SIP: The Benefits, Realities and Implementation

The Maturity of SIP Technology, the Implications and Reality for your Business

Today most people are familiar with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) or IP Telephony, which gave way to converged systems (voice and data on a single network infrastructure), simplified management, faster deployment, easier networking (incorporating satellite offices and homeworkers and of course new wave applications and ways of working, such as Unified Communications (UC). The premise of UC is an integrated suite of communications channels (voice, video, data, web, text) over a single VoIP protocol, that of SIP.

It provides more options than ever before for your telephony network, system interoperability, ease of use and context aware communications across a wide range of devices, with simple indicators for presence and availability. SIP provides the mechanism for improved communications, blending traditionally separate worlds and can do it with greater flexibility and more cost effectively than ever before.

One application that has emerged is that of SIP Trunks, providing high capacity phone line connections. The beauty is that it is inherently more flexible than analogue and digital lines, it is quicker to set up, can provide much higher capacity than traditional lines and can flex in-line with business requirements. Added to that, it is possible to create a centralised pool of lines that can be shared across a distributed enterprise, providing more effective resource allocation, cost savings and comprehensive options for DR / Business Continuity Management.

The adoption of SIP trunks are growing at over 60% year on year and with over 20% of all active lines now based upon SIP, SIP has become a mainstream technology and is a strong proposition for organisations of all sizes.

This white paper will explain what SIP is, its advantages and then raise some considerations for your business before switching to SIP infrastructure.