Hybrid telephone system

Traditional analog telephone systems route calls over the Public-Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which is a collection of fibre cables, copper wires and sub-sea cables. A set of standards and protocols called the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is used to create a dedicated connection between users for the duration of the voice call. 

It is important to note that the PSTN is completely separate to the internet.

An IP phone system routes calls over the internet instead of the PSTN. To do this, it breaks down voice data into packets and sends them to the recipient across the most efficient internet route. This is much more efficient than routing calls over the PSTN, delivering major cost savings for organisations.

Examples of VoIP telephone systems include Cloudya, the NFON Cloud Telephone System and Skype for Business.

Across Europe, ISDN is being decommissioned and, in the longer term, the PSTN is likely to become obsolete as well. This means that many organisations who rely on traditional telephony infrastructure need to prepare for all-IP voice calling. As a stepping stone between traditional telephony systems and VoIP, hybrid telephone systems can help organisations make the transition to VoIP telephony seamlessly and with minimal business risk. 
 

Yes, they do. Specifically, hybrid telephone systems support legacy calling technologies as well as IP-based calling, including: 

• Mobile phone calls
• Landline calls
• ISDN calls
• VoIP calls

Hybrid telephone systems have a number of key benefits. These include:

No-risk migration to VoIP telephony
Hybrid telephone systems reduce business risks when transitioning from traditional analog phone systems to VoIP telephony. They do this by extending returns on existing telephony infrastructure investments, such as private branch exchanges (PBXs). At the same time, hybrid telephone systems implement traditional phone technologies and VoIP calling in parallel, ensuring that telephone services are never interrupted during the switchover.

Reduced calling costs
By digitising voice data and routing it over the internet efficiently, VoIP dramatically reduces calling costs compared to traditional telephony systems that route calls over the PSTN.

Efficient management of peak loads
VoIP, the phone network can be scaled efficiently to handle load peaks with a technology called SIP trunking.

You can migrate to a hybrid telephone system by implementing a VoIP solution such as the NFON Cloud Telephone System. This allows you to use your existing telephone hardware to make VoIP calls. As our telephone system is cloud based, there is no need to install costly in-house hardware or software. 

The next logical step after VoIP-enabling your existing telephone system is to adopt a cloud-based telephone system such as the NFON Cloud Telephone System. Migrating your telephony to the cloud means you are then free to deactivate your legacy phone infrastructure, including your PBX. 

To find out more about the benefits of migrating your legacy telephone system to VoIP, please review the following FAQ articles: