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Acme Packet, a provider of session border control solutions, and BroadSoft, a provider of Voice over Internet Applications (VoIP), have announced enhancements to their joint Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert) (SIP) trunking solution.

 

The solution, which integrates BroadSoft's BroadWorks VoIP application platform with Acme Packet’s (News - Alert) Net-Net session border controller (SBC), enables service providers to ensure business continuity and workforce productivity for large enterprise customers, officials said.

 

Acme Packet’s Net-Net family of session border controllers enhances both the service providers’ and enterprises’ SIP trunking functionality, officials said. For service providers, it provides controls for session admission and overload controls for the IP network transport to assure service level agreements (SLAs), maximize revenues and minimize costs. For enterprises, Acme Packet Net-Net SBCs provide similar control functions relative to its IP PBX, unified communications platform and network.

 

BroadSoft/Acme Packet solution allows an enterprise with an on-premise PBX or IP PBX to take advantage of innovative IP-enabled communications tools from the service provider “cloud.”

 

This integrated solution delivers services such as Microsoft’s Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 4.5, video-enabled SIP trunking and fixed-mobile convergence (FMC). These services, officials say, were not previously available with premise-based PBX solutions.

 

Microsoft’s Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 4.5 integrates premise-based PBX phones with IT tools such as e-mail, presence and instant messaging (IM). Video-enabled SIP Trunking delivers “personal telepresence” to PBX customers by adding video stations to selected employees and meeting rooms. FMC extends PBX features to mobile devices independent of the network, using BroadSoft’s award-winning BroadWorks Anywhere functionality.

 

Michael Tessler, co-founder and CEO of BroadSoft says that SIP trunking represents a tremendous opportunity for service providers; however, these services are commoditized if they offer nothing beyond basic PSTN connectivity.

 

Tessler also feels that the lack of SIP trunking solutions specifically designed for large enterprises has been a limiting factor in adoption and market growth.

 

“With the BroadSoft/Acme Packet solution, service providers can ensure business continuity for their customers, as well as provide a host of revenue-generating services as an ‘overlay’ to their connectivity offering,” Tessler said.

 

BroadSoft/Acme Packet SIP trunking solution is further strengthened by a number of additional features. It supports fully redundant IP networks and eliminates any single point of failure for an enterprise. By supporting multiple trunk groups per IP PBX, the integrated solution enables an enterprise to apply sophisticated routing policies for delivery of calls across the trunk groups. The solution also features multi-site enterprise support by which it allows an enterprise to purchase a fixed amount of call capacity and apply that across any number of locations.

 

Acme Packet/BroadSoft solution ensures end-to-end interoperability testing with over 40 different IP PBX vendors and variants, including Avaya, Cisco, Siemens (News - Alert) and Microsoft’s Office Communications Server 2007 R2. It is also SIPconnect compliant and supports current 3GPP specification for deployment of SIP trunking in IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS) networks.

 

“Service providers have begun aggressively promoting SIP trunks both to protect their existing customers and to acquire new ones,” said Seamus Hourihan (News - Alert), vice president of marketing and product management for Acme Packet, in a statement. “SIP trunks carry risks that must be managed, including concerns about security, service quality and compliance.”

 

Hourihan said this joint solution from BroadSoft and Acme Packet meets the stringent requirements for those enterprises.