PABX Telephone System

So, in such cases, installing business phone systems is great option. Not only does it save you time and money in the office, but also prevents you from losing out on potential business, even when you are away. One such office phone system is the PABX system, which stands for Private Automatic Branch Exchange.

PABX

PBX is an acronym for Private Branch Exchange and it stands for a telephone exchange that is used in business or the office as opposed to one that is used as a common carrier or telephone company that operates for many businesses or for the general public.

PBX is also referred to as PABX-Private Automatic Branch Exchange and EPABX-Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange.

PBXs are used to make connections amongst the internal telephones of a private organisation, which are usually business oriented. They are also connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) through trunk lines. As they incorporate telephones, modems, fax machines, and many more parts, the general term "extensions" that is given is referred to the end point on the branch.

PBXs are differentiated from the key systems in which the users of the key system manually select the outgoing lines, whereas the PABX phone system selects it automatically. There are some hybrid systems that combine both the features. In the beginning, the main advantage of PBXs was the cost saved on internal phone calls, handling the circuit switching and thus locally reduced charges for the local phone service. Over the time, as PBXs increased in their popularity, it started offering many more services than the operator network, like call forwarding, extension dialling and hunt groups. In the early 1960s, there was a simulated PBX known as Centrex, which provided many similar features as the central telephone exchange.

How it all began

There were two significant developments during the 1990s and it led to new types of PBX systems. One of the developments was the immense growth of the data network and the increased understanding in the public about packet switching. Companies needed packet switched networks for data and to use them for public telephones was very tempting and with the global availability of the Internet, the system made packet switched communication became even more attractive.

These factors then lead to the development of the VoIP Phone System, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Another development that leads to the hosted PBXs was that most companies realised that they did not have the core competence to handle the telephony of their companies and they required it to be done by someone else. Thus, in a hosted PBX setup, the PBX is situated and managed by a telephone provider and the features and calls are delivered through the Internet. The customer has to just sign up instead of buying the hardware. But today there are many companies that are setting up their own PBX systems, which are available with companies like ITT Communications.