What is a PBX?
PBX stands for Private Branch eXchange, a private telephone network used within an enterprise. Users of the PBX share a certain number of outside lines for making telephone calls external to the PBX. It’s much less expensive than connecting an external telephone line to every telephone in the organization. In addition, it’s easier to call someone within a PBX because the number you need to dial is typically just 3 or 4 digits.
Most medium-sized and larger companies use a PBX. Prior to VOIP (Voice over IP) telephony, PBX’s would have been price prohibitive for smaller organisations, but this is no longer the case. A small PBX can be set up very inexpensively and can offer all the features of older, expensive, proprietary systems that the phone companies would have installed in the past.
Asterisk is named after the Unix/Linux wild-card character because, like the wild-card Asterisk can be virtually anything. Asterisk can do all of the following (but is not limited to only these features):
- Easily configured and managed using a web based GUI interface (or via a powerful command line interface)
- three or four digit internal dialing
- voicemail (of course)
- delivered to email or accessible via traditional handset retrieval methods
- outgoing message
- vacation/extended absence greeting that can be scheduled to turn itself on or off as needed
- mail waiting notification on your handset
- ACDs (Automatic Call Distributors) allow call centers to handle thousands of simultaneous calls, routing them to agents based on caller input, dialed number, load and other factors. ACD systems typically cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and require specialized training to install and operate. With Asterisk we can build a powerful ACD for the cost of the server hardware and phones.
- “Meet Me” conference bridge application allows us to build sophisticated multi-party conference applications.
- Moderated, or password protected
- Interactive Voice Response (a.k.a. IVR) allows for building sophisticated menus for call routing.
- Automated attendant answers system and presents caller with a menu
- Call routing based on incoming caller ID information
- Time based rules for routing calls based on date, time, day of week, etc.
- Gateways connect legacy phone equipment (PBXs, ACDs, voicemail systems, etc.) to modern VoIP systems and services. Asterisk supports many different communications protocols from both the modern world of VoIP and from the legacy PSTN. This makes it a powerful tool for building gateways and protocol converters.
- Link local and remote PBX’s together over the internet to allow clients and employees to easily connect.
- Soft Phones can be used for employees or customers to connect to the PBX over the internet.
- ex Sam at extension 4567 can connect to the office PBX when at a conference (using his laptop and a software phone). When customers call your company and enter his extension, he answers the phone just as if her were sitting at his desk
- There are too many features to list. Some that can be added on -> Virtual Fax Machines, Wake Up Calls, Time Billing, Call Recording, etc.
Contact us to see if a PBX can enhance your company’s productivity, save you money, or fulfill a specific need.