PBX
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Telecom
| Stands for | Private branch exchange |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
PBX stands for Private branch exchange, a telecom abbreviation.
Business telephone system that connects internal extensions, lets staff call each other for free and shares a smaller number of external lines, with features such as voicemail, call transfer and hunt groups. Modern versions run over IP or in the cloud.
Example: Dial 0 to reach the receptionist, or any four-digit extension through the PBX.
Usage notes
Early PBXs were manual switchboards with operators. IP-PBX systems, including the open-source Asterisk created by Mark Spencer in 1999, replaced dedicated hardware, and hosted or cloud PBX services now dominate small businesses. PABX, private automatic branch exchange, is a near-synonym. Unified communications platforms such as Microsoft Teams Phone offer PBX features.
Related abbreviations
More telecom abbreviations
- NFC – Near-field communication
- NR – New Radio
- OFDM – Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing
- ONT – Optical network terminal
- OTT – Over-the-top
- PAYG – Pay as you go
- PON – Passive optical network
- POTS – Plain old telephone service
- PSTN – Public switched telephone network
- PTT – Push-to-talk
- PUK – PIN Unblocking Key
- QAM – Quadrature amplitude modulation