iSoftPhone, a VoIP telephony app that uses a virtual internet phone for Mac OS X, and provides crystal clear voice quality and a neat user interface, has recently been updated to version 2.3. Xnet has added SMS support (by server), SMS and IM chat integrated with Address Book, presence showing, more privacy options and the ability to open the app from a Growl notification, among others.

A noteworthy addition with the release of iSoftPhone 2.2 was the Dock icon, which lets users know when they miss a call. Another new feature was the prompt before quitting, when using Cmd + Q. iSoftPhone also allows users to make calls directly from Marketcircle's Daylite productivity suite. The program checks incoming calls to match the number with a name in Daylite, and displays names of Daylite contacts. New contacts may be added to the address book and synchronized with Daylite after the call. To make a call with Daylite, users just have to select the contact and click on the dial button.

One of the least expensive solutions to create your own telephone network is the Virtual PBX, says Xnet Communications. Virtual PBX eliminates the need for expensive hardware and a team of network engineers to maintain it. Therefore, iSoftPhone can be easily configured to work with auto attendants, voice-mail, unified messaging, and find-me-follow-me capability.

Here's the full list of iSoftPhone 2.3 enhancements:

- SMS when supported by server.
- SMS and IM chat integrated with OS X address book.
- Presence showing users online/offline.
- Presence status switching.
- Privacy, block users from messaging/calling, and viewing online status.
- Port auto discovery - supports networks where SIP is blocked.
- Open iSoftPhone from Growl Notification.

iSoftPhone costs $75 to buy. You can, however, try it out for free by downloading and installing this 30-day trial version. The program is a Universal Binary, meaning it is supported on both PowerPC and Intel machines. Mac OS X 10.4 or later is required to run iSoftPhone.