Why You Need SIP Protocol for Voice Over IP
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is the communications protocol for person-to-person voice data over the Web. Its defining specifications come from the SIP working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force. SIP gives access to the public switched telephone network for voice data at 3 kHz bandwidth and common number dialing using Voice over IP (VoIP). It can also be extended to deal with IP telephony in conjunction with video and instant messaging. Forthcoming improvements will allow SIP applications like video conference calls, application sharing, home monitoring, and interactive gaming for companies in Oaks.
SIP is in most cases thought of as a means to implement the operation of standard telephony over an IP network. It is replacing the older, less flexible protocols used in the past such as H.323 and MGCP. These older protocols performed at a very low level to link IP phones to the public telephone system. SIP, however, provides a sophisticated and straightforward way to network the enterprise. For example, SIP uses email addresses as the SIP address in place of a telephone number over the standard phone network.
Prior to installing a SIP plan in your organization, you should think about the proper settings of your corporate firewall to accept SIP. Many of the typical firewalls currently installed in business offices are not developed to allow the SIP protocol. First, SIP media streams are transmitted over dynamically assigned UDP ports that are normally closed on firewalls. Second, SIP clients within a firewall can not be accessed using IP addresses since these addresses are local and unique to the LAN. Third, you need to ensure that either your T1 line broadband provider or Ethernet fiber carrier is able to handle the SIP protocol from your internal network to the outside world. Your IT administrator will need to ascertain how to properly support SIP to get around these technical challenges. By including a SIP proxy and registrar for controlling the firewall, it is possible to handle complicated SIP scenarios for reliable and confidential communications.
