SIP Trunking
You may have heard a lot of buzz around SIP Trunking, and it’s no surprise! SIP Trunking is one of the fastest growing technologies today. A study published by the Frost & Sullivan Group found that in North America, revenue for VoIP access and SIP Trunking was $717.3 Million in 2009 and is forecasted to reach $4 Billion by 2013.
So what is SIP Trunking?
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a functional component of a unified communications environment that supports voice, instant messaging, presence, video, unified messaging and collaboration.
A SIP trunk utilizes new or existing broadband Internet connectivity as a supplement or replacement for traditional telephone company circuits competing with business telephone systems to the outside world.
Basically it is a way for organizations to accomplish something that they already do, for less money, with equal or better quality and with greater functionality.
Businesses are attracted to IP based technologies including SIP trunking because of the:
- Cost savings from converged voice and data access lines and reduced long distance calling charges.
- When compared to traditional phone services, companies can potentially save 30-40% of costs based on calling patterns (i.e local or long distance calls) and the number of office locations.
- Ability to break free from geographically centered services i.e. numbers can be ported so there are DID’s (Direct Inward Dialing numbers) from everywhere.
For example, if a business decides to consolidate various locations, those branches can be moved over to a SIP Trunking service to retain all of those phone numbers in order to maintain a local presence.
Telephone numbers (referred to as DID’s) can also create a virtual expansion for organizations, as they can acquire local and international numbers that can all be centralized to a single location or call centre.
Over the years, voice quality and reliability has improved greatly and is not an issue if proper Quality of Service (QoS) measures are applied.
Overall, SIP Trunking is beyond just cost savings, it is a more flexible solution for communication technology than traditional telephone numbers and is a highly valuable solution for voice communications in the 21st century.
SIP Trunking is an emerging technology and unfortunately is not yet widely prevalent in Canada. We are waiting for Telus and Bell to introduce this exciting new technology.