Christopher Mackey Blog: Don’t Let Your SIP Deployment Block Your Path to Growth

What is the one thing that every business wants to do? Grow! And make money of course.

Unfortunately, you may be blocking your path to growth by choosing an impractical session initiation protocol (SIP) deployment model. Your current SIP setup may be okay for a single location, but you could have a major problem when it comes time to grow your business.

For a single location in an organization, companies typically run two separate and distinct connections: one data connection to the Internet; and a separate time-division multiplexing (TDM) connection to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) (such as plain old telephone service [POTS] business lines or a primary rate interface [PRI]).

A major concern for many companies, when it comes to their SIP deployment, is centered on protecting the integrity of their voice system. In many cases, SIP is delivered “Over the Top” of an existing public Internet connection; and for mission critical voice systems, this isn’t okay. At one point, or another, we’ve all had our Internet service go offline. And, if your SIP solution is riding that public Internet connection as well, your phone lines will be offline too.

So how do things like security and redundancy come into play with the two major types of SIP deployment?

Get on the SIP-er Highway

In a decentralized SIP solution, each of your locations has its own separate Internet and voice connections. While using the existing Internet connection, you can have SIP trunks deployed at each of your locations.

While better, economically, than the TDM/Internet separate providers, it’s still not the most efficient way to deploy an enterprise SIP solution.

The decentralized SIP solution … is not the most efficient way to deploy an enterprise SIP solution.

Additionally, this scenario lacks any redundancy for your locations. Your only option may be a carrier side failover to a PRI, which would remove the entire purpose of going with SIP trunks to begin with. You can handle the security problem by installing a private connection from each of your different locations to your SIP service provider, but then you’re adding a tremendous amount of cost to your voice infrastructure.

In a centralized SIP solution, one or two sites are directly connected to the service provider, and uses your existing private network connection to provide the call flow to the other sites.

With a centralized SIP solution, you have better control over the use of your SIP trunks, allowing for a much more efficient setup.

With a centralized SIP solution, you have better control over the use of your SIP trunks, allowing for a much more efficient setup.

If you have an MPLS connection in place, ask your SIP service provider if they’ll allow you to extend your network to their data centers. This allows you to layer on the security and privacy benefits of your MPLS connection, providing you better control and call quality. Additionally, with this setup, you can implement geographic redundancy by having backup SIP trunks at a different location somewhere else in the country. Now if one location goes offline, your phone systems are still up.

There are many different variances on this model, but the perfect model calls for a centralization of your voice connections.

Listen to the recorded Webinar – “Get SIP Smart: How to Avoid the Top SIP Trunking Gotchas”

Click here to access the recorded webinar, “Get SIP Smart: How to Avoid the Top SIP Trunking Gotchas” originally presented by Enterprise Connect on March 2.

Are your customers and prospects about to make a crucial SIP implementation mistake? If so, they’re not alone. For instance, in The SIP School’s “SIP Survey 2015”, 43% of SIP trunking buyers reported one-way audio issues. This pitfall is easy to prevent—but do you know how? It’s time to get smart and learn from the collective wisdom of SIP trunking veterans.

In this webinar, Cindy Whelan, Principal Analyst at Current Analysis, discusses the top SIP trunking issues and how to avoid them. Then we take you a step further into the SIP trenches to show you the key elements of a seamless SIP installation.

You’ll hear the answers to many strategic questions, including:

• What are the most common, easily avoidable configuration mistakes?
• What essential testing and documentation should you require from service providers?
• What red flags indicate that your premises will be the provider’s test bed?
• What important questions should you ask when vetting SIP providers?

Maximize your SIP investment by finding out what mistakes you can avoid – before you make them. Register Now!

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