Bicom Systems Review
A buyer-focused look at Bicom Systems – the Bosnia-based software house behind PBXware, a telephony platform built not for businesses but for the operators that sell phone services to them. Bicom is a platform vendor, so this review is written for an SA internet telephony provider, managed service provider or reseller weighing PBXware to run a branded cloud-telephony business – not for a company shopping for its own phone system.
Is Bicom Systems worth shortlisting?
It depends entirely on what you are. If you run, or are building, a cloud-telephony business – an ITSP, a multi-tenant MSP, a reseller putting your own brand on a phone service – then yes: PBXware is a mature, genuinely complete platform, with true multi-tenancy, a UC app you can white-label and a built-in operator billing layer, all from one vendor. If you are a business simply wanting phones for your own staff, no – PBXware is the engine an operator runs, not a service you subscribe to, and an SA cloud-PBX provider is far simpler. The catch for SA operators is that Bicom has no local channel; procurement and support are direct or international.
- VendorBicom Systems · Bosnia and Herzegovina · founded 2003
- ProductPBXware telephony platform, gloCOM UC client, SERVERware, TELCOware
- SA route to buyDirect from Bicom or an international reseller – no SA channel partner
- Best-fit buyerSA ITSPs, carriers and MSPs building a branded cloud-telephony business
A mature, complete platform for running a cloud-telephony business – earning its score on depth, and held just short of higher by quote-only pricing and no South African channel.
Bicom Systems is a Bosnia-headquartered software house, founded in 2003, and PBXware – its telephony platform – is one of the longest-running open-standards systems of its kind. What it sells is not a phone system a business buys, but the platform an operator runs to sell phone services to others. The Multi-Tenant edition puts many customers on one installation as a carrier-grade hosted-PBX / UCaaS platform; gloCOM gives those customers a white-label UC app; SERVERware handles hosting and failover; and TELCOware handles the operator billing – so an ITSP can stand up a branded cloud-telephony business without engineering the stack itself. That completeness is the real strength, and it is why the feature score is high. What holds the overall score back is commercial: Bicom publishes no pricing, the licensing is a perpetual purchase plus annual maintenance an SA buyer can only size with a quote, and there is no South African channel behind it.
Is Bicom Systems likely to suit you?
Possible fit: a platform for operators – check scale and the SA support path.
Pros and watch-outs
What works in Bicom Systems’ favour for an SA operator, and what to weigh before signing.
- A genuinely complete operator stack from one vendor – a multi-tenant hosted-PBX / UCaaS platform, the gloCOM UC app and the TELCOware billing layer – so an operator can run a branded cloud-telephony business without building the platform itself.
- True multi-tenancy in the Multi-Tenant edition – many customers on a single instance, each isolated with its own admin portal, and tenant onboarding that is repeatable rather than a fresh deployment each time.
- A white-label model throughout – the PBXware portals and the gloCOM app both carry the operator’s brand, so end customers never see Bicom.
- A perpetual licensing model – the operator buys the platform outright rather than paying a per-user subscription forever, with annual maintenance optional; at scale the unit economics work in the operator’s favour.
- A long, stable track record – PBXware has been shipping since 2004, built on open SIP standards, so it pairs with any standards-based handset and avoids locking the operator into one hardware brand.
- Bicom publishes no pricing – every figure is a quote, and the perpetual-licence-plus-maintenance model takes real work to size and to compare against per-user alternatives.
- There is no Bicom channel in South Africa – an SA operator deals with Bicom’s EU and US offices directly, or with an international reseller, and should plan its own engineering depth accordingly.
- The platform rewards scale – the licence economics and the operator overhead make sense for a business running many tenants; for a small operator or a single deployment, a hosted alternative is simpler and cheaper to start.
- It is an operator platform, not a turnkey service – standing PBXware up and running it as a business is an engineering and commercial undertaking, not a sign-up.
Score breakdown
Four categories that decide whether Bicom Systems is the right fit for your organisation – weighted to the buying evidence a South African operator actually uses.
