FreePBX -> FusionPBX

[krzykat]

Hello,

I've been a long time FreePBX user, but after the latest merger of Digium into Sangoma, I'm just a little worried about the future direction of Asterisk. Therefore, I want to see what Freeswitch and FusionPBX can offer. I think there's a lot of good things with the underlying engine, and hope that Fusion can give all the functionality that FreePBX has given. Looking forward to a fun ride.

 

[hailthemelody]

Welcome! I switched a few years ago and it's made my life/job smoother.

Can you explain your concern for Asterisk's future? I'm not an expert, but I believe FreePBX contains Asterisk but Asterisk doesn't depend on FreePBX.

 

[krzykat]

Can you explain your concern for Asterisk's future? I'm not an expert, but I believe FreePBX contains Asterisk but Asterisk doesn't depend on FreePBX.

Sure - Sangoma purchased FreePBX a little while ago, and some features were no longer updated because some say that they would compete with their very profitable commercial modules. Sangoma has recently purchased Digium. Does that mean that they start to move the development of asterisk towards things that will only benefit them? If a competitor such as Elastix, 3CX, PBX-in-a-Flash, or Wazo utilizes a portion of Asterisk that FreePBX has a version to make money on with their commercial, how likely are they to keep it in the normal updates?

I'm not giving up on Asterisk and FreePBX, but I do want to have options.

 

[ou812]

Hi hailthemelody, I am in the same boat I just started working with fusion for about 2 weeks ago, I'm also coming from Freepbx, do you have fusionpbx in production for customers and how stable have you found them, if you don't mind sharing it would ease my concerns with switching over, I have many customers ranging from 10 to 200 phones.

Thanks,

 

[SilkBC]

We have also been giving FusionPBX a serious look, coming from the FreePBX/Asterisk camp (just have not been happy with the odd "quirks" that seem to keep popping up, esepcially after module updates). In addition to the issues we have had with FreePBX, the one other feature that is "killer" IMHO is the true multi-tenancy. It is also a bit easier to setup a failover cluster.

Our only real concern is the future development. FreePBX has a company (and quite a few developers) behind it while most of the development for FusionPBX seems to be done by one person, and what happens if he one day just decides he has had enough and walks away from the project? Yes, all the code is still there, but will anyone pick it up?

That's really the only concern we really have, but we are still giving FusionPBX a really good look and testing.

 

[krzykat]

Yes, all the code is still there, but will anyone pick it up?

Hopefully some of the folks that were invested in FPBX that are becoming alienated. If it ticks the right buttons, I'll throw some R&D at it. Agree - LOVE the multi-tenant ability, and I'm also looking for the killer app - like FreePBX started to do with the End User Portal. If Fusion can do that, where we they can have their faxes, and voicemails, and SMS (like zipwhip) in one place for end users, that would make me jump in head first.

 

[SilkBC]

I'm also looking for the killer app - like FreePBX started to do with the End User Portal. If Fusion can do that, where we they can have their faxes, and voicemails, and SMS (like zipwhip) in one place for end users, that would make me jump in head first.

I haven't taken a long look (yet) at the user portal in FusionPBX, but I think all of that would be in there as well. Certainly VMs, and whatever else a user is given permissions to.

 

[hailthemelody]

I haven't taken a long look (yet) at the user portal in FusionPBX, but I think all of that would be in there as well. Certainly VMs, and whatever else a user is given permissions to.

Yes there's quite a bit of features on the user portal. From my understanding, it's the same GUI as the admin panel, but with less permissions as you've stated.

 

[DigitalDaz]

FusionPBX has been in use in production now in all sorts of sizes for many years, I think the biggest is some Brazilian bank that has 40,000+ extensions.

Replication is relatively easy so if you are happy with active/passive pairs you can have relatively highly available, geographically dispersed instances without problem.

 

[krzykat]

I know that Ward Mundy has a large following and presence (Nerdvittles.com) and he's starting to put some efforts towards this product. I think there's a lot of people over at PBXinaFlash and FreePBX that are worried about the future and will be paying much more attention to this forum and its development now. I know I will.