, ensuring that no matter where they are, they will receive important calls.

4.5 RELEASE

January 2010

Switchvox SMB 4.5 offers features to support users and administrators including:

  • User Profiles: Caller profile information such as photo, extension, title and location. This appears on the Switchboard and on the display of Polycom phones with Phone Feature Packs on internal calls.
  • Flexible Language Support: The Switchvox 4.5 GUI, manual and online help are available in English, U.K. English, Italian, Castilian Spanish and Latin American Spanish. Sound packs, which include all the audio prompts used in the system, are available for these languages, as well as Australian English, French and French Canadian. For businesses with international offices, users can customize their language settings to best complement their location and language preference
  • Comprehensive Monitoring: Digium has implemented the Simple Network Management Protocol for Switchvox 4.5, which gives administrators the ability to collect real time data about the status and health of their systems.

If our team can serve your organization regarding Switchvox support or service, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

We offer business-class communication solutions with responsive local support

To learn more, call us today at (510) 785-2480