Session Border Controller Featured Article

December 03, 2012


The Role of Session Border Controllers in Multi-Vendor Communication Environments, Part 2


By Rich Steeves
TMCnet Web Editor

Sometimes, products are simply and accurately named. Rice Krispies are, indeed, crispy and made of rice. Superman is, of course, a man that is super. And session border controllers are properly named because they do, in fact, control sessions from end to end, providing interoperability. That is a key function of a session border controller, as discussed in part one of this series. But there is a lot more to the role of the SBC in a multi-vendor communications environment.


First, says industry expert Peter Bernstein, there are three mission-critical functions that businesses need in order to stay up-to-date with their telecommunications. They need unified communications for collaboration and business processes, presence (knowing the status of the people with whom you wish to communicate) and, of course, VoIP. Session border controllers play a key role in all of these.

Bernstein points out that existing PBXs have never been older than they are now, and companies are going to face huge investments in telecommunications to upgrade past systems that were not built for the Internet age. These business need to bring legacy systems into the modern age. To do this, they need SIP, and to get the most out of SIP, they need SBCs.

There are several pain points that come up with these deployments, according to Bernstein. In order to be competitive, flexible and agile, companies need to move to an all-IP format. But getting there in a cost-effective and efficient manner is difficult, though session border controllers help build bridges to the future. They take the bumps out of heterogeneous networking, where proprietary solutions don’t play together nicely. The SBCs allow for interoperability and let businesses add functionality and get the most out of their SIP trunks.

Want to learn more about SIP Trunking and how to integrate it into your current UC strategy? Don’t miss the SIP Trunking- UC Seminars collocated with ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.




Edited by Brooke Neuman

Solution Corner

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Sonus now brings session border controller (SBC) SIP communication capability to the enterprise branch and small and medium businesses. To further address deployment needs Sonus has also enabled branch survivability, Microsoft Lync primary / back-up server, and integrated analog ports all within the ... Learn More »

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