What We Know About SIP Trunking

1. What We Know About SIP Trunking Dave Stein Stein Technology Consulting Group dave@steintechconsult.com T1/PRI

2. The Appeal of SIP Trunking • Lower Costs – 30-70% Reduction in Telecom expense by: • Aggregation of Trunks– Combining all trunks from many office sites can reduce the number of voice trunks required by the enterprise by 30-50% . • Aggregation of Access – A few Ethernet links are cheaper than many T1s • Free Features – Many of the features that were charged separately are now bundled into the overall fixed monthly charge, like D channels • Tariffs – With SIP trunks, a lot of the traditional tariffs that applied to TDM telephony no longer apply – Intrastate vs. Interstate, local usage, USF • Competition – Multiple SIP trunking providers, esp. for outbound calling • Billing – 40% of the phone bill is the phone bill. • Support – In a centralized model, the managing, administration, and support of voice trunks is simpler, easier, and cheaper. • Additional Flexibility– Number Portability, Business Continuity • Deliver New Services – Multi-Channel (Presence, IM, Video, …), Wideband Audio G.722

3. But Implementation Should Address: • Robust Security – This is IP, so it needs to be highly secure • High Availability – Telephony is a mission critical application that needs to be available 24/7 • Centralizing all Telecom – Requires a robust IP WAN • Supportability – Monitoring/alarming, troubleshooting, MACD • Enhanced Features – n11, Fax, PRI Qsig info, Number Portability, Toll Free • Interoperability – The SIP standard is broad and not tightly defined or governed

4. SIP Trunking Adoption 80% of Enterprises have SIP trunks, but less than 5% have completed their migration. Why? • Complexity – Voice requirements are complex, esp. in the contact center and local number portability • Silo’s – A lot of organizations are fragmented, with each having different timelines, budgets, and priorities • Magnitude – Centralizing all telephony infrastructure is a very large project and requires a robust IP network. SIP trunking is usually a 2-3 year project at a minimum • Support – Investing in SBCs, support tools, and/or training

5. Reality Check – Is SIP Trunking Mature? SIP Trunking is a 7/10 on the maturity curve: • Providing Value - 10– Enterprises can save from 30-70% • Features – 8–SIP Trunking service providers have really stepped up to deliver ISDN functionality onto SIP trunks. • Industry Standardization – 7– SIPconnect1.1standard. • Adoption – 6 – SIP trunking is in 80% of Fortune 1000 organizations, but less than 5% have completed their migration. • Training – 5 – Telephony is a lot more complex than just ringing the phoneand IP is still new to a lot of traditional telecom folks. • Support – 4– The tools to monitor, alarm, troubleshoot, configure, and report on SIP trunking are lagging in implementations.

6. Centralized Model

7. Distributed Model

8. Summary • SIP Services are maturing but adoption remains slow • Competitive landscape • Potential cost savings • Converged and consolidated networks • DIDs no longer tied to geographic location • Enhanced services (presence, video, wideband) • Operational efficiencies through central and regional designs • Start with outbound LD, then inbound LD, then Local, then Toll Free SIP Trunking, to minimize risks and gain experience • High availability through implementation of an SBC and associated monitoring and reporting tools

9. Questions