SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY : Wireless PBX System Will Get a 2-Year Test Run in Anaheim

Ericsson Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the Swedish telecommunications giant, has received a two-year license from the Federal Communications Commission to conduct tests of a digital wireless PBX system in Anaheim and Washington.

The wireless private-branch exchange system is the next generation of telephone switchboards for corporations, said Lars Jonsteg, an Ericsson spokesman. A PBX, usually attended by a human operator, routes calls to extensions within a company or organization.

A wireless PBX uses cellular phone transmission technology to route calls by radio waves to telephone extensions within a building instead of through telephone cables routed to each extension. The advantage of such a system is that a person can carry a pocket-size portable phone within the building and keep in constant contact with the outside world.

“You are no longer chained to your desk with a system like this,” Jonsteg said. “In this test, we want to show the customer and the FCC that this works.”

Ericsson’s PBX handset would weigh only 7 ounces and would have no external antenna. The range of each transmitter in the network would vary between 50 and 100 meters. Ericsson’s Business Communications unit, which makes PBX systems and data communications networks, is based in Anaheim.

Jonsteg said the system will be available to customers sometime this year.