Bicom publishes no pricing at all – every figure comes from a quote. The perpetual-licence model, bought outright with optional annual maintenance, works in an operator’s favour at scale, but it takes real effort to size and to compare against per-user subscription platforms, with no published rate-card to anchor to.
The strongest axis. PBXware in three editions, a carrier-grade multi-tenant UCaaS platform in the Multi-Tenant edition, the gloCOM cross-platform UC app, SERVERware hosting and failover, TELCOware operator billing, sipPROT SIP security and a white-label model throughout – a complete operator stack from a single vendor.
PBXware has shipped since 2004 and is a mature, stable platform, with SERVERware providing the high-availability and failover layer. The weak point is South African support – there is no local channel, so help comes from Bicom’s overseas offices or an international reseller.
Bicom documents the platform and its components thoroughly, but publishes no pricing and offers an SA operator no local channel – the route in is always direct or international. Sizing the commercial model is a quote exercise from the start.
Pricing – a perpetual licence plus maintenance, quoted not published
Bicom Systems publishes no pricing on its website. The commercial model is a perpetual licence – the operator buys a PBXware edition outright and owns it indefinitely – with an optional annual maintenance fee, typically a percentage of the licence, for new versions and support. Each edition is licensed on its own dimensions, and gloCOM is licensed per user. The table below sets out how each part is costed; a quote against your own tenant and channel count is the only route to a real figure.
| Product / edition | How it is costed | What it is for | Disclosure level |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBXware Business edition | Perpetual licence + maintenance | A single-organisation corporate PBX – hot-desking, advanced call routing and flexible working patterns | Quote-based |
| PBXware Contact Center edition | Perpetual licence + maintenance | Inbound and outbound campaign handling with reporting, real-time monitoring and supervisor tools | Quote-based |
| PBXware Multi-Tenant edition | Perpetual licence + maintenance | The operator edition – many isolated customers on one installation, run as a carrier-grade multi-tenant UCaaS platform | Quote-based |
| gloCOM UC app | Per-user licence | The cross-platform UC client – calls, chat, presence, video and meetings – white-labelled to the operator’s brand | Quote-based |
| SERVERware | Per deployment | The virtualization platform that hosts PBXware and gloCOM with high availability and geo-redundant failover | Quote-based |
| TELCOware | Per deployment | The operator billing, rate-card and provisioning layer for running the commercial side of a cloud-telephony service | Quote-based |
What real customers say
PBXware is operator infrastructure, not a consumer product, so it carries no large public review feed. The honest signal is the platform’s long track record and the modest, trade-side feedback on the IT-software review sites.
PBXware has been shipping since 2004, which makes it one of the longest-running open-standards telephony platforms still in active development. Bicom describes it as the first of its kind; two decades of continuous releases back the maturity claim up.
PBXware appears on the main software-review platforms – Capterra, TrustRadius and Software Advice – but as operator-grade infrastructure the review volume is modest. This is a platform judged inside the trade by the operators that run it, more than on public scores.
With little public feedback to read, an SA operator’s real diligence is hands-on: run a proof-of-concept on the Multi-Tenant edition, test the gloCOM app under your own brand, and confirm the support path with Bicom in writing – there is no local partner to lean on.
Buyer move: treat the long track record as a green light on the platform, but judge the fit on a proof-of-concept of your own – the decision is an operator’s engineering call, not one a public score can settle.
The Bicom Systems line-up
What Bicom actually ships, framed for an operator scoping a cloud-telephony build – the PBXware editions, the multi-tenant platform, the UC app, the hosting and the billing layer.
Business, Contact Center and Multi-Tenant
PBXware comes in three editions: Business for a single corporate PBX, Contact Center for inbound and outbound campaign handling, and Multi-Tenant for operators serving many customer accounts from one platform.
