Aspect Software Challenging Contact Center Industry to Adopt SIP 2.0

TMCnet Assignment Editor

Let’s open it up people! It’s time to standardize the contact center industry with session initiation protocol (SIP

That’s the decree from Aspect Software (News - Alert), Inc., which today announced its “SIP Power Through Choice” program -- a challenge, if you will, to get every contact center vendor on earth to develop SIP-compliant, and therefore fully interoperable, software and devices, and get every contact center to adopt them.

In essence, the company is challenging the industry to adopt its “SIP Interoperability Policy.” Organizations which adopt this policy must use SIP 2.0 compliant devices with a SIP-enabled solution to establish and terminate telephone sessions. In addition, SIP solution suppliers must make available validation testing of an organization's SIP 2.0 devices and software, and must also offer support to address product interoperability issues. According to da’ rules, if a SIP 2.0 compliant device includes proprietary features that are not part of the SIP 2.0 standard, the SIP 2.0 compliant elements of that device must function to establish and terminate a SIP-based telephone session.

According to a press release, solution providers which agree to adhere to the policy are committed to supporting “SIP 2.0 compliance and practices that sustain a contact center's need for flexibility and responsiveness.” The policy “provides users and business partners with the confidence to use SIP 2.0 compliant devices and software, with the option for product validation testing.”

"From our perspective, there are too many companies out there paying lip-service to SIP. SIP gives companies choice and there is no reason for vendors to force customers into proprietary protocols or proprietary devices," said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of strategy at Aspect Software, in the release. "Contact centers should have the right to choose technology or products that will best help them meet their strategic objectives. They shouldn't have artificial technology limitations.”

Sheridan said by establishing the SIP Power Through Choice program, “we can help companies identify those vendors who truly believe in SIP and are bringing standards-based technology to market.”

Obviously, some of the companies making and selling proprietary systems will be resistant. After all, “proprietary” means you are original, unique, and differentiated in the marketplace (just like how you can’t stick a Rolls-Royce body on a Chevy frame). On the other hand, if a vendor’s software is SIP-compliant, that means anyone can take its solutions and quickly and effectively integrate them with existing systems -- thus providing an opportunity for the vendor and its partners to increase sales. Aspect is of the mind that giving customers the opportunity to mix and match products actually leads to healthy and mutually beneficial vendor-customer relationships. Not only do customers gain more choice in which technology they can invest in, they get assurance from the vendor that their choice of SIP devices will be supported, thus eliminating many of the concerns of deploying VoIP

. The idea is, the more SIP becomes ubiquitous, the more vendors will benefit from a larger, more accessible market.

To go along with this campaign, Aspect Software has also launched SIP Power Through Choice Guarantee. If a SIP-enabled solution from Aspect fails to establish and terminate a SIP 2.0 session, the company will refund the cost of its SIP validation testing services. In addition, it will contribute $50,000 to the SIP Forum (News - Alert), an organization committed to the development and deployment of innovative SIP solutions.

“By creating the SIP Power Through Choice program, Aspect Software not only signals their own willingness to create SIP-compliant applications, they help communicate to the user community that customers should demand this kind of interoperability from all of their vendor partners," said Sheila McGee-Smith, president and principal analyst of McGee-Smith Analytics.

When it comes to contact center solutions, no one is more confident than Aspect that SIP is it!

For more information, visit www.aspect.com.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for Customer Interaction Solutions magazine and Assignment Editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.