How to choose the right hosted PBX solution

Now is a great time to be in the market for a new PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange), says Vox Orion MD Jacques du Toit. With the arrival of hosted IP PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange)es alongside the older hardware-based devices, clients have more choice than ever earlier.

“Many of our customers are considering a move into IP as their existing PBX infrastructure reaches the end if its life cycle,” says Du Toit. “Market deregulation, lower bandwidth costs and new innovation have made IP telephony a very attractive proposition - nevertheless you need to do your homework.”

The very first move companies need to make is to ensure their internal networks are voice-ready, says Du Toit. “Your LAN cabling needs to be CAT5E+, your network switches preferably need to support power over Ethernet, you need to be able to give voice calls priority over the network and you need appropriate security in place.”

The other critical elements are end-user devices - handsets or soft phones - and the external network links. “You can't compromise on quality in either case,” says Du Toit. “A cheap handset will lower call quality and lead to bad experiences. If a customer elects to go with soft phones, they need to implement tight controls as to what gets changed or loaded on the device”

IP telephony comes in three flavours, each with its own particular costs and benefits: Proprietary, pure open source and commercial open source. “We believe the benefits of proprietary systems are outweighed by their high cost and the fact that they tend to offer very little customisability,” says Du Toit. “However, pure open source may be free, now there is very limited support. We believe commercial open source solutions combine the best of both worlds: excellent innovation at low cost, with all the backup and support that you need for a system in other words important for your business.

Even more important than cost savings, he says, are the new services made possible by IP telephony. Some options include presence management, fixed mobile convergence, conferencing solutions, access control, etc. “You may not need video today or then and there year, for instance, however as the cost of broadband is reduced, the demand for video will increase. You need to choose a provider who can terminate voice calls on their own network, and who can continue to offer you new value added services as they become available. If not you may be heading down a dead end.”

Prospective clients should as well check that suppliers have redundancy in their platforms and interconnect points. Just in case, national representation is critical to ensure calls are terminated in the most cost-effective way.

The top-end corporate market

Vox Orion is focused on delivering complete managed voice solutions to the top-end corporate market. Considered a pioneer in what was known as the least cost routing market, Vox Orion has since extended its solution offering and but prides itself on its technical expertise and research and is widely regarded as a leading innovator in the telco industry. Vox Orion serves 60% of the top 200 listed companies on the JSE and has significant government contracts, including four provincial governments, SANDF, SAPS and 56 local town councils. Vox Orion has offices in all the major South African cities as then as nine smaller towns and offers a range of guaranteed savings models within its managed voice solutions offering, also as messaging, telephone management and PABX solutions.