Everyone knows that SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) has been coming for a while. SIP started out several years ago as the IP replacement for endpoints and has now been adopted by many Service Providers for trunking. As the next offer from the Service Providers to save customers money on PBX hardware and services, SIP Trunking sounds great. Less hardware and open bandwidth for converged UC (Voice, Video and Data) are just several of the advantages of SIP Trunking. The promise of SIP trunking for both external communications and connectivity between multiple vendor technologies sounds simple and, in many cases, is. BUT, there is always a caveat and we want to make sure every customer is aware of the pitfalls that are often left out of the conversation.

When many Service Providers discuss SIP technology with customers, they claim you need nothing more than an IP Address and Router connection (many times provided for you by the Service Provider). However, there is something missing in this picture for the majority of you out there, and that is something called Session Border Control (SBC). “What’s an SBC,” you ask?

Ultimately, SBC’s allow customers to control the kinds of calls that can be placed through the networks on which they reside, fix or change protocols and protocol syntax to achieve interoperability, and also overcome some of the problems that firewalls and Network Address Translation (NATs) present for VoIP calls

In real speak what does that mean? It means that SBC’s protect you from the outside world when a new IP path into your environment has been introduced. It means that everyone should consider an SBC on premise to insure the security of your company from the outside world.