According to a recent “Heavy Reading” report, SIP trunking is gaining a lot of momentum in the enterprise space as a viable alternative to legacy telecom services. According to the research, growth is expected to go from 8.5 million SIP trunks deployed in 2009, to 24.3 million SIP trunks in 2013.
Much of the new uptake will be from small to midsize businesses. According to the Heavy Reading report, SIP trunks provide 50 to 70 percent cost savings per trunk compared to TDM (time division multiplexing) circuits—a savings that can’t be ignored, especially in an increasingly competitive environment and a struggling economy. The SIP trunk growth will make up a major portion of overall VoIP growth.
The report points out that some enterprises use VoIP only for communicating within the enterprise—that is, for interoffice calls or for connecting branch offices. And while this is certainly a good and appropriate use for VoIP, it’s not the only use, by any means. The increasing adoption of SIP trunking means that enterprises are more accepting of the idea of using VoIP not just for inter-branch communications, but also for all calls—and as a full replacement for the traditional PSTN.
Smaller businesses especially can benefit from SIP trunking because of the immediate cost advantages. There’s no need for gateways and additional line cards, and no need to invest in costly PRI subscriptions—allowing small business users to make more size-appropriate buys without having to purchase lines they won’t need.