Many isolated tenants on one installation
The defining capability. The Multi-Tenant edition isolates many customer accounts on a single installation, each with its own branded admin portal, so an operator runs a carrier-grade hosted-PBX / UCaaS business and onboards new tenants without a fresh deployment each time.
A white-label client for end users
gloCOM is the unified-communications app – calling, chat, presence, video and meetings across desktop and mobile – that an operator brands as its own and gives to the end customers on its platform.
Hosting with failover built in
SERVERware is the virtualization platform that runs PBXware and gloCOM, in the cloud or on-premise, with high availability and geo-redundant failover – the layer that keeps an operator’s service up.
The operator billing layer
TELCOware handles the commercial side – customer billing, rate-card management and provisioning – so an operator does not have to build its own billing engine alongside the telephony platform.
Open SIP, sipPROT and a perpetual licence
PBXware is built on open SIP standards, so it works with any standards-based handset; sipPROT guards the SIP edge against attack; and the perpetual licence means the operator owns the platform rather than renting it.
You are building a cloud-telephony business of your own.
- You are an ITSP, carrier or reseller building a branded cloud-telephony business of your own.
- You want true multi-tenancy and a carrier-grade hosted-PBX / UCaaS platform out of the box, rather than engineering it yourself.
- You are planning for scale, where a perpetual licence works out cheaper than a per-user subscription on every customer forever.
- You have, or will hire, the engineering depth to run a platform without a local distributor behind it.
Your situation points elsewhere – another route will fit better.
- You just want phones for your staff: PBXware is what an operator runs – an SA cloud-PBX provider is the simpler buy for an end-user business.
- You are a small operator or starting out: a hosted platform such as 3CX ships faster, costs less to begin with, and has an SA channel behind it.
- A published price matters to you: Bicom quotes everything, with no rate-card to compare against.
- Local support is essential: there is no SA Bicom partner, so support is overseas or through an international reseller.
Alternative providers to compare
Three options worth weighing against Bicom Systems, depending on whether you want a faster start, the closest carrier-platform peer, or a lighter platform at SME scale.
3CX
Open-standards PBX software with a published per-call rate-card and a deep South African channel through ICTGlobe and other partners. The pick for a smaller operator that wants to start faster.
PortaOne
The closest comparison: a carrier-grade telephony and billing platform built for operators, and the system already running behind several established South African providers. Worth quoting head to head.
Yeastar
A PBX platform with multi-instance deployment and established SA distribution – a lighter option for an operator working at SME scale rather than carrier scale.
South African essentials
Four SA-specific signals to verify before signing.
PBXware is software; Bicom is not a South African carrier and holds no ICASA licence. An operator running PBXware to sell voice services needs its own ICASA ECS or ECNS licence, and SIP trunking from a licensed carrier. The platform is yours to run; the regulatory standing is yours to hold.
Bicom keeps no South African distributor or support partner. Procurement and support run through its EU and US offices or an international reseller – budget for your own engineering capacity, and confirm the support arrangement in writing before you commit.
Because PBXware is self-hosted, an operator controls where it runs – local hosting at Teraco, or on AWS Cape Town or Azure South Africa, keeps tenant and call data in the country for POPIA. SERVERware makes consolidating many tenants on local infrastructure straightforward.
The perpetual-licence model rewards scale. Map your expected customer count over three to five years before deciding – a business serving many tenants amortises the platform cost well, while a small operation may be better starting on a hosted platform and moving later.
Sources and disclosure
Where this review’s facts come from, and how WhichVoIP gets paid – both transparent before you act on any of it.
- bicomsystems.comProduct pages used for the PBXware editions (Business, Contact Center, Multi-Tenant), the multi-tenant UCaaS architecture, the gloCOM UC app, SERVERware, TELCOware, sipPROT and the perpetual licensing model. Verified live 21 May 2026.
- Company historyUsed for the founding and track-record detail – Bicom Systems founded 2003 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with PBXware shipping since 2004 and gloCOM since 2008. Open source →
- IT-software review platformsCapterra, TrustRadius and Software Advice used for the customer-signal read – PBXware is listed, but as operator-grade infrastructure the public review volume is modest.
