PBX Systems (Private Branch ANDxchange) have evolved through three different eras: manual telephone switchboard, automatic switchboard, and IP (Internet Protocol).
As part of the new “unified communications” trend, PBX has continued to evolve and merge with other technologies.
After the Great Depression, companies became larger and had multiple departments. They began to deploy a large number of internal calls from one department to another or from one employee to another whose office was down the hall.
Until the 1960s, most businesses relied on the public telephone company to connect their calls within the office. Each individual telephone in the business required a public telephone line, so each call initiated from within the company cost money to install and maintain. Calling your coworker was no different than calling a neighbor.
Business owners needed a way to handle internal and outbound calls in a more cost-effective manner.
Early Era: Beginning of PBX systems
The idea of investing in PBX hardware and hiring their own operators soon emerged among companies. These private PBXs were the first PBX systems.
The concept was simple: share a small number of phone lines across a large number of phones. They could save by reducing the number of public phone lines (each of which had an initial installation cost) and by not having to pay for every phone call within the office.
Law firms were early users of PBXs, as they were receiving and making so many phone calls that they could afford the entire system. Around 1882, a law firm in Richmond, Virginia installed the first private branch exchange system, an archaic version of what is now known as a PBX.
In the early 1900s, businesses, factories, hospitals, schools, and others made room for their own PBX equipment. The equipment took up a lot of space and money, but with long-term savings in mind, PBX systems were slowly growing in popularity.
Second Era: Automatic PBX
Automatic switching
When Strowger's automatic switchboards appeared as we told in the previous post, public telephone companies migrated to the PBX world.
The police began investing heavily in automated PBXs around 1910.
Automated PBXs eliminate the need for human operators when making a call to a coworker down the hall.
Still, most companies avoided expensive electromechanical control panels. They were clever, automatic, but not practical or cost effective for all businesses for another 60 years.
So while automatic switching was being used by public telephone companies, most businesses using PBX systems still relied on call transfer operators manually.
Electronic switching and the PBX renaissance
In 1972, semiconductors were introduced into the exchange and this allowed for faster and more reliable automation. In the following years, fully electronic automation of telephone call switching was at its peak. The price to produce these electronic switches was significantly lower than mechanical ones.
This made PBXs more attractive, with more companies purchasing and installing their own equipment.
To distinguish the different systems used, automated systems were called PABX while traditional manual systems became PMBX. Since manual systems no longer exist today, PABX has dropped the redundant “A”.
PABX systems were gradually improved and changed over the following decades until the technology known as TDM was developed.
TDM PBX
A TDM (Time Division Multiplexer) PBX is one of the most common types of voice infrastructures as it has been around in the market for a long time. A TDM PBX consists of proprietary and self-contained systems. They were designed before contemporary server technology was invented. TDM phone companies enabled the transition from analog to digital transmission, which paved the way for TDM PBX systems.
They consist of a cabinet with numerous plates that can perform certain functions, for example plates that provide intercom functionality or analog extension plates, TDM PBX is reaching the end of its life cycleTDM PBX boards are only compatible with systems from the same manufacturer as part of a complete architecture, forcing users to keep the same manufacturer for everything, even the phones had to be from the same company.
A TDM PBX requires dedicated staff to manage it, as well as extensive maintenance. It is mostly used by companies that still need to upgrade their network cabling.
The biggest difference between a TDM PBX and an IP PBX is that an IP PBX uses the Internet Protocol (IP) to route calls, while a TDM PBX uses physical keys. Additionally, an IP PBX is scalable, allows for the use of different brands of peripheral devices, and can dramatically reduce call costs.
Third Era: IP PBX
IP PBX
In 1990, the Internet as we know it today was still in its infancy. It was not common in homes or businesses, and the potential applications were clear to only a few. When Internet Protocol was merged with PBX, the next generation of business communications was born.
It was in 1997 that the first IP PBX service became available. Within a few years, this new technology would be offered with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to provide multimedia streaming while reducing data usage. The biggest benefit of an IP-based system is virtual hosting. You no longer need to maintain and update your own computerized PBXs. Instead, you can simply use an Internet connection to transmit that data to a computer hosted and managed by the IP PBX provider.
Hybrid IP PBX
Since IP technology does not utilize the vast majority of hardware that businesses have purchased, owners are often reluctant to jump on the IP PBX bandwagon. All the equipment they had spent time and money maintaining and upgrading is useless. So for those who wanted the best of both worlds, the hybrid PBX was introduced.
With a hybrid system, you can use your existing hardware that was already installed while using IP technology to add very useful features. You can also add a second branch or office without having to purchase a second set of expensive PBX hardware. For some businesses, the ability to keep old TDM-based handsets and mobiles made the hybrid model a good upgrade and cost-saving option.
In SimpleTECHWe are a company made up of professionals in the areas of Telecommunications, Electronics and Software. We specialize in helping companies and institutions of all sizes communicate effectively and efficiently based on the industry best practices and technologies. That's why we recommend the 3CX Hybrid IP Phone System for medium and large companies looking to obtain the highest return on their investment through a scalable, flexible and efficient tool. We advise and implement projects throughout Latin America. We are the only Spanish-speaking 3CX Platinum and Support Partner in Latin America.
Throughout the following posts we will expand on 3CX, the hybrid telephone system that we offer you to try, so that you know the different benefits that it can bring to your company.
By: The team of SimpleTECH©
Sources:
http://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-pbx/
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Telephone_exchange#
http://www.wikiwand.com/fr/Autocommutateur_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9phonique_priv%C3%A9#/Principaux_fabricants
