One of the advantages of a hosted PBX is that, if the provider offers application program interface (API), you can develop your own customizations to enhance the solution. That is the case with the Junction Networks hosted PBX solution. Not only does this hosted PBX offer some pretty robust features on its own (such as support for WiFi mobile phones and Internet SIP addresses) but it comes with an API.
What does the API with Junction Networks hosted PBX let you do? Well, the API was used by the Junction Networks engineering team to build a portal for the hosted PBX. Using this same API, customers and partners can enhance benefits of the hosted PBX by building their own portals and linking up with independent applications.
Server-side functionality for Junction Networks hosted PBX is delivered via an API based on Web Services. This means that external developers can take features from the hosted PBX portal such as call detail records and number provisioning tool and incorporate them into customized Web pages.
You might ask, why would a developer want to use the API to reuse these hosted PBX features if they work so well in the original solution? The answer is just that; these hosted PBX features work so well, they are ideal for a variety of other applications.
For example, a reseller might use the hosted PBX API to build a customized portal for a customer or prospect. A corporate customer might use the hosted PBX API to incorporate aspects of its service into a Web portal, using the corporation´s own branding.
Thanks to the API, the Hosted PBX platform plays well with other applications. Customers and partners can integrate 3rd party communication applications with Hosted PBX. For instance, Junction Networks is testing integration of independently developed and managed voice recognition services. Developers simply leverage the API to configure the right features on the Hosted PBX to call and receive calls from the 3rd party application.
The hosted PBX API that Junction Networks offers is ideal for developers familiar with Ajax, Java, Microsoft, PHP and Perl. Using this hosted PBX API, developers can make requests via RPC-style URLs that respect the best REST conventions. When developing using the hosted PBX API, engineers will find that all responses are efficiently passed between the server and client using XML.
Junction Networks adds further value to the API for its hosted PBX by providing extensive documentation regarding a variety of functions. These hosted PBX functions include testing, authentication, accounts, click to call, direct inward dial (DID), organization, phone number address, and user address.
By making its API available to external developers, Junction Networks is extending the usefulness of its hosted PBX solution. The API means that customers can use the hosted PBX as-is and reuse components for custom portals. It´s a win-win.