- SA regulatory framing + prior review baselineICASA’s ECS/ECNS service-licence regime, applied to the operator running PBXware rather than to Bicom; and the prior WhichVoIP review, used for continuity.
- 21 May 2026Score held at 7.0 against the V7 4-axis rubric. Feature set stays at 8.0 on the complete operator stack; support and reliability sits at 7.0, weighing the mature, two-decade platform against the absence of a South African channel. Pricing value is 6.5, reflecting the quote-only, no-published-rate model. The review was reframed around the operators PBXware is actually built for, rather than end-user businesses. Fact-checked against bicomsystems.com: the middle PBXware edition was corrected from “Call Center” to its current name “Contact Center”, and the “Class 4/5 softswitch” framing – which Bicom’s current site does not use – was reworded to the multi-tenant hosted-PBX / UCaaS positioning the site now carries.
Disclosure: This review was researched and written by WhichVoIP’s editorial team using primary sources (the Bicom Systems website and company information, the Capterra, TrustRadius and Software Advice review platforms, and the prior WhichVoIP review). WhichVoIP may receive a referral fee when you request quotes through our platform. Read our full editorial policy.
How this score should be read
Scores are editorial guides, not guarantees. They combine published pricing signals, service fit, feature depth, support and reliability indicators, public customer signal and South African procurement checks.
- 25%Pricing value, including commercial transparency, contract flexibility and quote-process friction.
- 25%Feature set, including portfolio depth, integrations and admin usability.
- 20%Customer reviews, measured as a standing against other South African providers on the same review platform, adjusted for how much evidence supports it.
- 15%Reliability and uptime, weighted toward providers that own or fully control their network rather than reselling.
- 15%Support quality, weighted toward customer-review patterns rather than provider claims about SLAs.
FAQ
Short answers for the questions buyers typically ask before requesting quotes.
What is Bicom Systems?
Bicom Systems is a Bosnia-headquartered telephony software vendor, founded in 2003. Its main product, PBXware, is an open-standards platform that operators run to sell phone services – supported by the gloCOM UC app, SERVERware hosting and TELCOware billing.
Who is PBXware for?
PBXware is built for operators, not end-user businesses – internet telephony providers, carriers, multi-tenant managed service providers and resellers running a branded cloud-telephony service. A company that just wants phones for its own staff is better served by a hosted cloud-PBX provider.
How much does PBXware cost?
Bicom publishes no pricing. The model is a perpetual licence – you buy a PBXware edition outright – plus an optional annual maintenance fee for new versions and support, with gloCOM licensed per user. Every figure is a quote, sized against your tenant and channel count.
What is the difference between the PBXware editions?
Business edition is a single-organisation corporate PBX. Contact Center edition adds inbound and outbound campaign handling with reporting and supervisor tools. Multi-Tenant edition runs many isolated customers on one installation as a carrier-grade hosted-PBX / UCaaS platform – the edition operators and ITSPs need.
Does Bicom Systems have a South African partner?
No. Bicom has no South African channel partner. SA operators procure directly from Bicom’s EU and US offices or through an international reseller, and should plan their own engineering capacity and confirm a support arrangement before committing.
What is the PBXware Multi-Tenant edition?
The Multi-Tenant edition is PBXware’s operator platform. It runs many isolated customer accounts from a single installation, each with its own branded admin portal, so an ITSP or MSP can deliver hosted-PBX and UCaaS services to many businesses without standing up a separate system for each. It is the edition operators and resellers buy.
How does PBXware compare to 3CX?
Both are open-standards telephony platforms. PBXware is the more complete operator stack out of the box – multi-tenancy, the UCaaS platform and operator billing built in – while 3CX publishes its pricing and has a far deeper South African channel. For an operator at scale PBXware fits; for a smaller or faster-moving operator, 3CX is the easier start.