SIP Trunking and VoIP are Here: Ready to Abandon Legacy Technologies?

By Carrie Majewski (née Schmelkin), Director of Content Marketing, Content Boost

AOT Telecom has a message for the call centers and enterprises out there that are still wary about making the big jump to SIP trunking and VoIP services: these technologies are here to stay.

“Some people are kicking and screaming with regards to this emerging VoIP/SIP world but at some point, just like when cable TV went all HD, you can kick and scream all you want but HD is here,” AOT Telecom President Jay Adams told WebRTC World at the WebRTC Conference & Expo, taking place from Jun 17-19 in Atlanta, Georgia. “You either go high definition or you pay a premium to keep your cable. The same will happen with copper technology.”

In fact, the SIP and VoIP market is catching the attention of leading industry analysts with Infonetics (News - Alert) Research confirming that worldwide business VoIP service revenue is forecast to grow at a 7 percent CAGR from 2012 to 2017, compared to a 3 percent CAGR for residential/SOHO VoIP services. Moreover, driven by activity in North America, SIP trunking spiked 23 percent in 1H13 over 2H12.

As such, AOT Telecom—a company founded six years ago—has been helping its clients make the switch to bleeding-edge technologies like SIP trunking and VoIP and, in so doing, cut their Internet and telephone bills whether they have one or 100 locations. A one-stop-shop with over 60 core carries and 100 solution providers, AOT Telecom helps its customers find the best option at the lowest rates.

The company offers a number of services from T1 and bonded T1 Internet to SIP toll free to VPLS to nationwide and international DIDs. AOT Telecom has enjoyed a wealth of success encouraging its clients to migrate from legacy telecom services to SIP trunking.

“A traditional concern surrounding making the switch has been infrastructure and the thought of having to fork lift it all,” Adams explained. “The beauty of SIP is there are solutions that don’t involve a total rip-and-replace; you can instead do a SIP to TDM conversion.”

SIP trunking solutions, like those provided by AOT Telecom, provide a number of benefits, namely cost savings which can run 30 to 70 percent, according to Adams. The technology also offers more robust disaster recovery solutions, a 30 to 40 percent increase in answer ratios from consumers picking up the phone and least cost routing capabilities. The AOT Telecom solution, in particular, allows customers to own DIDs anywhere across the country or anywhere in the world.

Since its founding, AOT Telecom has enjoyed a number of key milestones, including reaching a client volume of tens of millions of minutes.

“When I hit that first 10 million that was a great milestone, but when you get to tens of millions that’s even better,” Adams explained.

So what’s next for AOT Telecom?

For starters, the company is eyeing the burgeoning WebRTC market to figure out how it can integrate such functionality into its portfolio suite. In fact, it’s the very reason AOT Telecom has headed to Atlanta this week to participate in the WebRTC Conference & Expo.

“When I heard about WebRTC a year ago, I didn’t grasp it,” Adams explained. “But when I looked at it again more recently, the light bulb went off.  For the 20- to 40-year-old consumer market, those consumers will be early adopters for WebRTC because they don’t like to talk in traditional ways. WebRTC breaks down traditional communication hurdles.”

“It’s not a replacement technology, but it’s definitely a disruptive technology,” he added. “I want to know who the major players are, where the innovations lay and who is ready for prime time.”