How SIP Trunks Cut Costs: Case Studies

Technologies that can lower costs are in high demand these days. SIP trunking is one of those technologies that has proven — time and again — to slash communications costs by 40 percent (and even more). SIP trunking installations usually pay for themselves in six months to a year, even though many deployments require the purchase of a new IP-PBX (News - Alert), phones, network upgrades and a solution like Ingate’s.

Case studies from real installations confirm these rapid ROI numbers. For instance, a network of medical practices switched their entire PSTN system to VoIP using SIP trunks. SIP trunking is scalable, which accommodated their continued rollout of new branch offices, supporting company expansion. In about a year they’ve moved entirely off of the PSTN, cutting communications costs nearly in half.

What about security? We recently worked with a bank that deployed SIP trunks at one of their local offices and their main operations center in Wall Street. The SIP trunk/edge device solution offered the highest security for VoIP and was used to protect the IP-PBXs and connect to a SIP trunking service provider. The result was a reduction in telephony costs by 66 percent, or $1,000/month.

In addition, using SIP trunks eliminated the need to purchase local PSTN gateways and costly ISDN BRIs (Basic Rate Interfaces). The company still uses PRI (Primary Rate Interface)-rate ISDN for incoming calls, 911 and toll-free calling but the expense is modest since all outgoing calls that are billable are sent to the SIP trunking service provider.

With such a quick reduction in communications expenses, the bank expected to pay for the entire SIP trunking installation in less than six months.

A Swedish systems integrator who wanted to use their Internet connection more efficiently to streamline costs also benefitted from using SIP trunks to jump off of the PSTN. Previously they had needed to purchase PRIs and PSTN gateways for every branch office. With SIP trunks, not only did they eliminate PSTN-based charges, they also no longer needed to pay the $17,000 yearly subscription cost for the PRIs.

These are just a few examples of the how SIP trunks can really improve your bottom line. In today’s economy, these technologies can help any business stay ahead. IT

Steven Johnson (News - Alert) is President of Ingate® Systems (www.ingate.com).

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