'No heavy investment required' for hosted PBX

Businesses which choose hosted PBX (private branch exchange) over conventional IP PBX models save themselves initial set up costs, according to an expert.

Samuel Schneider, Bandwidth.com marketing director, was asked if the outlay and upkeep of IP PBX could stop smaller companies from deploying VoIP solutions.

He said: "The prohibitive cost and maintenance demands of traditional IP PBX technology was responsible in part for the emergence of the hosted IP PBX model, which charged businesses monthly fees per seat or per employee, instead of a heavy initial investment."

A PBX is a private network which is set up within a company, where users share a number of outside lines.

As well as being cheaper than connecting an external line to every phone in the business, it allows internal phone calls to be made by dialling a small amount of digits.

An IP PBX is a similar system, which can either be software or hardware, and transmits voice using IP (internet protocol).