When I first joined Broadvox, there was still mention of H.323 as an alternative to SIP or perhaps the other way around. The point is that H.323 was more cumbersome than SIP as it was initially introduced to support video conferencing. H.323 is still widely used for that purpose and inter-carrier VoIP. However, SIP is what has been pressed into service by VoIP for IP PBXs purchased by SMBs and Enterprises. Whether actively aware or passive, more than 50% of businesses today are using SIP.

Beyond VoIP, SIP is the protocol of choice for Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), SIP enabled smart phones and mobile devices, and Unified Communications. The demand for SIP is increasing in the world of wireless. SIP is transforming how businesses and consumers communicate and collaborate. There is much to learn as we transition to and expand our use of SIP. Session management, bandwidth allocation, packet prioritization, security and interoperability dominate today’s discussion of SIP. However, as the protocol evolves and is updated to support new applications, there will continue to be a blurring of the lines between the protocol and the applications it supports.

Every application and nearly every service that Broadvox deploys is based upon SIP. That will not change as we add managed services and cloud computing to our product portfolio. SIP is no longer simply a device to device or network element to element concept. It is instead user to user without application or geographical limitations.

SIP is a protocol supporting a user to user communications paradigm that utilizes any device, any application, anywhere, anytime. And that is SIP 2.0.