August 18, 2014
Patton's Enterprise Session Border Controllers Highlighted
By
Frank Griffin
TMCnet Contributing Writer
Communication is one of the key components of a successful business, and in today's environment organizations have to implement technology capable of handling many of the touch points available in the market place. Enterprise Session Border Controllers (E-SBC) is one of the technologies being deployed to provide connection for disparate IP communications networks while delivering security, interoperability, and session control with support between enterprise and carrier SIP trunks and enterprise UC telephony platforms. The new Gartner (News - Alert) Market Guide for Enterprise SBC report looked at a number of companies, and Patton Electronics, provider of E-SBC tailored to the needs of the SME market, was highlighted as a standout in several ways.
According to Gartner more businesses and branch offices are making the transition to Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert) (SIP)-trunking, especially among small-to-medium enterprises, which is driving the market to grow globally by 20 percent annually from 2014 to 2018.
Gartner identified 12 critical attributes enterprises should use when deciding which E-SBC vendors to invest; and they are: security, scale, high availability, UC telephony platform, TDM interfaces, H.323, reporting, video, Active Directory (AD) support, routing, and SIP Recording (SIPREC).
The Patton (News - Alert) E-SBCs solution, which is branded under SmartNode Enterprise Session Border Routers (ESBRs), has features that are suited for SMEs, this according to the report. It addresses the 2-to-256-session market versus the 1,000-to-15,000-session range targeted by other vendors for larger organizations.
The features Gartner highlighted include:
TDM Telephony Interfaces – for organizations that need to preserve legacy PBX (News - Alert) systems while adopting SIP trunking or implement hybrid solutions that preserve legacy PSTN connections while adding SIP trunks, Time-divided-multiplexing (TDM) connectivity is essential. Patton platform supports analog FXS and FXO as well as ISDN BRI and T1/E1/PRI interfaces.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Rate Control – delivers superior voice quality by preventing data bursts from impeding voice traffic, which is unique to Patton in the E-SBC market.
H.323 Support – provides interoperability with earlier H.323-based IP Telephony implementations and new state-of-the-art SIP-base unified communications platforms.
Low TCO – the total cost of ownership is one of the key differentiators between service providers, and Patton delivers support for its entire catalog with live human phone and email support plus lifetime downloadable software upgrades at no charge. With no maintenance contracts, per-hour support charges, or software-upgrade fees, the company provides a TCO that is low and predictable.
As the market direction moves to SIP trunking, Gartner says companies are moving to reduce their telecom expenses by 30 to 50 percent in the U.S. and 15 to 25 percent globally, but only 10 percent have completed the migration to SIP trunking, which presents great opportunities for service providers in the sector moving forward.
Edited by Maurice Nagle