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Voice over IP
Internet and telecommunications
service provider Spitfire has been
working with 3CX, developer of the
3CXWindows VoIP Phone System, for
three years.
During this time, Voice over IP (VoIP)
– routing voice traffic over converged
IP networks instead of dedicated voice
networks – has become an increasingly
attractive and viable proposition for small
and medium-sized businesses, particularly
when bundled with a software-based PBX
like 3CX.
Better connectivity, faster broadband
speeds, quality of service guarantees and
industry adoption of the Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP) standard for VoIP have
helped bring it into the mainstream. At
the same time, businesses have become
more aware of the many advantages
of broadband-based SIP trunks as an
alternative to ISDN lines.
Steve Corrigan, 3CX Channel Manager
for the UK & Ireland, adds that the
economic climate has made businesses
more open to new ideas.
“There are fewer objections to a SIP-
based system than there were several
years ago. Two to three years ago, people
would spend more than they had to on
an established brand because it made
them feel safe and comfortable. Given
the economic situation today, people
are more happy to take a perceived risk
and this will continue for several years to
come,” he said.
Today, instead of having a phone
system on the wall and ISDN lines running
into the building, many more start-ups
and SMEs are choosing a software-
based PBX, such as 3CX (see box),
communicating with the outside world
over SIP trunks.
Even businesses with an existing
investment in phone systems and ISDN
lines will often run SIP trunks in parallel,
using the latter for outbound calls and
ISDN for incoming ones. This gives some
of the advantages of VoIP, such as lower
cost call charges, and a migration path to
a fully converged VoIP phone system.
SIP benefits
So what are the main benefits of VoIP
and SIP? According to Steve Corrigan and
Nick Goodenough, Spitfire Technology
Group partner service manager, they
Business Info
recently met up with 3CX and Spitfire to find out
about Voice over IP and the enormous benefits it offers small
and medium-sized businesses
Calling time on ISDN
include ease of deployment, improved
resiliency, greater flexibility and reduced
call charges.
n
Ease of deployment:
As anyone
who has ordered ISDN lines from BT
can attest, it is a slow and frustrating
process. Nick Goodenough points out
that this is especially so for businesses
that move office and want to keep an
existing number. “When a customer
moves exchange area they can keep
their number with SIP. But with
ISDN they can’t unless they pay
about £20,000 for Out of Area
Numbering,” he said.
He adds that SIP allows
customers to choose any area code
they want and service providers
to allocate numbers before they
are activated. “If a company is
setting up a new store in High
Wycombe, for example, it can start
publicising the number right away.
With traditional telephony, until
the phone line is installed there is
no guarantee what number you
will get. But with SIP you get a
guaranteed number.”
n
Flexibility:
Because SIP trunks
are delivered over broadband rather
than designated ISDN lines, the number
of trunks can be increased or reduced
the same day, as long as the customer
has sufficient broadband capacity. This
flexibility has implications for disaster
recovery, too (see below).
n
Resiliency:
In the event of a disaster,
SIP trunks can easily be re-routed
to another location with broadband
access so that a business can continue
to communicate with customers. Even
one that has a traditional telecoms
infrastructure might choose to install SIP
trunks and a PBX gateway for back-up
purposes.
n
Extra Functionality:
The combination
of SIP trunks and an IP phone system
provides additional functionality that can
enhance business communications, such
as Presence, showing the availability of
colleagues and how they would prefer to
be contacted; the ability automatically
to divert calls to another number (e.g. a
mobile or recovery site); and simultaneous
ringing of a number of devices (e.g. office
and home phone) so that you can pick up
in either location.
n
Reduced Costs:
SIP trunking providers
typically offer lower call charges to
external contacts and no charges for
calls that stay ‘on net’ and don’t break
out onto the PSTN, such as calls made
(or transferred) between HQ, other
company sites and remote workers.
Cost savings are even greater if you
choose aWindows-based PBX like 3CX
(see box on next page).
Working together
SIP trunks can theoretically be used
with any phone system, via a direct
connection if the system is SIP-
Spitfire now offers a single dedicated
Ethernet service for all Internet and VoIP
requirements for less than £500 per
month. The package, which includes 30
SIP Trunks, 200 DDI numbers and a 10Mb
Ethernet circuit, could save customers
as much as 50% when compared to
alternatives such as ISDN30e and leased
line costs. Customers can port existing
phone numbers from BT and other
providers to Spitfire SIP Trunks and take on
telephone numbers from geographic areas
all over the UK. Spitfire’s Converged Voice
and Data Ethernet and SIP Trunk offering
comes with service level agreements
(SLAs) for voice, video and data
applications and built-in disaster recovery.
magazine
29
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