Patent ID: 8483367

Claim:
A hosted private branch exchange (PBX) system comprising: non-transitory storage that includes subscriber identifying information that identifies a subscriber to a message routing service; non-transitory storage that includes distribution rules information associated with the identified subscriber; and a message management server configured to receive a message sent over the Internet to the identified subscriber and to send the message over the Internet to one or more devices according to the distribution rules associated with the identified subscriber; wherein the subscriber identifying information identifies a department subscriber to the message routing service and department members; wherein the distribution rules information includes department message distribution rules associated with the identified department subscriber; wherein the department message distribution rules include a first rule for distribution of a message received from a department outsider that is directed to the department; wherein the message management server distributes messages to the identified department members, according to the first rule, that include content of a message received from the department outsider and directed to the department; wherein the message management server is configured to associate a thread identifier to a message received from a department outsider and to include the associated thread identifier with the messages that it distributes to the identified department members according to the first rule; wherein the department message distribution rules include a second rule for distribution of a message received from a department member that is directed to a department outsider; wherein the message management server distributes messages to a department outsider and to the identified department members, according to the second rule, that include message content received from a department member that is directed to the department outsider; wherein the message management server provides an indication of an identity of the department member that the message content is received from in the messages distributed to the identified department members; and wherein the message management server provides an indication in the message distributed to the identified department outsider that the message content is received from the department but does not provide an indication in the message distributed to the identified department outsider of the identity of the department member that the message content is received from.