SIP trunking gaining on T1 lines: Survey

BOSTON, USA: Although many organizations have deployed VoIP on their premises, they still use legacy technologies to connect to the PSTN, with T1 lines the most commonly used trunking service today through 2012, says market research firm Infonetics Research.

The firm released excerpts from 'SIP Trunking Deployment Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey', a part of its Continuous Research Service series of analyst notes and surveys on the enterprise VoIP and unified communications market.

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Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst, enterprise voice and data, Infonetics Research, said: “There is a perception in the market place that SIP trunking is all about cost savings, and to a certain degree that’s true: SIP trunking allows organizations to build a more efficient trunking infrastructure, thus lowering their monthly telecom expenditures."

However, SIP trunk use is growing, and by 2012 will be the second most commonly deployed trunking service.

"But service providers should take note that when it comes to selecting a SIP trunking service provider, the most important criterion is reliability, not cost,” notes Machowinski.

Topping the list of reasons to deploy SIP trunking are the ability to centralize applications, enabling multimedia communication, and easier management/flexibility.

Cisco leads the list of installed PBX manufacturers by a wide margin, followed by Avaya
AT&T and Verizon are used most often as providers of SIP trunking services by survey respondents.

Enterprise SBS market up 53pc in 2009
In an another survey report Infonetics Research finds that the average revenue per enterprise session border controller (SBC) session increased in 2009, but is still considerably lower than that of traditional VoIP-TDM gateways, which is part of the allure for businesses to forego traditional gateways in favor of SBCs.

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Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research, said: “The enterprise session border controller market grew more than 50 percent in 2009 over 2008, in stark contrast to the 22 percent decline in the PBX market."

Worldwide enterprise SBC revenue is forecast to grow at a 44 percent compound annual growth rate from 2009 to 2014. Acme Packet and Cisco lead the enterprise session border controller market

"The enterprise SBC segment bucked the negative spending environment due to three trends: adoption of SIP trunking services, which are growing at a fast clip; trunking centralization projects undertaken by large companies; and the need to interconnect incompatible VoIP gear, a side effect of strong M&A activity," adds Machowinski.

The enterprise SBC market is strongest in North America, where SIP trunking adoption is higher and there are larger companies, which are best suited for centralized trunking, the report adds.

"SBCs are the next generation of border elements, and as such will see strong growth over the coming years,” predicts Machowinski.