This summer I was fortunate to participate as a speaker and co-sponsored a traveling road-show along with Sonus and Cisco to Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco and New York City, spending a day in each city - educating a variety of businesses on SIP Trunking.

The format of the events included a educational track, presented by either David Stein, Stein Technology Group or Jim Allen, Independent Consultant.  After these presentations, the audience and sponsors participated in an extended open discussion/Q&A session, diving deeper into SIP Trunking implementations.  After the discussion sessions, a panel of end-customers with real-world experience took over, sharing their stories of both success and headaches.

One of the real benefits as a presenter in this type of event is hearing from real end-users, learning about their issues, concerns and plans for the future.  Here's a few real eye-opening observations:

1. Businesses need to "test the water" before they jump in fully with SIP Trunking.  There is great skepticism on the technology ready-ness and ease of integration.
2. The ROI model for simple trunk replacement is not very strong.  The incumbent TDM service providers can drop their costs to match SIP trunking in many cases, making a simple replacement hard to justify.
3. However, the ROI model for trunk consolidation is very strong and easily justifies the effort to implement SIP Trunking.
4. The role of an E-SBC in SIP Trunking implementations is an area where much education remains.

If you missed the live and in-person events, you can alway visit the virtual event available on the Enterprise Connect site.