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An Introduction to Small Business IP PBX Systems
"Back in the Olden Days..." The acronym IP PBX stems from an older telecom industry term PABX, which stands for Private Branch Automatic Exchange. Eventually, the shortened version PBX (Private Branch Exchange) became the norm. In essence, a PBX is a private telephone switch that sits inside a business office allowing multiple employees to communicate internally amongst each other at the same time as well as externally with the outside world. In short, PBXs are the reason why you have to remember those pesky extension numbers (x1234)! The earliest PBX phone systems (think '70s and '80s) were large, often refrigerator-sized, analog devices manufactured by commonly recognized incumbents like Lucent, Panasonic, Siemens, Alcatel, and Inter-tel. These legacy TDM PBXs offered what, in todays terms, are considered very basic features, including voicemail, call waiting, and call transfer. Ahhh we remember them well - they didn't do a lot, but they did their jobs very well!
It hasn't been until the last few years that modern IP PBXs, which support Internet-based transport protocols (the IP stands for Internet Protocol just like in the acronym VoIP) have come into the mainstream and should, in fact, be the preferred PBX solution for any small business shopping for a new phone system at this day and age. Why? The cost savings commonly associated with VoIP is just the beginning! The myriad productivity enhancing features, such as unified communications, sophisticated auto attendants, mobile convergence, and SIP trunking, are the real reasons. In fact, check out our Top 10 Reasons to Switch to IP PBX list. And that's exactly why we created OfficeVoIPSolutions.com: to help you make sense of the endless hype and industry lingo!
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