The Seamless Enterprise

Per the SIP forum , SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) has “emerged as the protocol of choice for setting up conferencing, telephony, multimedia and other types of communication sessions on the Internet. SIP may also be used for new types of communications, such as instant messaging and application level mobility across various networks, including wireless, and across user devices.” SIP trunking today is much more than a telephony solution that lowers costs. It is the foundation for unified communications and fixed mobile convergence (FMC). Ultimately, it is about presence, and it is central to the IT communications environment. I call this the 2^nd Generation of SIP Trunking.

For an excellent primer on SIP Trunk Services as the foundation for Unified Communications, visit NoJitter. Here, Lisa Pierce identifies the SIP trunk service attributes an enterprise should evaluate when selecting a provider.

To really understand SIP trunking today, and its value to the enterprise, I highlight five benefits from techtarget’s SIP Trunking Reality Check.

1 - SIP trunking is more than telephony. Originally a successor to existing voice protocols and a way to lower costs, SIP trunking today supports multi-media real-time communication such as chat, video-conferencing, and mobility. SIP trunking is the foundation for unified communications.  Learn more about SIP trunking integration here on seamlessenterprise.com.

2 - SIP trunking enables end-to-end IP which means the solution can deliver a wider range of applications and provide a higher quality experience. VoIP can be a superior service in an end-to-end IP environment.

3 – SIP is about presence. Presence opens a whole new world of applications and allows real time intelligent communication between parties. The communication experience is converging as web based services are integrated with voice. This opens new communication and collaboration opportunities for workers and how we do business.

4 – SIP is a mainstream technology, and the market is more competitive. The appeal of SIP, Voice, and IP Telephony goes beyond carriers. Enterprises will have a choice of service providers, especially as SIP becomes more integrated into other communication solutions offered beyond the carrier market. Look for carriers that “UC enable” their SIP trunks.

5 – The future is Mobile SIP. Look at our culture today: the workforce is mobile, smartphones are the new normal, mobile applications are prolific, and workers now expect their mobile devices to mirror their desktop environment. SIP is the common protocol that makes this possible. With SIP, handset vendors are unleashed to develop and support applications. SIP also makes it easier for enterprises to adopt mobility solutions throughout the organization.

Furthermore, SIP based communication is a common language that can link wireless communication with wireline communication (or fixed mobile communication). This is especially important for mobile workers who want the mobile environment just as productive as the office.

As more enterprises realize the initial benefits of SIP trunking deployments, they can also look forward to experiencing the real benefits of unified communications. That is the real power of SIP.

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Tags: fixed mobile convergence, SIP trunking, Unified communications

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Unified communications, collaboration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.