Talk:Centrex

Besides being a stub, this definition is copy, almost word by word, from the one in Webopaedia. Please take a look at http://www.webopaedia.com/TERM/c/centrex.html Centrex at Webopaedia].

IP Centrex[edit]

A section on IP Centrex should be added. I may do this later; meanwhile feel free. JanCeuleers 15:49, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't it belong in PBX? Jim.henderson 13:49, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Centrex article - More Useful Information - Part 1[edit]

The following points should be made clear in the Centrex article:-

Centrex was provided from step-by-step central offices in the early 1960s and on crossbar-based COs in 1968. The service was well-established in large N. American cities by 1972, when four (out of the total of five) of the major Canadian banks used several thousand Centrex lines in each of their head offices, in Toronto or Montreal.
The advent of fully electronic, digital, PBXs in 1976 reversed the growth of Centrex services. This situation changed, again, in 1984 when Northern Telecom (later Nortel) introduced Centrex III on its digital DMS-100 switch. By early 1985 AT&T (now Alcatel-Lucent) was offering digital Centrex on its 5ESS COs. There may have been nearly ten million Centrex lines in the US around 1978, which was the high point, before new digital PBXs eroded the market. By mid-1988 there were some 6.5 million Centrex lines in N.America (i.e. about 10% of all business phones), of which over 50% were on the DMS-100 switch.
Most telephone operating companies offer discounts on their Centrex tariffs, by both length of contract and quantity of lines from one serving CO (public exchange). Since most digital CO switches have a distributed architecture, in which remote cabinets can be colocated within other CO buildings, one CO can, in fact, serve a large metropolitan area. This means that large users, such as governments or banks, could obtain a fully-featured telephone service for less than $20./month per line.
Centrex remained a uniquely N.American service for 25 years. In 1987 Centrex was introduced by Mercury (now C & W) in the City of London <see www.cwworldwide.com/united-kingdom>. David Charles A (talk) 23:34, 12 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Centrex article - More Info - Part 2[edit]

Here's some further topics re Centrex:-

A London-based conference on Centrex, in January 1988 (organized by the National Computing Centre), brought the service to the attention of the European telecom manufacturers. LM Ericsson, Alcatel and Siemens soon announced Centrex packages. Since then Ericsson has emphasized the value of its Centrex service for mobile users and Alcatel has installed Centrex on its COs in a number of S. American cities. It has been difficult to find reliable statistics about Centrex outside N. America.
The capital cost of a Centrex package for a full-size CO is several million dollars. This means that a telco only installed Centrex on those COs serving a large business district, where there was the prospect of renting thousands of lines. The downside for a potential Centrex customer, especially those with multiple sites, is that legacy Centrex was not available everywhere, even in an urban area.
The dictum that "you cannot have the advatages without the disadvantages" applies to Centrex where we can identify one concern for each attractive feature. The main disadvantages of traditional, TDM, Centrex, compared with an in-house PBX, are:

(a) The user has less control over the Centrex system and reliquishes quality control to the service provider. (b) The cost of Centrex lines is usually subject to tariff regulations and will, inevitably, increase over time. (c) The multiple use of an integrated wiring system for voice and data services is not feasible, as the telco owns the MDF and any Centrex concentrators. David Charles A (talk) 15:10, 13 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Centrex article - More Info - Part 3[edit]

IP Centrex still seems to be an unknown quantity in the business telephone market - but here are some pointers:-

Hosted IP Centrex has been available since 2003 and is now offered by a variety of vendors in, perhaps, a dozen countries. IP Centrex delivers more advantages, over an in-house PBX, than legacy Centrex <see www.verizonbusiness.com/us/products/voip/centrex>, such as support for mobile phones, single number service for multiple devices and international coverage.
"Hosted IP-PBX" and "IP Centrex" are really synonymous, but some smaller service providers prefer to use "Hosted PBX" - to avoid any Centrex connotations <see www.primustel.ca/en/business/pbx/PBXvsCentrex>. We believe that the take up of these hosted VOIP services has, so far, been disappointing, but it's difficult to obtain data, without spending a lot of money! <see www.instat.com/abstract.asp?/id18&SKU=IN08033769.CT>.
The attraction of putting the complex software for telephone service, customer relationship management, contact center operations and multi-media services into a secure, central, site may well become obvious over the next few years. However, some major telcos that were early to announce IP Centrex seem not to be offering that service any longer. <see www.telus.com/en_CA/BC/products/Small_Business/Telephone_and_Voice>

David Charles A (talk) 15:34, 13 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Centrex - Reading & References[edit]

Further Reading

Abrahams, John R (1987) Centrex - Making the Right Decision - National Computing Centre, Manchester, UK.

Abrahams, John R (1988) Manager's Guide to CENTREX - Artech House, Boston, MA.

Abrahams, John R & Lollo, Mauro (2003) Centrex or PBX: the Impact of IP - Artech House, Boston, MA.

______________________________________________________________________________

References

www.cwworldwide.com/united-kingdom
www.primustel.ca/en/business/pbx/PBXvsCentrex
www.verizonbusiness.com/us/products/voip/centrex
www.instat.com/abstract.asp?/id=18&SKU=IN08033769CT
www.telus.com/en_CA/BC/products/Small_Business/Telephone_and_Voice

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"Centrex® service" listed at Redirects for discussion[edit]

An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Centrex® service and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 April 15#Centrex® service until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. BD2412 T 04:45, 15 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]