The Linux version of SafiServer (RC1) is available for download. Also, updated versions of SafiWorkshop and SafiServer for Windows are up.

Links:

• Download: SafiServer(Linux)
• Download: SafiServer(Windows)
• Download: SafiWorkshop(Windows)

You will need to install both SafiServer and SafiWorkshop in order to try out the Safi Communications Platform for Asterisk.

You will also need an Asterisk server set up. If you're new to the world of Asterisk (opensource PBX); we recommend using a "kick-start" ISO such as PBX-in-a-Flash or AsteriskNOW. For the purpose of trying out our product; you can either install Asterisk on a spare PC or use a virtural machine enviroment (such as VMWare).

You can find help with setting up SafiServer/Safiworkshop and Asterisk in the walkthrough section in the forums and in our online help section. We also recently put together a screencast to help you get up and going: RC1 Setting SafiServer/SafiWorkshop

As always, if you have any questions, difficulties, or feature ideas please feel free to let us know.

-Eric

We have received many inquiries on what our pricing model will look like when we release our product later this summer; so here's a quick rundown of our licensing plan and tentative prices.

First off, Safi Systems licensing will be focused around the server component of the Safi Communications Platform. We currently do not have plans for requiring licensing for the designer component of the system (SafiWorkshop).

SafiServer will be licensed as three editions: Standard, Advanced and Enterprise. The main difference between these editions is how many PBX's a single SafiServer can control (we currently only support Asterisk based PBX's). Here's a rundown of what the breakdown will be:

• SafiServer Standard: Controls One Asterisk Server
• SafiServer Advanced: Controls up to 5 Asterisk Servers and has multi-developer environment
• SafiServer Enterprise: Controls up to 20 Asterisk Servers and has multi-developer environment

All editions will be available for both Windows and Linux operating systems.

Additional feature packs (or ActionPaks) can be purchased as needed. These will include: Database Integration, Web Services, email, Scheduling, File I/O (with directory monitoring), Text to Speech, Speech Integration, and SNMP. The initial offering of SafiServer licensing will include the Database ActionPak for no additional fee.


Retail Pricing:

Servers

SafiServer Standard (with DB ActionPak)	$450
SafiServer Advanced (with DB ActionPak)	$750
SafiServer Enterprise (with DB ActionPak)	$1,300

ActionPaks

Database	$300
WebServices	$250
Scheduler	$200
Email	$250

There will be an introductory special for the initial release, so make sure to sign-up for our mailing list to be informed when these are offered.

For Asterisk resellers and system integrators looking to use our products in their offering; we will soon be announcing a partner/reseller program.

I hope this helps clarify some things, please let us know if there's any additional information that you would find helpful.

-Eric

I'm happy to announce that SafiWorkshop and SafiServer Release Candidates are now available for download! This build addresses a number of issues uncovered during the beta-testing process and features some fundamental changes in how the SafiWorkshop talks to the remote SafiServer. With the improvements implemented over the past couple months, what we believe was already the most powerful Asterisk enhancement platform available is now one of the simplest to configure and use as well.

Here's a quick rundown of the primary changes since out last release:

• Live Remote Debugging – The local debug server has been scrapped in favor of live debugging on the remote SafiServer. This bypasses some of the firewall issues and port conflicts people were running into when running a debug server from the SafiWorkshop itself.

• Firewall Friendly/Simplified Setup – The SafiWorkshop / SafiServer communication now occurs over a single port (8822 by default) using a built-in SSH-based tunneling system.

• Database Connectivity – Database connections from the SafiWorkshop are now obtained from the SafiServer itself. That allows the user to create SQL connections and queries for databases that may only be accessible from the SafiServer machine. That way, any database development that occurs in the SafiWorkshop is guaranteed to behave correctly when running in production.

• Multiple SafiServer Management – We've added a facility that makes it easy to switch between SafiWorkshop workspaces. Typically each workspace corresponds to a unique SafiServer instance

• Import/Export – With the new Safi Archive (SAR) import/export feature Saflets, database resources (queries, connections), audio prompts, and global and local variables can be exported to a .sar archive or conversely imported into the SafiWorkshop and optionally published to the remote SafiServer. WARNING: this feature is still experimental-use with caution.

• Numerous bug fixes

We're confident this is by far the best version of the product we've produced so far and we're extremely excited to make it available to you now. Documentation for this new version is lacking at the moment but please check out these forum posts to get started:

SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 1. Installation

SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 2. Updates

SafiWorkshop Walkthrough: 3. Setting up a license

To get you up and running quickly with a standalone production SafiServer; we've created a kick-start CD ISO that contains the Linux operating system, SafiServer Beta, a MySQL database and several sample Projects/Saflets. NOTE: This is a very "alpha" branch of our product and should be treated as such.

You can download the kick-start ISO here.

I also created a screencast that goes over installing the ISO and syncing your SafiWorkshop with the newly installed SafiServer: Installing the SafiServer Kickstart ISO

-Eric

The latest versions of SafiServer and SafiWorkshop are now available for download.   We've been working hard adding new features, fixing bugs and improving the overall user interface.  We believe that this release will truly showcase the power, flexibility, and user friendliness of our product offering.

 Some of the new additions you'll find in this latest release are:

• Double-clickable ActionSteps with dialog boxes (double click ActionSteps to edit that ActionSteps properties)
  
• All in one SafiServer system monitor, server updater, log viewer and license updater page
• Session and Global variables
• Boolean editor: for quickly creating condition statements
  
• Feature rich scripting editor (with function tree)
• A more robust SafiServer update system
• Better cut and paste
• Updated InvokeSaflet ActionStep
• Many UI tweaks
• Bug fixes

Over the next few weeks, we'll be updating the walkthroughs in the forum and adding additional screencasts. 

Here are some of the recently added screencasts to help you get started:

• Installing SafiWorkshop
• Installing SafiServer
• Connecting to a Production SafiServer
• Setting up the Debug SafiServer
• Using the Prompt Managment System

Beta 4 downloads are available at:

• SafiWorkshop
• SafiServer

If you have any questions or comments; please feel free to post them at the Safi Systems Forums

-Eric

Over the past month we have been diligently working on our forth and (hopefully) final beta release of the SafiServer/SafiWorkshop environment.  This version (1.4) will be more of a release candidate and will have all the main features that will be include in the commercial release.  We hope to have this beta up and available for download sometime with in the next couple weeks.

We are very excited about all the new features and enhancements to our product.  Our goal has always been to make our software intuitive, friendly and powerful; and we believe this release will reassert that vision.

Some of the new features in version 1.4 include:

• Double-clickable ActionSteps with dialog boxes
• A SafiServer system monitor page
• Session and Global variables
• Boolean editor
• Feature rich scripting editor (with function tree)
• A more robust SafiServer updater
• ...and of course bug fixes / performance enhancements

If you have any questions or if there's something you think we're missing; please let us know either in the forums or email us at: support@safisystems.com

-Eric