Lync Migration Featured Article

Patton's E-SBCs Certified for Interoperability with Skype for Business

By Clayton Hamshar Contributing Writer

Microsoft’s Skype (News - Alert) for Business platform, formerly known as Microsoft Lync, is enjoying continuously rising popularity in the business world as an optimized, fully-featured unified communications (UC) solution. Ilexia, a provider of IP telephony and UC solutions, is the latest company to demonstrate its support for the platform; the company recently certified voice and data communications equipment manufacturer Patton’s (News - Alert) SmartNode enterprise session border controllers (E-SBCs) for interoperability with Skype for Business.

The SmartNode line of E-SBCs is an incredibly useful asset for any business, bringing significant reductions to telephony costs while expanding the range of communications features and accordingly improving workers’ productivity. The addition of secure and reliable SIP-trunk connections to Skype for Business is an important step in the transition to an all-IP communications infrastructure that simultaneously enhances the flow of internal operations.

Patton’s offerings also include classic TDM telephony interfaces — PRI, BRI, FXS and FXO — so businesses can IP-enable their legacy voice equipment. With the ability to provide PSTN connectivity, these businesses can ensure total survivability for their voice and data. This additional functionality rounds out the impressive performance capabilities of SmartNode E-SBCs and delivers amazing value for the relatively low price.

Ilexia designed and conducted an extensive certification test in its independent validation lab to ensure complete interoperability between two carefully chosen SmartNode models and the Skype for Business platform. The models were certified for seamless interoperability in several different end-to-end systems, and underwent testing with several relevant and popular IP PBX (News - Alert) vendors as well as SIP trunks from an unspecified French telecom operator.

The tests carried out for the SIP and RTP stack include basic call transfer, conference, call waiting, call forwarding, private SIP headers, number masking, timer session, timer recording and SIP security authentication. The SBC functions tested were SIP message handling and processing, DTMF transformation, SIP processing mechanisms, RTP proxy, security and debugging. Ilexia also performed load testing and signaling audio to ensure a complete fit for the SmartNode E-SBCs.

Skype for Business customers now have access to a fully-featured session border controller solution that they know will be entirely compatible, thanks to the extensive testing carried out by Ilexia for Patton’s reputable SmartNode E-SBCs. This demonstrates all three companies’ dedication to helping businesses shift to IP communications and enjoy the benefits of improved efficiency, reliability, security, flexibility and — above all — functionality.

Edited by Maurice Nagle