Use of SBCs for VoIP interconnection growing

BANGALORE, INDIA: Use of use of session border controllers (SBCs) for VoIP interconnection is growing, finds Infonetics Research in its 'SBC Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey'.

Diane Myers, directing analyst for service provider VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research, said: "Four of the most interesting findings in this year’s session border controller survey are that there’s growing interest in embedded SBCs, that SBCs are increasingly used to interconnect to other service providers, that fixed-mobile convergence and wireless access are solid growth prospects for new SBC deployments, and that service providers remain highly concerned about security breaches."

Also Read: SIP trunking gaining on T1 lines: Survey

"SBCs have become a critical element in next generation voice networks. They have evolved into traffic managers and policy engines, taking on more and more functionality," notes Myers.

The survey also finds that SIP trunking is the #1 SBC application currently used by service providers. Moreover, the #1 SBC application expected in 2012 is interconnection between service providers, a growing phenomenon as the world’s voice networks increasingly become all IP.

The fastest-growing applications for SBCs are fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) and wireless access, including 4G voice, mobile VoIP over 3G, and Rich Communication Suite (RCS).

Standalone dedicated SBCs continue to dominate deployments, but an increasing number of service providers are looking at deploying embedded SBCs in a range of network elements.

In response to an open-ended question, SBC market share leader Acme Packet was named by 95 percent of service providers as a "top SBC vendor".

Genband was also named a top SBC vendor, by about a third of respondent service providers.

When asked which SBC vendors they are evaluating for future SBC purchases, service providers overwhelmingly named Acme Packet, as well as emerging vendors with more of an embedded SBC product set, such as Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Juniper.