What is SIP Trunking? Part 2 – How do SIP-based trunks work?

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Netcelerate

SIP trunking is an alternative way of connecting on premise customer equipment (such as PBX, communication gateway, etc.) to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or telephone network in short.

SIP trunks differ from the traditional network by leveraging internet protocols to create a flexible and cost effective highway between a customer’s PBX and the global telephony network without the need for new infrastructure. SIP trunking is built based on widely accepted Internet Protocol (IP) technology and utilizes Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to control connection management.

As an IP based solution, SIP trunking benefits from the underlying technology, existing IP infrastructure and cost models. It offers:

Easy and flawless integration with other IP/SIP based applications.
Simplification of deployment and management of solution.
Rich set of new capabilities and features (Instant Messaging, Multimedia Conferencing, Presence info, etc.); high redundancy, high availability and location independence (often called disappearance of distance).
Lower cost of voice transport.

Switching to a SIP network allows for the deliverance of many features between the on-site PBX and the telephony network. You are no longer limited to the infrastructure you have on-site.

As the SIP trunk provides an alternative connection of customer’s PBX to the PSTN, it is totally transparent to end users, which continue to use their existing telephones and favorite business features they are so used to.

Understanding Hosted PBX

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Netcelerate

Outside of the IT world, terms like Hosted PBX are still a mystery to many small business owners. More easily understood are applications like Skype, and even the term VoIP. To understand how VoIP plays a role in business telephone systems, we’ll be exploring the basics of a Hosted PBX system, beginning with the meaning of a PBX.

What is a PBX?

PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange which is a piece of hardware (telephone box) that makes connections among the internal telephones of a business and connects them to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or public telephone network. This is done via trunk lines, otherwise known as phone lines. A PBX can incorporate multiple telephones, fax machines, modems and more, and the term extension is used to refer to any end point on the branch. Extensions are also commonly referred to as the 3 or 4 digit number associated with an individual telephone within the business phone system. For example, your telephone number might be 613-355-1234 extension 123. Depending on the configuration of your PBX, you can transfer phone calls between extensions and reach extensions individually through the Auto Attendant: the automated greeting played to callers when they first call in to your business.

The Hosted in Hosted PBX

A hosted PBX >> provides all of the same functions (and many more) as a PBX however the system is delivered as a service. This means you can eliminate the need to buy and install a physical PBX (phone box) since the hosted PBX is provided and managed by your service provider. Instead of buying a PBX, installing and configuring it, with a hosted PBX system you are only required to purchase telephones and have an internet connection. Not only will your business save money by eliminating the need to buy a PBX, but it’s estimated that yearly updates and repairs can cost between 10-20% per year of the original purchase price of the traditional PBX. With a hosted PBX system, updates are managed by the service provider without additional cost to the customer. This is only one of the ways in which the longevity of a hosted PBX system can benefit your business.

Longevity and Scalability

Any type of investment in telecommunications or IT can impact how you operate your business and can impact your business for years to come. A major benefit to a hosted PBX telephone system is its ability to grow with your business; meaning telephones and phone lines can quickly and cost effectively be added or removed from your system whenever you need them. To read more about the benefits of hosted PBX, read Why Companies are Switching to Hosted PBX >>

Website Evolution and its Impact on Business

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Netcelerate

The world’s first website turned 21 this month >> encouraging us to reflect on the internet as a whole and what it has meant for the business world.

The world’s first website was created by CERN physicist Tim Berners-Lee in the Swiss Alps. The site’s original purpose was to explain just what the internet was and explained how users could create their own websites. Berners-Lee continued on to develop a number of tools necessary for the functionality of the World Wide Web and are still used today: HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

Today, the indexed web contains at least 8.09 billion indexed pages and continues to grow.

World Wide Web Size >>

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Mobile Device Management

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Netcelerate

What is Mobile Device Management?
Mobile Device Management (MDM) software secures and manages a group of mobile devices that are deployed from a service provider. MDM functionality typically includes over-the-air distribution of applications, data and configuration settings for all types of mobile devices including mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, mobile point-of-sale units and mobile printers. Not only can MDM software manage a variety of types of mobile devices, but it can also manage devices from a variety of manufacturers such as Android, Apple, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows all from a single console. MDM can apply to both company-provided and employee-owned (also referred as BYOD) devices.
So, what exactly does Mobile Device Management do? Well, with MDM in place, you can quickly enrol devices in your enterprise environment, configure and update device settings, enforce security policies, secure mobile access to corporate resources and remotely lock and wipe managed devices.

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Cloud Computing and the Economy

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Netcelerate

According the Government of Canada >> , Canada’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector plays an important role in the Canadian economy; with over 31, 500 Canadian ICT firms, this growing sector contributes 5% to Canadian GDP.
Cloud computing continues to be an area of growth for Canada’s ICT sector. There are currently 2.4 million businesses operating in Canada. In a recent poll of over 700 business leaders for Microsoft >> only 29% of businesses say they have already deployed some type of cloud computing. This is a relatively slow adoption rate compared to the 75% of businesses in the U.S. who are either already using or considering using cloud computing.
At the small business level, business confidence in Canada continues to decline as the CFIB’s Business Barometer >> has reached 62.1 in July 2012, a 5.6 point drop from its peak in March 2012.

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