rotect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / conn

timize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communic

communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / ma
icate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / opti
/ protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / conn
timize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communic
White Paper
communicate
SIP Trunking for the Enterprise
/ manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / pro
And What it Can Do For You
anage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / con
An Informational Paper Authored by Steve Shepard
ptimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communic
communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / man
cate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / opti
otect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / con
ptimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communic
communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / pro
/ manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / prot
nage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / con
ptimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communic
communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / pro
anage / protect / optimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / con
ptimize / connect / communicate / manage / protect / optimize / connect / communic

www.xo.com c onne c t / c ommunic ate / ma nage / p rote c t / optimize

Sl
Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP

SIP Trunking for the Enterprise

And What Can it Do For You

Authored by: Table of Contents

Steve Shepard, President
Shepard Communications Group, LLC SIP Trunking for the Enterprise — How Did We Get Here? 1
Commissioned by XO Communications
What Exactly is SIP Trunking? 1

The Combination for Success — The New Age is Here 2

What is Enterprise SIP Trunking (ESIP)? 2

Key Advantages and Business Benefits of Enterprise SIP Trunking 5

Key Advantages 5

Business Benefits 5

Options When You Have a Private Network Already in Place 6

Added Business Continuity 6

Is an Enterprise SIP Trunking Solution Right for You? 6

Summary 7

Click here to learn more about XO Communications SIP Trunking.

To speak with an XO Communications SIP Trunking representative,

please call 1-888-718-7586

Solutions Built Around You.

Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP
“When SIP Trunking is
deployed in the network,
telephony becomes a Web
application. It integrates
seamlessly with other Internet
services, and the convergence
of voice and data including
video, audio and image
transfer becomes real.”
Connect / Communicate / Manage / Protect / Optimize 1
XO Communications
SIP Trunking for the Enterprise — How Did We Get Here?
Over the last ten years, telephony as a service has evolved. How it works, what it does, and
how it is used by both consumers and businesses has changed. The telephone network
was originally designed to transport voice calls, something it did well. Over time, the mar-
ket demanded much more. In response, and thanks to the signaling network known as SS7,
the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) was enhanced to deliver a broader array of
supplementary services.
Enter the debut of the Private Branch Exchange (PBX) which put more control into the hands
of the enterprise’s technical support personnel. The Internet and Internet Protocol (IP) became
accepted and pervasive. With the introduction of Voice over IP (VoIP), the cost and complexity
of operating the network declined (a boon to the service provider) and the range and richness
of services available to the customer increased.
The diversity of the telecommunications services demand profile forced a redefinition of the
network architecture by which services are delivered. Instead of delivering services from
deep within the core of the network, it became more efficient to move the point of delivery
out to the edge, particularly for enterprise companies. But because SS7 was designed as a
core-based protocol, it could not meet the new demands being placed on the network. A new
solution was required; that solution is the Session Initiation Protocol, commonly known as SIP
Trunking.
What Exactly is SIP Trunking?
Like SS7, SIP Trunking is a signaling protocol designed to set up communication sessions in
a network, but this time, in an IP network. These sessions include everything from a simple
phone call to a multi-location, multimedia conference.
Because SIP Trunking was designed to support a wide array of service types, new and inno-
vative capabilities become possible such as Web page click-to-call, Instant Messaging with
incorporated buddy list access, and IP PBX support.
SIP Trunking is a simple, command-response protocol that is operationally similar to the
protocol that governs the functionality of the Web: HTTP. When SIP Trunking is deployed
in the network, telephony becomes a Web application. It integrates seamlessly with other
Internet services, and the convergence of voice and data including video, audio and image
transfer becomes real.
SIP Trunking has become the basis for the next-generation network. It undoubtedly will be
deployed by all service providers, from traditional wireline players, to mobile providers, to
cable companies offering VoIP, to ISPs.
SIP Trunking facilitates the delivery of everything from traditional voice services to a host
of capabilities such as convergence, IMS, femtocell deployment, online gaming, voice and
video conferencing, among many others. And SIP Trunking is an internationally recognized
standard (a subset of the IP protocol suite), meaning that interoperability is a non-issue.
SIP Trunking for the Enterprise
“In addition to hosted
unified communications,
SIP Trunking and its
offspring like XO Enterprise
SIP Trunking will be the
transport with which unified
communications is carried.”
~ Rebecca Swensen, IDC
2 Solutions Built Around You.
Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP
The Combination for Success — The New Age is Here
The flexibility and richness of IP is combined with the highly customizable nature
of the PBX, creating the IP-PBX. The result is extraordinary.
Now we have technology emerging with the power to redefine the way businesses
communicate. The flexibility and richness of IP, the power and control of the
PBX, and the breadth that SIP Trunking brings to the table shine a bright light for Enterprise
businesses. Enterprise SIP Trunking is the optimal result.
What is Enterprise SIP Trunking (ESIP)?
Network gurus for multi-location businesses know the process of interconnecting the
branches to facilitate effective site-to-site communications is complicated, expensive and
time-consuming.
In many cases companies rely on several service providers to provide full connectivity across
their entire enterprise geography. As service demands change, when more bandwidth is
required to a particular site, for example – the modifications required to make that happen
can be costly in terms of both money and time. To further complicate matters, many multi-
location businesses have grown through acquisitions and mergers, resulting in an inherited
mix of on-premise equipment types and local services. This collage of premise configura-
tions makes seamless site to site communications and a unified customer experience next to
impossible. The solution? Enterprise SIP Trunking.
Enterprise SIP Trunking is a powerful new solution designed for multi-location businesses
that enables the business to serve its distributed branches with telephone service through
one or a handful of centralized PBXs. It can provide centralized trunking and eliminate the
need for PRIs or business lines at each location.
Enterprise SIP Trunking also enables the business to carry all voice and data over its private
Wide Area Network (WAN), resulting in more efficient use of the network. It does all of this
with built-in load-sharing capabilities to provide bandwidth where and when it’s needed to
fully satisfy demand. Some SIP Trunking for the Enterprise services also provide bursting
capabilities to accommodate seasonal demands or catastrophic network events.
Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP XO Communications

