Overcoming Challenges in SIP Trunking Migration
November 20, 2009
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
There has been a lot of talk about SIP trunking throughout the telecommunications industry as it offers enterprises easier infrastructure integration and management as well as increased scalability. At the same time, this technology can also deliver significant cost savings, flexibility and better integration with other business applications.
As companies are increasingly migrating to SIP trunking, they will experience both benefits and challenges. To help these companies better navigate this migration, Empirix (News - Alert) has released a new whitepaper:
Getting the Most Out of Your Migration to SIP Trunking.
One of the most glaring challenges with SIP trunking is the lack of dependable standards. As a result, products that have been designed to integrate the latest technologies do not necessarily interoperate. Even with multiple Requests for Comments or “RFCs,” strict adherence still does not guarantee interoperability.
For those enterprises that do transition to IP and SIP, they do so slowly. This creates a complex environment in which the TDM infrastructure, endpoints and legacy IP voice protocols need to be supported and integrated even when deploying SIP trunking services.
While fast and efficient turn-up and accelerated TTR is often a goal in SIP migration, it is not always easily attainable. Services providers often find it difficult to access portions of the customer’s network for verification. At the same time, if the allocation of bandwidth for the desired dial plan is not set up properly, voice quality can quickly be degraded and call volume scales.
To ensure the smooth process for SIP migration, enterprises will often establish Service Level Agreements or “SLAs” that require that specific objectives are met. It is important for the enterprise to understand that this is a developing process in that some services are still maturing, changing and being extended. It is still unclear whether or not SLAs will change and mature at the same rate as service providers.
Once an enterprise moves toward SIP trunking, there are certain steps that can be taken to ensure the environment is living up to its expectations. The first step is to establish realistic baselines that fit real-world scenarios. Second, add and test components step-by-step so you can tackle problems as they arise.
And, finally, no matter what step in the process, user should continue to monitor the system so they are sure service is at an acceptable level.
For more, check out the VoIP Monitoring channel on TMCnet.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Stefania Viscusi