In a world of ever changing technology and advancing communications needs, it's hard to stay current, and in touch with your customers. Communication is the key to profit, and the most basic link in communication is your business phone system. What you're looking for is a "Private Branch Exchange," or PBX. These powerful and technologically advanced devices are the foundation of it all. It can be difficult to determine exactly what sort of PBX you need, though.

In a large enterprise, it's crucial that you don't get locked in to a limited capability business phone setup which won't scale with your growing needs. So let's take a look at a couple of things you should take into account.

You might need to see if you have space for the unit you're considering. The central core of a business phone system can vary in size from that of a small rackmount computer, all the way up through the size of a refrigerator. A dazzling array of features is no small comfort if you fail to account for the amount of space the unit will take up, especially if you have a small office.

You'll also need to take into consideration what your current infrastructure is, in regard to telephony. Many business phone systems will take special proprietary connections and wiring, extended networking, and more. Some can use a standard phone system already in place, or even your basic computer network - though you may also end up sacrificing features for flexibility and convenience. Many times, the proprietary setups use their special connectors and wiring to deliver more data and extra features.

Modern software has seen a flood of high quality open-source development, and the PBX market is no exception. The "Asterisk" project is a suite of high powered, feature rich software PBX tools, very popular with many businesses. The software runs on a standard PC, along with specialized interface cards to connect you to the outside phone system (including everything from standard phone lines, through ISDN or T1 lines.) Features are rich, including robo-dialing, auto-operator menu systems, voicemail, voice over IP, and much more.

Rather than run this yourself, you an also opt for devices powered by Asterisk, of which many can be found. This can give you many of the rapid development, security, and plugin benefits of Asterisk, without the chore and hassle of trying to install and manage the software on a computer, yourself.

No one can say for certain how their business will grow over the coming years. One thing is certain though, your choice of business phone system will be one of the crucial factors in shaping those coming years of expansion. As you can see, the technology and flexibility of today's business phone systems is astounding. The PBX forms the nervous system of your company, extending into each nook and cranny, delivering vital messages. Without choosing a powerful and business phone system though, that nervous system is left lacking, and your business crippled. Power and expandability are critical in finding the PBX that's the right fit for you.

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Most popular and highest ranked brands: Asterisk,Avaya dealers,Alcatel-Lucent,Mitel,Cisco Systems,Nortel dealer.

Avaya highlight

Avaya, Inc. is one of the leading players with the focus on IP telephone systems and communication software.

Avaya, Inc. continues to combine hardware as the Avaya the 2400 Series Digital Telephone,5400 Series Digital Telephones,900 MHz Wireless Telephone,M770 ATM Switch,Octel 200/300 Message Servers,5600 Series IP Telephones,302D Attendant Console and more with their software products like Avaya One-X,Unified Messaging,Verint Call Recording and Quality Monitoring and Call Master to create one communication suite.

Recent Avaya product searches: 2400 Series Digital Telephone, S8400 Media Server, Integrated Management (All Offers), 4600 Series IP Telephones, G350 Media Gateways, IP Softphone, VPNmanager Series, Witness Quality, IP Office Phone Manager Pro, Proactive Contact

Another popular suite is Avaya Distributed Office delivers rich communication, collaboration and mobility capabilities to branch offices. This centrally managed, SIP-based communications platform easily scales to meet the needs of large enterprises with distributed sites. Advanced applications, such as presence and instant messaging, can now be delivered to every branch, enhancing responsiveness to customers needs. In addition, mobility features support employees on the go, providing effective communications regardless of location. To reduce staff training requirements, Distributed Office offers an optional key system interface. SIP architecture makes scaling to thousands of sites simple, and Avaya can reduce on-site installation time by delivering pre-configured Distributed Office platforms directly to the branch site. In addition, enterprises can leverage intuitive centralized management tools to decrease set up time; manage updates and upgrades; and provision user moves, additions, and changes.