Before Enterprise SIP Trunking, it has been common for a multi-location business to have a
telecom infrastructure similar to the network illustrated in Figure 1.

Because of the company’s many locations, it was often necessary to engage multiple service
providers to ensure connectivity between each location’s PBX and the Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN). In most cases, these connections were either ISDN PRI
connections or IP trunks.

Figure 1: Typical SIP

Trunking Configuration before
an Enterprise SIP Trunking
deployment.
Branch 2

Provider
2 Branch 4
Branch 1 Branch 3
Provider
ILEC Provider
1
Provider
3 4
#1

PRI DIA #1
+
+ +
+
+

Provider
Headquarters 5
Provider Provider
8
7
DIA #2 Provider
6

ILEC
#2
+

PRI + +
+
+ Branch 5
Regional Office
Branch 6
Branch 8
Branch 7

Connect / Communicate / Manage / Protect / Optimize 3

SIP Trunking for the Enterprise Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP

With the arrival of Enterprise SIP Trunking, things change.

Instead of connections to each branch and through multiple carriers, it is now possible to
provide an increased level of connectivity, with added redundancy – by consolidating those
connections through a small number of locations and with a single carrier, while saving costs
and streamlining telecom operations, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Simplified
connectivity following the
introduction of an Enterprise
SIP Trunking deployment.

MPLS IP-VPN Network

Branch 2
Branch 1 Branch 3

Branch 4
Headquarters

Failover XO Communications

Branch 5
Regional Office

Branch 8 Branch 6
Branch 7

4 Solutions Built Around You.

Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP
“Not only does Enterprise SIP
Trunking eliminate the need
to buy and manage lines for
each and every location, it
also streamlines the operation
of the telecommunications
infrastructure using a
centralized PBX, rather than
managing multiple, disparate
systems at the premise.”
Connect / Communicate / Manage / Protect / Optimize 5
XO Communications
Key Advantages and Business Benefits of Enterprise SIP Trunking
Not only does Enterprise SIP Trunking eliminate the need to buy and manage lines for each
and every location, it also streamlines the operation of the telecommunications infrastructure
using a centralized PBX, rather than managing multiple, disparate systems at the premise.
Key Advantages:
• Lower operating costs through centralizing communications facilities
• Reduce location equipment needs and connectivity requirements
• Enable flexible redundancy
• Allow bursting: capacity can be shared seamlessly and fluidly across the entire enterprise
when needed
• Use existing WAN for voice communications, resulting in more dynamic and efficient network
resource utilization
Business Benefits
A primary and most important benefit that comes from Enterprise SIP Trunking is the
degree of control that a customer enjoys, and the flexibility that it makes possible.
1. Consolidating voice and data over a single, converged IP network greatly reduces the cost and
complexity of administration and management. Fundamentally, costs are reduced as the capacity
required for voice and data sessions is shared across the entire network.
2. Centralizing the PBX equipment in one or a few sites results in capital savings, greater control over site
to site calling, and a unified customer experience. The headache of trying to control communications
across a myriad of premise configurations is gone, leaving only a router and phones at the premise.
3. Enterprise SIP Trunking allows for the consolidation of local and long distance inbound and out-
bound calling across the entire enterprise, regardless of the calling and called parties’ physical
locations.
4. Enterprise SIP Trunking makes bandwidth management easy. By allowing for instantaneously
available bandwidth on a demand basis, inbound and outbound calls always have adequate
resources available to them.
5. And finally, Enterprise SIP Trunking allows for traffic prioritization: Voice can always be assigned
the highest priority among the various traffic types using the connection, thus guaranteeing
assured quality-of-service (QoS).
Of course these provide just a taste of benefits apparent to a business with
Enterprise SIP Trunking.
SIP Trunking for the Enterprise Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP

