Junction Networks: EdgeBox

Lately in the Junction Networks labs, we've been focusing on IP PBXes. In that spirit, we have an Edgebox network appliance and have been testing it out.

The Edgebox is much more than a PBX - it also includes the functionality of a firewall, router, print server, file server, mail server, DNS server, etc. It can do QoS and WiFi and NAC. It's likely that I'm leaving a few other things in there - our focus was mostly on the IP PBX. Everything is administered through an attractive web interface that is intuitive and easy to use.

The IP PBX is an Asterisk based system, though you might not know that as an Edgebox administrator unless you happened to be familiar with Asterisk first. I had the Edgebox set up and connected to our PSTN gateway service within minutes. (Knowledge base article here.) I assigned it a phone number via our OnSIP interface and dialed it. Dialing out was slightly more complex - I had to create a dialing plan and give the phone I was dialing from permission to use it. That still only took a minute.

So it's a great device for our PSTN Gateway service. But there is so much other functionality in the box that OnSIP customers might want to use it for its other servers, so we tested the OnSIP Hosted PBX service through it, using it for its router and firewall functionality. There were no problems there, either. It seems to be a very solid device that is ideal for the SMB market. It definitely gets our approval.