“SIP Trunks in 20 Minutes”

SIP Trunking is the next step in the evolution of enterprise communication. This service uses Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert) (SIP) over either the public Internet or dedicated IP connections to make and receive phone calls, which are converted to the Public Switch Telephony Network (PSTN) for delivery to non-SIP users. The service offers enterprises cost savings through the use of a single network for voice and data, optimum use of available bandwidth, lower telephony costs and the opportunity to expand the use of SIP to support its long term promise of Unified Communications (News - Alert). SIP trunks open the door for enterprises to take full advantage of the benefits of SIP beyond the LAN.

Many customers we speak with expect SIP trunk installations to be complicated and challenging. However, SIP trunks can be deployed with a minimal amount of time and headache. The key to a smooth installation is a well-planned network and the selection of components that are certified as interoperable.

Here’s what most enterprises need to know when they embark on a SIP trunk installation:

A SIP trunking service provider — There are many service providers today offering SIP trunk solutions. A traditional voice telephony service provider typically offers one or more T1/E1 trunks to the enterprise for fulfilling its needs for voice communication outside its own premises. With SIP Trunking, service providers deliver call capacity in much smaller increments and have the ability to expand and contract the trunks very quickly. The SIP Trunking service provider is responsible for placing the calls onto the PSTN and often can reduce long distance charges significantly.

An SIP-enabled PBX (News - Alert) — Many IP-PBXs are designed to handle SIP communications. This is a necessity, as SIP trunks (like all realtime communication such as VoIP) are based on the protocol. Leading IPPBXs provide the features that enterprises require. Many PBX vendors also perform rigorous interoperability testing with other vendors and ITSPs, which helps to strengthen security for your SIP communications and eliminate interoperability issues.

An edge device that can handle the traversal of SIP traffic — The enterprise edge component serves many critical purposes, including solving the NAT traversal issues that are common with SIP, maintaining security of the PBX and the resolution of interoperability issues between the ITSP and IP-PBX.

We at Ingate, and our partners, will demonstrate the ease of SIP Trunk installation at the upcoming Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Conference & Expo in Los Angeles during our SIP Trunk Seminar Series. Stop by to watch us deploy a SIP Trunk solution in 20 minutes or less. IT

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

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