Hosted IP PBX/IP Centrex with PortaSwitch

PortaSwitch is a unified platform for the hosting of IP PBX services, conferencing, video and voice calls, presence service and unified messaging.
The converged service delivery platform of PortaSwitch is composed of the following elements:

1. BSBC (Session-Border Controller)

It provides a control point with a high availability for the purposes of all communications in the network. In so doing it helps in:

• Hiding the topology of the internal network
• Providing protection from DoS (denial-of-service) attacks
• Limiting the initiation ratio of calls for every end-point
• Automatically distributing traffic between the SoftSwitch nodes that are available
• Enabling multiple protocols of transport (for example SIP over TLS)

2. SoftSwitch

With its high scalability, class four and five SoftSwitch delivers functionalities of call control and media processing. In call control, it supports; voice and video calls, full IP Centrex feature set, advanced call control, BLF/presence, SMS and instant messaging, fax-over-IP, dynamic call routing and live call authorization and charging. The media processing functionalities include; voice and video conferencing, IVR applications, call recording, call queues, auto-attendant and voicemail.

3. IP Phone Auto-Provisioning

Effortless immediate configuration of over 50 different IP phones from a variety of vendors. The flexibility of the provisioning framework provides room for easy addition of new phone models.

4. WebRTC Gateway

(Third-party, optional) this allows the direct delivery of feature-rich communications to the web browser of your customer.

5. B/OSS

It is used in the configuration of service parameters, activation of customers, issuing invoices, setting up usage-based and recurring billing, troubleshooting and monitoring of performance. There is a live linkage of data between SoftSwitch and B/OSS, and thus, any changes that are made are effective immediately without the need of any extra configuration.
This therefore provides ample room for the implementation of a range of methods of generating revenue for instance; ‘a-la carte’ or all-inclusive’ selling of features (such as call recording), billing based on metered parameters (concurrent calls or number of extensions) and selling of minute bundles for monthly subscription.

6. Self-Care Portal

This enables customers to carry out the bulk of IP Centrex configurations (for example, configuring auto-attendant or hunt-groups and adding extensions), make payments access invoices and CDRs, e.t.c.

How Does it Work?

An enterprise should be inspired to start using the IP Centrex service because of 3 crucial business drivers:

• Replacement of a legacy PBX will simplify the maintenance and allow work-from-home employees or a remote workforce to function in a single working environment
• Migration from an IP PBX solution will bring in improved flexibility and lower the costs
• The productivity of the employees will increase through Computer Telephony Integration (CIT) which basically means CRM integration, call recording access, automatic dealing, etc.
• As a service provider, you will be able to define your service offer as a mix of volume discounts, per-minute calling rates, billing based on the total number of extensions, recurring fees for every line, free (bundled) minutes (per person per line or shared between lines) and so much more.