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April 18, 2015

SIP Trunking Week in Review: Birch Communications, GL Communications, Symbio Networks


By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

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While there are plenty of competitors out there in terms of communications, for many businesses, session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking is the way to go. That means a lot of big news in this sector, and a lot of ground to cover. With the weekend afoot, it's a great time to settle in and run down some of the biggest events in the week that was, which we'll do right now with our Week in Review coverage!


First we had a look at how the session border controller (SBC) was looking to help drive analog voice out of the market altogether. Analog voice's hold on the market is tenuous at best—some only have such service today because attempting to remove it from a bundle would be expensive—but technological advancement, particularly in the SBC, is allowing more companies to move in the direction of removing analog voice altogether.

Next we saw an unusual development in the carrier router and switch market. Some major technological shifts, including network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) have come together to create a difficult environment for the market, but these technologies have less hold in some places than in others. For instance, the Chinese market saw a rise in the carrier router and switch market, while the North American market saw a drop, as did Japan and the Rest of Asia-Pacific region. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market, meanwhile, saw a rise almost as large as China's.

Birch Communications stepped in next with an announcement of first quarter organic sales that passed all previous records. An overall sales increase of 113 percent against the first quarter of 2014 was all it took to make a record, and the company couldn't be happier, according to Birch chief sales officer Christopher Ramsey, who also serves as a senior vice president. Driving the growth, meanwhile, was a slate of product improvements as well as the quality of the overall line.

Then, we heard about some updates to the VQuad testing platform from GL Communications (News - Alert). The VQuad system was able to test as many as eight devices simultaneously, covering several different wired and mobile networks. The testing could cover most every function from messaging to email and beyond, and now can handle videoconferencing systems. With the new refinements, GL Communications hopes to get the system to test all communications that both go to and come from a smartphone.

Finally, we had a look at the new iBoss platform from Symbio Networks. The service now offers a complete SIP solution, specifically geared to allow companies to augment a telco offering. It's the first such service to hit the Australian wholesale telco market, according to reports, and it's set to help boost the adoption of IP services in the region with new SIP trunks and endpoints alike. Given that 29 percent of the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market in Australia is already using such services, it shouldn't be a tough sell.

That was the week that was in SIP trunking, and it was clear that there was a lot going on in this field. Our global online community was right in the thick of it all, and brought back plenty of news for us to consider. So be sure to join us back here next week for all the latest from the field, and every weekend as well for our Week in Review coverage!



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