There is a relatively new technology that can be used to bring phone calls into a business phone system that gives lower monthly costs and a better level of reliability. It is named a Cisco SIP trunk, and it is worth evaluating ways it can benefit your organization. The one thing you need to know is that your organization has to be using a VoIP phone system in order to gain all the benefits, however, in many cases the monthly cost savings from converting to a Cisco SIP trunk with a Cisco VoIP telephone system can fund the upgrade to a Voice over IP phone system!
Most businesses that have more than sixty phone users have a type of business phone system called a Private Branch eXchange, or PBX. This system allows users to call each other quickly, and to share the circuits that are provided by the phone company for outside calls. The circuit that connects the organization to the telephone company is most often a type of voice T1 called an ISDN PRI, which can have 23 concurrent calls on it, and costs typically $600/month. A T1 can also be used for other reasons, including providing data connections in the form of Internet or a private Wide Area Network such as MPLS. Because all business locations require voice service as well as data service, most typically have multiple T1 connections coming into each of their sites. A Cisco phone system can work with traditional voice T1's as well as a SIP trunk, making the changeover very straightforward.
One of the best advantages of SIP trunking is cost savings. For example, a business that has 10 sites, each with a voice T1 and an Internet data T1, can reduce their costs enormously. An Internet T1 is about $600/month, whereas an MPLS T1 costs less at about $450/month. It is possible to reduce a $12,000/month voice and data circuit cost to about $7000/month by putting in place SIP trunking and an MPLS private network in place of voice T1's and Internet T1's. This provides $5000 extra every month that can be used to fund the purchase of equipment and installation services for a VoIP telephone system. If the telephone system is financed over a 3 year period, that provides a total budget of about $180,000 for a new phone system.
There are also savings from circuit consolidation. SIP trunking is often used to consolidate extra circuit channels from the phone company. With traditional voice T1 circuits, If a location requires that more than 23 concurrent calls be completed, a second T1 has to be added, bringing the total to 46 concurrent calls. The increased capacity is only useful for that location. It is very different with SIP trunking; in most cases the SIP trunk is priced for aggregate concurrent calls for the entire organization, which means utilization is higher and costs lower.
Another advantage of SIP trunking is reliability. The SIP trunk phone calls are sent over a data network to a Session Border Controller that can terminate the SIP call. It is over an IP connection. If the first SBC the call is sent to is not available, then a second and even third location can receive the call. That means if a remote office is not available due to power outage or disaster, the calls can still be sent to a person on the phone system who is reachable. This allows the business to continue to provide customer service to the caller and not merely give a busy signal, which is what the caller would get if the call was sent to a voice T1 terminated by a PBX that was turned off.
Just like any newer technology, there are many details that have to be taken care of in a SIP trunk deployment. When a SIP trunk upgrade is combined with a telephone system replacement, there are more details and possible issues. For most organizations, the cost savings, improved availability and enhanced productivity from a new telephone system make it a worthwhile conversion. SIP trunking combined with a Voice over IP phone system is something that should be on every business's future plans.
Most businesses that have more than sixty phone users have a type of business phone system called a Private Branch eXchange, or PBX. This system allows users to call each other quickly, and to share the circuits that are provided by the phone company for outside calls. The circuit that connects the organization to the telephone company is most often a type of voice T1 called an ISDN PRI, which can have 23 concurrent calls on it, and costs typically $600/month. A T1 can also be used for other reasons, including providing data connections in the form of Internet or a private Wide Area Network such as MPLS. Because all business locations require voice service as well as data service, most typically have multiple T1 connections coming into each of their sites. A Cisco phone system can work with traditional voice T1's as well as a SIP trunk, making the changeover very straightforward.
One of the best advantages of SIP trunking is cost savings. For example, a business that has 10 sites, each with a voice T1 and an Internet data T1, can reduce their costs enormously. An Internet T1 is about $600/month, whereas an MPLS T1 costs less at about $450/month. It is possible to reduce a $12,000/month voice and data circuit cost to about $7000/month by putting in place SIP trunking and an MPLS private network in place of voice T1's and Internet T1's. This provides $5000 extra every month that can be used to fund the purchase of equipment and installation services for a VoIP telephone system. If the telephone system is financed over a 3 year period, that provides a total budget of about $180,000 for a new phone system.
There are also savings from circuit consolidation. SIP trunking is often used to consolidate extra circuit channels from the phone company. With traditional voice T1 circuits, If a location requires that more than 23 concurrent calls be completed, a second T1 has to be added, bringing the total to 46 concurrent calls. The increased capacity is only useful for that location. It is very different with SIP trunking; in most cases the SIP trunk is priced for aggregate concurrent calls for the entire organization, which means utilization is higher and costs lower.
Another advantage of SIP trunking is reliability. The SIP trunk phone calls are sent over a data network to a Session Border Controller that can terminate the SIP call. It is over an IP connection. If the first SBC the call is sent to is not available, then a second and even third location can receive the call. That means if a remote office is not available due to power outage or disaster, the calls can still be sent to a person on the phone system who is reachable. This allows the business to continue to provide customer service to the caller and not merely give a busy signal, which is what the caller would get if the call was sent to a voice T1 terminated by a PBX that was turned off.
Just like any newer technology, there are many details that have to be taken care of in a SIP trunk deployment. When a SIP trunk upgrade is combined with a telephone system replacement, there are more details and possible issues. For most organizations, the cost savings, improved availability and enhanced productivity from a new telephone system make it a worthwhile conversion. SIP trunking combined with a Voice over IP phone system is something that should be on every business's future plans.
About the Author:
This is a great video from Adcap's successful seminar series about the Cisco SIP trunk, and here is a link to an article about planning a Cisco phone system upgrade.
