Network Reliability and Resiliency with SIP Trunking

For those of us with a history in the telecommunications industry, there is a term that was commonplace that one does not hear that often anymore, “carrier-class” (aka “carrier-grade"). For those unfamiliar with the term, it refers to systems that are tested and engineered to meet or exceed "five nines" (99.999 percent) high-availability standards, and provide very fast fault recovery through redundancy (normally less than 50 milliseconds). 

The reason this level of operational excellence has the word carrier in its name is because it was the standard for quality service of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The idea being in essence that it was virtually always available, but on the oft chance it was not customers would hardly notice because fault-tolerance meant that the speed of recovery of the network would be so fast it would hardly be noticed except as an anomaly on a report. 

As the saying goes, “that was then and this is now!” In a world that is going increasingly IP, and where things like virtualization and the cloud are blurring the lines as to what constitutes a carrier, enterprise or hybrid network, the issue that arises is whether IP networks can deliver that same five-nines reliability and resiliency. In fact, with so much of communications capabilities of all kinds now data center-centric, the issues surrounding reliability and resiliency have become amplified.

IT asset managers from companies of all sizes not only need to sweat their assets, but they need to do so in the context of risk management. A translation of this is that for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery needs, they are hoping for five-nines not just from their service provider but by extension their entire networking environment. Think of this as defining a new “enterprise-class” level of performance that meets or exceeds that magic threshold. 

 It has been argued that the reliability of computing systems and data networks has matured to the point where paying a premium for almost perfect performance is not necessary since the probability of a system and network failure is so low that given the pace of technologic change the likelihood is a company will be replacing its infrastructure before a catastrophe is likely to strike. This sounds good in theory, but when a disaster hits, fingers get pointed. 

As we at TMC (News - Alert) have documented, the move to all IP networking is accelerating and rightfully so. The business case for moving off of TDM and leveraging the power of SIP trunking is more than compelling, it is creating a tipping point where businesses not only should migrate but should do so sooner rather than later. 

That said, what about the question of reliability? The need for back-up that can be depended up will never go away. In fact, it is more important than ever throughout the value-chain as computing and communications becomes more dispersed. The issue is what is the right type of back-up that can give IT managers peace of mind as they move to an all IP world?

I will be moderating an insightful webinar on this subject, “Creating a Resilient Communications Environment Utilizing SIP Trunks,” at 2:00 PM EDT on August 7, 2012. Joining me will be Adam Goebel Director of Channel Sales SoTel Systems (News - Alert)  and Simon Horton Director of Product Management Sangoma Technologies. The session will detail how making the move to SIP does not mean sacrificing on requirements for reliability and resiliency.   

The SoTel SoSimple SIP Trunking service along with Sangoma Vega Gateways (which feature full failover/failback functionality) will be highlighted as the foundations for a communications environment that can provide the network reliability and resiliency you need. 

Included in the session will be:

• A brief review of SIP trunking and its cost benefits
• How the combination of the basic SoSimple program with the Vega Gateways meets even the most stringent risk mitigation requirements

Have your questions answered as to such critical concerns as implementing failover to the PSTN in the event of a SIP, LAN or WAN service interruption; and, routing E-911 calls directly to the PSTN. This is about gaining operational peace of mind while still maximizing the ROI on the solution you need to achieve it. 

Sangoma is a Gold sponsor of ITEXPO West 2012. To be held Oct. 2-5 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX, ITEXPO (News - Alert) is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit Sangoma in booth #920. Jeff Dworkin, Director of Marketing, and Julian Nephtali, Product Manager, will also be speakers at the event.For more information on ITEXPO click here.

Edited by Braden Becker

Related Asterisk Articles