Most traditional PBXs were built on proprietary technology, but network PBX solutions take an open-systems approach. At one time, some network systems required specialized cards or handsets, but now network PBX vendors that have fully adopted the IP protocol are actively supporting other industrywide standards. For example, the H.323 standard, which was developed to standardize videoconferencing operations, is now common fare for IP telephony. Many products also support Primary Rate ISDN (PRI), which is priced more attractively than other ISDN services, as well as one or both of the standard computer-based telephony interfaces, TAPI and TSAPI.
The newest capability of these systems, either inherent in the software or as an add-on, is call center functionality. The systems promise to augment CRM efforts by allowing a company to handle more calls without increasing staff.
Computer-based PBX systems also tend to support a variety of third-party applications that integrate with the system. Some of these third-party software developers target the needs of particular vertical markets (insurance, health care, and so forth) with add-on applications that can do things such as automatically pop up a customer-information or order screen when a call comes in. Other systems are adding support for standard contact management applications such as ACT or GoldMine or for e-mail and groupware systems such as Microsoft Outlook.
