Session Border Controller Featured Article

January 30, 2013


Session Border Controllers in the Enterprise


By Rachel Ramsey
TMCnet Web Editor

Enterprise solutions sessions are under way at ITEXPO Miami, kicking off with a panel discussion about enterprise session border controllers (ESBC). Jeff Dworkin, director of marketing at Sangoma, Alan Percy (News - Alert), senior director of Strategic Marketing for AudioCodes, Rob Popovic, director of Enterprise Marketing at Acme Packet, David Tipping, vice president and general manager of Sonus Networks (News - Alert) and Dave Martin, vice president marketing at Edgewater Networks, joined together for the session titled, “Why Your Enterprise Network Needs an SBC” to discuss the pros, cons, challenges, deployment options and differentiators between SBCs in the enterprise market.


Moderated by Marc Robins (News - Alert), managing director of SIP Forum, the panel discussed where SBCs fit into an enterprise network. SBCs provide a transition to the migration from legacy TDM systems to SIP, offers security and acts as a disruptive technology to help the revolution to an all-IP world. Today, everything is offered as a service. SBCs become a platform that enables these services, enabling media services, interoperability and security services.

According to Percy, the discussion of a SBC comes up either right at the beginning, when organizations are creating pieces to build the network, or at the very last minute, when they can’t figure out how to get different pieces to work, they haven’t budgeted for a SBC and it has to act as an “ambulance” to integrate into the network. It’s a problem that Percy sees all the time and is one of the main reasons he wanted to participate in this session; to educate the market. Implemented early, Percy said, SBCs can be your best friend.

Comparing SBCs in the service provider market and the enterprise market, Tipping says the difference is a need for redundancy and high availability in enterprise markets. Eighty-five percent of enterprises need assistance in the ability to transition to IP. Martin adds that there is a general lack of awareness about SBCs in the enterprise because of decades of PSTN. Organizations don’t think about the phone in a security context, and that mindset needs to change. ESBC is really critical for that.

Popovic explains that when it comes to thinking about trends, such as BYOD and the cloud, SBC is relevant to help solve challenges they bring. Dworkin said it’s the difference between having a system go down and having the option to fix it or having someone attack the system and not finding out until the bill comes in at the end of the month. SBC is a next-generation technology that first and foremost acts as a border element.

This session was the first of many in the enterprise track of programs at ITEXPO (News - Alert) Miami, a communications and technology event that brings together IT professionals for a conference full of panel discussions, keynote speakers, networking opportunities, workshops and exhibitions. To view the entire conference program, click here.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, happening now in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO.Follow us on Twitter.




Edited by Brooke Neuman

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