Options When You Have a Private Network Already in Place

In many cases, companies have already invested in their own private networks, typically
MPLS IP VPNs, but sometimes Private Lines or even Dedicated Internet Access. Enterprise
SIP Trunking allows a company to take advantage of that investment by overlaying voice
calling on the existing network, further stretching the investment made. For example, XO even
allows SIP Trunking to be used with another carriers data network. Those same companies
may have also invested in VoIP as part of their evolution and now Enterprise SIP Trunking
allows them to take advantage of those investments through seamless integration of those
assets into the mix. And because the enterprise most likely has its own highly-skilled IT
department with deep knowledge of network and system performance, discrete control of
network availability and service performance can be conducted in-house. This results in
differentiable quality-of-service and assured business-class call quality across the enterprise.

Added Business Continuity

Network Survivability is critical to most companies, and because Enterprise SIP Trunking
relies on IP, a broad array of business continuity options become possible. These options
are much more difficult – and expensive – to deliver over the legacy switched network. If one
route becomes unusable or excessively congested, Enterprise SIP Trunking re-routes the
connection across an alternate route, with no change in quality of service.

Finally, because the service can be delivered by a single provider, far more flexible pricing is
available due to the consolidation of resources. The power accrues to the customer. It doesn’t
get much better than that.

Want to know how much Is an Enterprise SIP Trunking Solution Right for You?
you can save? Use our eSIP
Savings Estimator. So how do you know whether Enterprise SIP Trunking is an optimal solution for your
business? Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you have more than five operating locations?

2. Does the geographically-dispersed nature of your company have you
using more than one carrier for your telecommunications needs?
3. Do you have inadequate leverage with your carriers?
4. Are you spending too much for long-distance connections and voice calling?
5. Are you spending too much capital on media gateways and PBX
network connections?
6. Are you uncomfortable with the level of survivability available in your network?
7. Could you get more value out of your IP-PBX installation?

If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions, then your business may be a viable
candidate for an Enterprise SIP Trunking solution.

The cost savings, added functionality and survivability alone make it a technology
progression that is worth serious consideration.

6 Solutions Built Around You.

Click here to download or use this link: http://bit.ly/eSIPWP

Summary
1. Eliminate the need to purchase and manage multiple business lines from distinct service providers.

2. Consolidate local and long distance services and helps to accelerate the transition to VoIP less a
significant up-front investment.

3. Offer a high capacity connection to primary locations that in turn connect

to your private network, as required, to serve additional branches.

4. Take advantage of service delivered by a single provider, with far more flexible pricing due to the
consolidation of resources. The power accrues to you; the customer – it doesn’t get much
better than that.

About Steve Shepard

Dr. Steven Shepard, Ph.D. is president of the Shepard Communications Group. A professional writer, educator
and industry analyst with more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry, Dr. Shepard specializes
in international telecommunications issues, the social implications of technological incursion and the analysis of
financial issues related to technology-dependent businesses. He is the author of 45 books on a wide variety of
topics and regularly speaks to audiences throughout the world, and has clients in more than 50 countries.

Mr. Shepard can be reached at Steve@ShepardComm.com.

About XO® Enterprise SIP

XO Communications has geographically-dispersed locations. With over

expertise in enterprise
networking, particularly with
next-generation network
architectures, and makes for
a powerful partner for your enterprise connectivity
needs. The XO® Enterprise SIP Trunking solution
provides a complete, end-to-end option for organiza-
tions with the challenge of interconnecting multiple
nine years’ experience in owning and operating a
VoIP-based solution, XO carries over 25 Billion VoIP
minutes annually and serves over 25,000 businesses
with VOIP services. In addition to providing inte-
grated voice and data services to businesses and
enterprises, XO also powers many other telecom
providers’ VoIP infrastructure with high volume VoIP
Origination and Termination services.

Click here to learn more about XO Communications SIP Trunking.

To speak with an XO Communications SIP Trunking representative,

please call 1-888-718-7586

© Copyright 2010. XO Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. 7

XO, the XO design logo, and all related marks are registered trademarks of XO Communications, LLC.