PBX, also known as a Unified Communication System or business phone system, acts as the central switching system for phone calls within a business. IP PBX systems handle internal traffic between stations and create a secure connection with the outside world.
A traditional PBX consists of two basic elements: lines and stations. Lines, sometimes called trunk lines, are connections to the global public switched telephone network (VOIP, PSTN, GSM) through a telephone company. Stations are simply phones or other endpoint devices such as fax machines, modems, and credit card terminals.
The main mission of the PBX was to provide shared access to limited resources. Rather than having a separate phone line for each phone, a business can share a small pool of lines in a much larger pool of stations. When a call comes in, it is answered by the operator and then connects it to the appropriate person or department. When someone inside needs to make a call, the operator connects them to a suitable line. These early systems were often simply called “switchboards”.
Over time, operators were replaced by electromechanical and later electronic systems to manage access to the lines. Additional features have been added to automatically forward incoming calls, allow active calls to be diverted between stations, and allow or reject calls according to various rules. Auxiliary systems were added for voice messaging, call sorting and other value-added services.
Today, a business phone system is much more than a simple switch. Assistive technologies such as auto attendant, voice messaging, call sorting and multi-party conferencing have become standard features. Basic analog and proprietary digital phones are giving way to standards-based IP phones. The external connection is now available over the Internet in the form of SIP lines or other VoIP services.
When PBXs were first developed, wired phone calls were the only type of electronic communication available. Today, the communication medium has expanded to include e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, desktop sharing, SMS and mobile telephony. Unified Communications is an all-encompassing term that describes the process of combining all these technologies and integrating them with business processes. Unified Communications aims to increase efficiency while simplifying management.
IQpbx solution is our solution that we designed for organizations that expect boutique solutions other than the functions of classical PBXs.
