Consider SIP Protocol for Voice Communications
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is the communications protocol for person-to-person voice traffic over the Internet. Its defining specifications come from the SIP working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force. SIP provides 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 expanded to handle IP telephony in conjunction with video and instant messaging. Forthcoming enhancements will allow SIP applications like video conference calls, application sharing, home monitoring, and interactive gaming for businesses in Rustburg.
Producers of SIP hardware are rapidly creating innovative hardware and software to get the upper hand in this new Internet communications scheme. SIP telephones, PC client applications, SIP servers, routers, and firewalls are now available from companies such as Ingate Systems and Cisco.
Prior to installing a SIP plan in your business, you should take into account the proper configuration of your corporate firewall to support SIP. Many of the typical firewalls already deployed in business offices are not designed to allow the SIP protocol. First, SIP media streams are transmitted over dynamically assigned UDP ports that are normally blocked on firewalls. Second, SIP clients within a firewall can not be accessed using IP addresses because these addresses are local and unique to the LAN. Third, you need to ensure that either your T1 line broadband provider or Metro fiber provider is able to handle the SIP protocol from your internal network to the outside world. Your IT administrator will need to evaluate how to appropriately support SIP to get around these technical challenges. By including a SIP proxy and registrar for controlling the firewall, it is possible to handle complex SIP scenarios for reliable and private communications.
