Private branch exchanges (PBX) provide local call routine services. For example, may use a PBX to provide access from a smaller number of externally visible phone numbers to a larger group of internal phone numbers which may or may not be externally visible. In many situations it is additionally desirable to provide largely automatic access to two or more groups of internal phone numbers where the individuals in each groups have different specialized skills. This functionality, especially when implemented in a service organization or a call center, is known in the art as “hunt group” (HG) management. Recently, organizations have undergone changes during which at one time they may be smaller while at another time larger, or vice versa. Further, organizations now employ call centers and the like spread across different continents. Therefore, scalable and distributed hunt group management can be particularly useful
However, HG management in many of today's PBXs is neither scalable nor distributed. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the hardware and software (respectively) of a typical current HG management facility. Turning to FIG. 1, typical hardware includes one or more computer processors 101 interconnected by network links 103 which service one of more agent work stations. Although calls can be received at locations throughout this system, there is a single computer processor 109 and attached, unshared database 111 at which are made makes all call routing decisions. The database usually includes a queue of calls being handled by the system. FIG. 2 illustrates a typical call handling process which is executed on processor 109. The illustrated process is single threaded and concentrates all call handling decisions for the entire system in steps 201. Often data sharing problems require that only a single instance of this process can run on processor 109 at one time.
It is apparent that although this typical system appears to be scalable and distributed, in fact, it is not because of the single point of contention at processor 109 and database 111. Such a system does not meet the need for a scalable, distributed hunt group management system.