When it comes to building interoperable unified communications architectures, “SIP is it” as far as standards go. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) provides the “glue” that enables users to quickly initiate a voice, video, or web conference—all through a few clicks of a mouse.
Standardizing on SIP reduces integration complexity by creating a single communications protocol layer for all UC elements. Enterprise IT architects can simplify deployment and management by managing one suite of protocols rather than separate protocols for each type of UC application. IT managers also can take advantage of emerging SIP-based services for extranet connectivity to support communications and collaboration sessions across company or network boundaries.
But SIP’s strength as an open, flexible signaling protocol also brings interoperability challenges. The protocol’s developers envisioned it only as a signaling protocol—a way for one device to contact another, tell it what kind of session it wanted to establish (e.g., voice, video, etc.), establish the session, then tear the session down once the conversation was complete. SIP provides developers the flexibility to define the actual details of connectivity (e.g. media type, codecs, encryption schemes, priority, and so on).
This flexibility has led vendors to develop their own custom SIP-based implementation approaches—meaning compatibility challenges in multi-vendor environments. The Internet Engineering Taskforce (IETF) and the SIP Forum have worked, and are still working, to define many common SIP implementations (or primitives, as they’re called) to standardize common functions, such as call-waiting, three-way calling, message-waiting light indication, etc. But both groups still have work to do.
IT managers implementing SIP need to spend some time with their vendors to understand the capabilities and limitations of multi-vendor integration. They should look into what works and what doesn’t; mitigation strategies such as gateways or session border controllers; and the plans their vendors have to address interoperability issues. Finally, they need to work with their vendors to learn how to best integrate SIP-based applications into their existing environment, tying together the SIP and non-SIP worlds as seamlessly as possible.
IT architects should also follow efforts within the SIP Forum and IETF to define further interoperable primitives.
Johna leads the Nemertes team of analysts, who regularly benchmark organizational, technology, and business trends of all sizes of businesses.
The unique methodology includes detailed, structured conversations between Nemertes analysts and IT practitioners. From each conversation, Nemertes gathers about 200 data points, which are entered into SPSS, a statistical database. Analysts then conduct correlation analysis for all sizes of organizations, understanding the differences in technology adoption, spending, and priorities between SMBs and larger enterprises.
Analysts use that research data, combined with real-world experience and knowledge, to advise SMBs and enterprise organizations on their IT strategies with targeted service offerings specifically for each segment.
Finally, Johna and her team have spoken at hundreds of events where they interact with IT practitioners from all sizes of companies. These conversations also provide perspective on the unique challenges facing SMBs, as well as those facing enterprises.
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Overcoming SIP Challenges
How simplistic this post is! SIP is a major enabler for communications but if you are aiming to save money then look beyond the features and realise that for every £ you save you will spend double it in the integration time. So much out of an IT manager's control can influence the "workability" of SIP. Get ready for a bumpy ride and hope your users are patient...
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