June 27, 2013

Looking to Upgrade Your Phone System? Consider the Many Benefits of SIP Trunking

By Christopher Mohr
TMCnet Contributing Writer

The demands that modern communication have placed on businesses have all but made conventional landline phone service less cost effective. Many companies have made the switch to some kind of VoIP system that leverages broadband Internet. Some of these systems use SIP trunking.

SIP trunking, by definition, is designed to save money, because it is a form of trunking. Virtually no company of any size configures their phone system so that each employee has a separate phone line and only a fraction of a workforce is using the phone at any given time in the first place.

Using SIP trunking requires three elements:

The first is an internet telephone system provider (ITSP) that manages connectivity between an IP network, mobile and public switched telephone network (PSTN) systems.

The second is an IP based PBX (News - Alert) system. Many of these systems run in a cloud and eliminate the need for a company to maintain PBX hardware on its premises. The provider worries about hardware configuration and keeping it up to date.

The third and final piece is what's known as a border element, the mechanism connecting an IP PBX with a PSTN.

With these different elements, companies have the opportunity to save money by getting the services needed to provide them separately.

SIP trunking also provides the following benefits:

• Eliminates at least reduces the need to purchase hardware, such as time division multiplexing (TDM) or conventional PBX equipment.
• Integrates with existing phone systems so companies that have made a financial commitment to use such a system do not have to scrap their investment entirely when upgrading to SIP technology.
• Bypasses certain types of phone connections that cost more money.
• Provides the ability to transmit other non-voice content such as multimedia more easily.

One of the growing trends in commercial telecommunications is to use some kind of VoIP system that leverages a company’s existing data network and saves money compared to conventional phone systems. SIP trunking is one way to achieve this objective without having to gut an existing system entirely.

Edited by Ryan Sartor