A guide to SIP trunking

SIP stands for Session Initiated Protocol, a type of Voice over IP (VoIP) that helps companies reduce their telecom costs. A SIP trunk is a logical connection between an IP PBX and a service provider's application servers that allows Voice over IP traffic exchange. This article provides information about SIP trunking, how it works and its many advantages.

Technical terms in telecommunications

What is a protocol? A protocol is best defined as a set of procedures to be followed when communicating. In digital communications, protocols determine where certain information can be found in the binary system. Data, addresses, user data, control information and other fields need to be clearly defined and consistent within each transmission. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) belongs to a family of transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications over IP networks such as the Internet or other packet-switched networks. VoIP enables you to make and receive calls over any broadband service and from any device such as a cell phone, laptop or desktop. Recently, the widely-used Skype application announced that it is getting into the SIP trunking business, enabling native SIP calls to be connected directly to its network, allowing enterprise communications systems to communicate seamlessly with Skype's network of users. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology The SIP protocol is a signaling protocol that is used by technology products for creating session-oriented connections between two or more endpoints in an IP network.

Advantages of SIP trunking

SIP trunking service permits businesses to have a PBX installed to use VoIP even to use outside the enterprise network using the same connection as the internet connection. To deploy a SIP trunk, the main components required are: 1. A PBX with a SIP-enabled trunk side.
2. SIP trunking service provider Offered by an internet telephony service provider, the SIP trunk offers numerous benefits: - SIP trunk provides huge cost savings as it eliminates the need to purchase expensive equipments like PSTN gateways or additional line cards. - It provides a new scope of establishing other types of real time communications beyond LAN. - SIP trunks are more reliable as a number of fail-over solutions can be implemented. - Many organisations already using VoIP sytems can easily update and implement the SIP trunking system. - Cost-effective when it comes to long distance calls, as global calls can be made at the local call rate. - Makes multiple service providers and links redundant.