SIP Forum Announces Ratification of Version 1.0 of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation

The SIP Forum today announced at the Internet Telephony (News - Alert) & Conference Expo that it has ratified version 1.0 of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation with the unanimous approval of the SIP Forum (News - Alert) Board of Directors.

The SIPconnect Technical Recommendation v.1.0, an important initiative of the SIP Forum, is a standards-based approach to direct IP peering between SIP-enabled IP PBXs and VoIP service provider networks, and specifies a reference architecture, required protocols and features and implementation rules necessary for seamless interconnection between IP PBXs and VoIP service providers.

As SIPconnect was designed to directly tie enterprise customers to VoIP service providers using an end-to-end IP connection, it eliminates the need for a VoIP gateway, improves voice quality and creates a stable foundation for personalized applications and rich media services, according to Richard Shockey (News - Alert), Technical Working Group Chair of the SIP Forum.

"I want to thank all of the participants in the SIPconnect Task Group for their selfless efforts and valuable time necessary to reach consensus and complete the ratification process,” said Richard Shockey, Technical Working Group Chair of the SIP Forum. “This was truly an industry-wide effort that we can continue to build on."

The formal adoption by the SIP Forum Board of the SIPConnect 1.0 Technical Recommendation is based on recognition that the recommendation has been through credible peer review, including broad membership and significant community review, that it is stable and is well-understood, and that it is believed to have resolved known design choices, the group said.

Eric Burger (News - Alert), Chairman of the Board of the SIP Forum, said: “You can expect more work like this from the SIP Forum as we continue to grow our community and revitalize our Technical Working Group to tackle additional interoperability issues."

The SIPconnect Technical Recommendation has recently had a number of independent implementations, as witnessed by the rapid adoption of the SIPconnect Compliant Program. The SIPconnect Compliant Program offers equipment manufacturers, software providers and service providers the means to attain SIPconnect Certification by the SIP Forum, as well as enjoy the use of a unique certification mark created by the Forum to ensure interoperability among IP communications equipment, software and services.

The SIPconnect Compliant logo serves as the “Seal of Compatibility” for companies that have agreed to abide by the terms of the licensing agreement, and is permitted only on compliant equipment and services that has been rigorously reviewed by the SIP Forum SIPconnect Compliant committee. Several industry leaders and SIP Forum members have recently been awarded the SIPconnect Compliant mark, including Acme Packet (News - Alert), Avaya, BroadSoft, Cbeyond, Digium, Ingate Systems and McLeodUSA.

Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.