The Next Step in Enterprise VoIP

At Ingate we've been talking recently about the evolution of SIP to Unified Communications. We've been looking at this topic for some time now, when several years ago we first addressed it as, "global SIP communications."

As our industry evolves one question keeps coming up: what is the future role of the incumbent telecoms on the fixed network? A key driver for UC has been a high demand for SIP trunking, which is fueled by the ability to deliver POTS service over the Internet and hence at a lower price. But this is accomplished by ITSPs, not incumbent telecoms. Continue Reading...

There has been a vigorous debate sparking up the Internet recently asking: "Does an Enterprise need a Session Border Controller (SBC) as part of its implementation of VoIP?"

The short answer is a resounding "YES!"

An Enterprise SBC is a crucial element in enabling and securing SIP deployments.

One common misconception about E-SBCs, and a question we receive often, is: why should a customer purchase a separate E-SBC when their service provider likely has their own? Won't the service provider's E-SBC provide adequate security?

The answer is a wholehearted, "no." Although the service provider may have its own SBC, it is in place to protect the service provider network, not the customer. An SBC at the customer edge assures that the customer's network is fully protected from any potential breach or attack.

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It's a crowded room as Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond, Mitel NetSolutions and moderator Joel Maloff talk about "The Service Provider Perspective" at the SIP Trunk Summit, ITEXPO

It's a full house today at the SIP Trunk Summit at ITEXPO. Dan York stated, "VoIP can be more secure than the PSTN if deployed correctly" and everyone really took notice. Make sure you stop by room A108/109 at the Miami Beach Convention Center today -- we have lots more to discuss, with The Service Provider Perspective at 1:30 and The SIP Forum presenting "The State of SIP Trunking" at 2:45.

Stop by the SIP Trunk Summit at ITEXPO this week, and hear all about today's announcement from Ingate and Dialogic. Here's the press release:

Dialogic to Provide "Any-to-Any" PBX Connectivity for SIP Trunking
Plans to Incorporate Ingate SIP Trunking Technology for New Enterprise Border Element Solution

ITEXPO EAST, MIAMI BEACH, FL - January 20, 2010 -Dialogic Corporation ("Dialogic"), a global provider of world-class products and technologies for media and signal processing, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Ingate® Systems ("Ingate") which allows Dialogic to incorporate the award-winning SIP Trunking software module from Ingate into a new enterprise border element designed to connect virtually any SIP trunk with virtually any PBX, to facilitate seamless SIP trunk deployments in legacy TDM and hybrid PBX environments, as well as new SIP-based PBX systems.

"PBX's are transitioning from the traditional TDM PBX's to hybrid PBX's, IP-PBXs, and Unified Communications solutions creating a heterogeneous TDM/SIP trunk environment and there is a significant opportunity to provide connectivity and security between public and private networks," said Franz-Josef Eberle, Vice President and General Manager for the Enterprise Market Group at Dialogic. "Dialogic is meeting this growing demand by combining Ingate's proven SIP Trunking technology with Dialogic's extensive PBX and PSTN media gateway technology."

The Ingate SIP Trunking software module provides enterprise session border control along with the advanced routing capabilities necessary to connect SIP trunks to enterprise networks and branch offices by employing Ingate's proxy-based traversal and security technology.

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The February SIP Trunk Seminars were a great success. Thank you to everyone who attended. I am proud to say we had more people in attendance at the last Seminars than ever before.

If you missed any of our very informative sessions, please click to Ingate.com where you can download all of the presentations for free.

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Are you headed to warm Miami Beach next week, for the ITEXPO? Join Ingate and the leading voices in SIP trunking for the "SIP Trunking: Everything You Need to Know" seminars - free for all ITEXPO attendees.

This season we have some exciting new sessions:

Session for Carriers with J. Arnold & Associates. The SIP Forum and Other Leaders
A new session, "Just for Carriers: SIP Trunk Intensive Workshop," will feature an in-depth analysis on SIP trunks to address the unique needs of this audience.

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Demand for SIP trunks is on the rise - yes, even in this bad economy. Why? Because SIP trunks make good financial sense now, providing economic relief to a company immediately, and later down the road.

Based on our numerous customer deployments, we see SIP trunk installations paying for themselves -meaning, the entire installation of a new IP-PBX, phones, network upgrades and the Ingate solution - in less than a year.

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These are interesting times for every player in the IP communications space. SIP trunking has really been taking off, making enterprise VoIP easier to adopt - and more cost-effective - than ever before. Carriers and IP-PBXs are seeing this growth opportunity, and enterprises are today eager for information on the what, why and how of SIP trunking.

It is an exciting time for me as well.

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Are you considering SIP trunking as part of your communications strategy? Need to know more? Next week in Los Angeles, Ingate will once again host free informative seminars on SIP trunking at ITEXPO. SIP trunks are a cost-efficient solution in which enterprises reap the benefits almost immediately.

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We've just launched a new resource for information on SIP trunks - the new Ingate SIP Trunking Community on TMCnet.

The SIP Trunking Community provides up-to-the-minute news and information - on topics that include enterprise VoIP and security - for service providers, enterprises and VARs. Here we have gathered other valuable resources such as data sheets, case studies, feature articles, white papers and Webinars.

The SIP Trunking community can be found here: http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/. Take a look and let me know what you think.

And while we're on the topic of SIP trunking, I have to tell you that we have an amazing group of presenters lined up for the "SIP Trunking: everything You Need to Know" seminars at the ITEXPO in Los Angeles, in September.

Continue Reading...

We've just launched a new resource for information on SIP trunks - the new Ingate SIP Trunking Community on TMCnet.

The SIP Trunking Community provides up-to-the-minute news and information - on topics that include enterprise VoIP and security - for service providers, enterprises and VARs. Here we have gathered other valuable resources such as data sheets, case studies, feature articles, white papers and Webinars.

The SIP Trunking community can be found here: http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/. Take a look and let me know what you think.

And while we're on the topic of SIP trunking, I have to tell you that we have an amazing group of presenters lined up for the "SIP Trunking: everything You Need to Know" seminars at the ITEXPO in Los Angeles, in September.

Continue Reading...

Unified Communications (UC) is an important concept that can take your enterprise to the next level with regard to efficiency, of achieving the very most in cost savings from your communications expenses. And, contrary to popular rumors and scare stories floating around, UC can be very secure if you protect your network and the communication with the appropriate technologies and equipment.

UC is the integration of many forms of communication, including fixed and mobile voice, and Internet based applications such as email, IM, VoIP, presence...you get the idea. While this sounds complicated, the goal of UC is to simplify communications so that everyone can be reached anywhere, anytime, via the mode of communication that's most helpful for them (for instance if I'm in a meeting, I'll get your email on my cell phone, and you'll see I'm unavailable for a phone call on the presence application running from your desktop).

Unfortunately there are those among us leveraging the "hype" surrounding UC to scare end users into believing that something that seems so complicated must inherently be insecure. This is not so. Continue Reading...

I hope you had a chance to join us at the fourth installment of the SIP Trunking Seminars at the ITEXPO. 

Many of the sessions were filled to capacity.  Clearly, there is still a strong demand for information about SIP trunking.  When we started offering these educational seminars, it was because people didn’t know enough about the technology.  Continue Reading...

This month in Miami, we at Ingate will once again host informative seminars on SIP trunking at ITEXPO.  SIP trunks are a critical next step in the road to global connectivity. They are also a cost-efficient option in which enterprises reap the benefits almost immediately. 

But are they a part of your communications strategy?  Continue Reading...