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Types of Commercial Phone Systems |
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Types of Commercial Phone Systems
A
business telephone system comes under many names –  PABX or PBX system,
a Commander or key system, a VoIP or converged system or a
hosted/Centrex solution. While the delivery technology differs for each
of these products (although in some cases not significantly) as well as
some of the features and applications, all of them provide the
infrastructure to make calls to customers through the networks of
Carriers like Telstra and Optus, direct calls efficiently into your
organization as well as optimizing the internal communication within
your business.
A fourth type of phone system uses Voice over IP
(VoIP) technology to route your internal calls over data networks,
instead of traditional phone lines. For some businesses, VoIP systems
can provide significant cost savings and other benefits.
PABX or PBX systems
Traditionally
PABX systems catered for companies with a large number of employees and
provided more advanced functionality than Commander or key systems.
PABX’s evolved from the telephone exchanges used by the telephone
carriers like Telstra and Optus and required dedicated equipment rooms
to house the central switching equipment. In line with developments in
computer technology, the functionality of PABX ‘s has increased
dramatically while the size of the main equipment has declined and are
now rack mounted with a company’s IT servers and associated equipment.
Commander or Key Systems
Commander
or Key Systems were designed for companies with up to 50 employees.
While a key system had all the core business telephony functions, they
did not have some of the sophisticated applications such as ACD or
hospitality. On the other hand the proprietary telephone handsets used
on key systems were easier to use with dedicated keys for common
functions like hold and transfer and LED’s to indicate incoming lines
and if other users on the system were on the phone.
Today the
difference between key systems and PABX’s is blurred with the major
manufacturers offering digital “hybrid” systems which can be customized
to provide either PABX or key system functionality as required and
these hybrid systems meet the specific requirements of 99% of
businesses. PABX’s still dominant the large corporate environment where
more than 1000 extensions are needed and companies that require their
telephone system to integrate with specific and complicated
applications like large call centres or hospitality front office
applications.
VoIP Systems
These systems use Voice over IP
(VoIP) technology to route your calls over data networks, instead of
traditional phone lines. Today you can purchase either “pure” IP
systems that have evolved from the developments of IT companies like
Cisco or converged solutions that have been developed by the leading
manufacturers of telephone systems and allow you to use both the legacy
networks of the telephone carriers (eg PSTN, ISDN…) while also managing
voice and data applications on the one network using IP technology.
Installation and After Sales Support for Telephone Systems
All
telephone systems require professional installation and maintenance.
For legacy connections all outside telephone lines must connect to the
KSU or PABX cabinet, as well as all internal extensions. For IP
solutions the appropriate connections into your data network is
necessary. Unfortunately, the network design for VoIP systems, and the
configuring and wiring for legacy phone systems can be nearly as costly
as the phone system hardware.
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