Virtual PBX®, the inventor and leading supplier of hosted business phone services, today announced a major industry milestone with its introduction of native support for open-system VoIP peering.

Small businesses looking to take advantage of the cost-effectiveness of traditional hosted PBX services and VoIP technology now have the best of both worlds. Customers will be able to mix and match a VoIP network, softphone and handset to best meet their needs for features, cost and reliability. In addition, clients can choose VoIP calls for cost savings or traditional phone service (PSTN) for calls to landlines or cellular phones, or enable both and let the system automatically send calls via the most appropriate method.

“Virtual PBX is making a market-leading move here,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group. “Hosted PBX services are becoming ever more valuable because companies can get started with very low cash outlay. Adding VoIP interoperability can further reduce costs, improve service and provide the ‘make or break’ difference many small businesses need in today’s hard economic times.”

A hosted PBX service provides customers with advanced phone answering and call routing features without the expense of purchasing PBX hardware or the added costs of installation, ongoing maintenance and support. Virtual PBX was the first company to bring this service to market. Hosted PBX services have become very popular among small businesses due to the inviting combination of low upfront costs and high-end business features.

 “Conventional hosted PBX services send all calls over the standard phone network, whether to land lines, cell phones or even VoIP phones,” said Paul Hammond, CEO of Virtual PBX. “Meanwhile, hosted IP-PBX suppliers usually require use of their own proprietary network, phones, adapters and softphone clients to send calls to VoIP phones. Virtual PBX’s ability to marry a traditional hosted PBX with the delivery of calls over both PSTN and VoIP services brings an important new level of interoperability and cost savings to the telecommunications industry.”