The three-hour SIP Trunking session at VoiceCon drew over three hundred participants. That is SIPnormous. It demonstrates the growing interest in SIP by enterprises as they begin to supplement their intranet VoIP implementations with extranet SIP. While Broadvox was not invited to participate in those sessions, we did speak at a smaller breakout sponsored by AudioCodes. The message of that particular breakout was to understand some of the FUD associated with SIP Trunking and risk mitigation in transitioning to SIP.

Too often, when we discuss transitioning to SIP, we insinuate that the SMB or enterprise must go out and purchase an IP PBX or make drastic changes to their networking infrastructure. This is not necessary and in many cases would be the wrong thing to do. The transition can be done using a media gateway that preserves or extends the TDM based investment. AudioCodes refers to this as "Come as You Are". We even highlighted this message in an IP Man episode "SIP Trunking as You Are" where IP Man and Metoo save a distraught IT manager when he is at a loss in making the transition from TDM to IP communications. Using gateway technology can be the best way to address remote and branch offices allowing them to benefit from the new features associated with SIP and perhaps a new corporate IP PBX. This is a key risk mitigation approach.

The Broadvox message during the session was mostly on voice quality. I noted that while I have attacked the FUD put forth by some of the ILECs and CLECs regarding IP based voice quality and Bring Your Own Broadband (BYOB) strategies, I have neglected to share with you the study done on the subject. Broadvox is a BYOB ITSP because it has been shown that a proper broadband connection with minimal latency delivers exceptional voice quality. The G.711 codec Mean Opinion Score (MOS) is 4.4 on a scale where 5.0 is perfect. That compares with the same score, 4.4, for a toll call over a TDM network and 3.8 for a wireless or cellular network call. Interestingly even the use of compression with a G.729a codec does not marginalize the voice quality. That MOS score was an impressive 4.2.

You are probably wondering how a MOS score is established. I'll go over that on Friday.

Thanks to those of you that noticed I forgot to create the link to Monday's recipe. It has been corrected. You can now make Roasted Brussels Sprouts with my white seasoning mixture. Enjoy!

I had hoped to have similar reviews of the SIP Trunking offerings between AT&T and Verizon. However, it is not possible without a phone call to Verizon. I didn't have time to do that so I'll go with what I got.

Verizon is clearly not serious about a SIP Trunking offering. They provide some technical and reassuring information on their website but no pricing, equipment or installation details. This is not good, as most of us know that an SMB in particular does not want to waste time sitting in a queue to speak with a sales representative. Moreover, I had hoped one of the Verizon partners might have posted the pricing but again, I could not find anything. The summary of their offering is similar to everyone else, including Broadvox. They offer unlimited local calling, discounted long distance, directory listing, E911, etc.

One unique statement was that they would provide SIP over another ISP's DIA (Dedicated Internet Access). This was interesting because AT&T, Cbeyond and others do not offer SIP unless the customer utilizes their broadband. I would have never suspected that Verizon was a BYOB IP carrier, Bring Your Own Broadband.

Being a BYOB carrier will be the wave of the future as broadband connection quality continues to improve. A direct connection is not necessary to offer a quality SIP Trunking product and as peering agreements expand in the IP community, consistent quality levels will be noted as well.  Additionally, it just makes business sense to avoid forcing a customer cancel existing agreements thereby facing potential early termination fees.

For the record, if a customer or VAR is interested in knowing our product pricing they can download the information for GO!Local, GO!Anywhere, or GO!Domestic directly from our website. Of course, that means competitors can do so as well. But, isn't that also the point. Voice communications has been a commodity for quite some time. We make no attempt to differentiate our VoIP/SIP Trunking product offering from other ITSPs based upon price. Our value proposition is our private network, SIP engineering experience and support organization.

Today, SIP Trunking is still the purview of the smaller ITSPs like Broadvox. We openly communicate and compete for this growing business. We keep an eye on companies like Comcast and Vonage and are guarded in our comments regarding their efforts. However, we still wait for the sleeping giants to awaken and enter the market with gusto. Then things will get very interesting. In the meantime, check out SIP Trunk.org for the serious players today.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the Super Bowl and great eats!