2006-08-25 23:53:37 · 5 answers · asked by Omar Siddiqui 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Embassies & Consulates
What "chrchrbrt" wrote is quite correct. But even PABXs scarcely exist anymore. They are relics of the olden days, of mechanical switching systems, when private switches were installed on company (or university, etc.) premises.
Beginning in the late 60s or early 70s, Centrex systems came into use for large firms. These bundled whole sections of reserved exchange prefixes for a single enterprise or organization. Numbers could be set to ring in sequence, to "camp on busy" (what I think is more or less equivalent to "call waiting" today). All the things that Mabel did (and in fact I did one summer in 1959) when operating a manual, plug-in switchboard.
Today, while you can still buy PBX equipment and sort out your own system based on hard wired lines, I can't think of any firm that would do it. Most, in fact, want to fire everybody and have automated telehone menus that make it difficult to reach a live person.
Even private consumers can use the new technology based on central switching. For example: I have two Vonage lines, one normally used for my vacation home in Switzerland and the other at my home in London and I can have one forward to the other if disconnected or busy (I wouldn't of course have "forward busy" in this situation), or automatic voicemail; or forward to a cell phone. Or anything else I want.
(I also have hard-wired liines by cable, but they are less flexible. Our service provider has been in bankruptcy once or twice.)
The Telephone Pioneer (a friendly association) oldtimers must be amazed.
Why, I wonder, is this query in "embassies and consulates"?
2006-08-26 03:11:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Originally an organization's manual switchboard (operated by a person plugging cables into sockets) was known as a PMBX (Private Manual Branch eXchange). These were gradually replaced by automated electromechanical and then electronic switching systems, called PABXs (Private Automatic Branch eXchange). As PMBXes are almost unheard of these days, the terms PABX and PBX have become synonymous. When PABX's started being built using solid state and digital components the term EPABX came into use but PBX is still more widely recognized. PBX's are differentiated from "Key Systems" in that users of Key systems manually select their own outgoing lines while PBX'x select the out going line (trunk) automatically. Hybrid Systems combine features of both.
2006-08-25 23:59:39 · answer #2 · answered by chrchrbrt 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Private Automatic Branch Exchange.
2006-08-27 21:11:51 · answer #3 · answered by majorcavalry 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Private aquired Branch Exchange
2006-08-26 06:57:14 · answer #4 · answered by linda 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It relates to phone systems, yeah. I think they are used for big offices where lots of phones are around, and connected.
2006-08-26 00:00:32 · answer #5 · answered by Aaron_C 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