Although SIP seems "new," it is actually based on many protocols widely used today across the Internet and in many enterprise applications. If you use web browsers, then you already depend on a protocol very similar to SIP, called HTTP (Hyper-Text Transport Protocol). SIP is modeled after HTTP and in fact uses much of its syntax and semantics. Both are text-encoded protocols that help promote interoperability and integration within an internet-centric architecture. In effect, SIP is to converged communications what HTTP is to information exchange for the World Wide Web - it makes the communications infrastructure transparent to end users and enables ready access to many modes of communication.
Through SIMPLE (SIP based Instant Messaging Presence Leveraging and Extensions), SIP provides key functions for presence and instant messaging. Presence lets users give a visual indication on the devices of peers of their status, their availability and how they can be contacted - before a communication session even begins. When integrated with telephony, a user now has a powerful efficiency enhancing feature that provides control over how others reach them by exploiting the capabilities of multiple devices such as IP Phones, mobile phones, softphones, pagers and wireless or Bluetooth devices.
Presence is not limited to a single user; it can also apply to a group of users (i.e. "Finance Group") or a device (i.e. "Phone Status = Off-Hook"). Presence information can also be leveraged across any form of communications.
Presence information can be accessed by both users and applications, providing the opportunity to create next-generation converged communication applications that deliver new capabilities such as "polite calling," and intelligent work agent applications that automate user schedule and communication tasks based on customised policy rules.
In today’s world there are many communication channels and devices to choose from, but with little or no integration between them, getting in touch is often a frustrating process. The result is often a guessing game for callers and a time-consuming burden of managing communication silos for those being called.
SIP helps transform the communications paradigm from a device -centric to a user-centric model. In this world all forms of communication can now become integrated as a single tool - how calls are handled, where they are routed and the type of communications allowed can all be controlled by the user.
Callers also benefit through presence by learning about the availability of the person they are trying to reach and how they wish to be contacted - before they reach out to that person. For example, when a user is on a phone within a voice network, their status ("on the phone") can be automatically updated and communicated to a central presence server. This presence information is then distributed to other users through the integrated telephony/IM contact list.
Instead of calling the user and getting a busy signal or transfer to voice-mail, the co-worker sees the user is on the phone and may instead check for when the user is "available" or send a polite instant message with a request for a return phone call. Presence helps re-establish the informal and spontaneous communications so critical to small workgroups, even if the workgroup is physically distributed, turning real-time communications into "right-time" communications that allow colleagues to reach the right person, at the right time, in the right place, using the right device.
In the near future, extended presence capabilities that take into account user location, combined with speech-enabled technologies, will enable intelligent virtual assistants that dynamically adjust communications access to and for the user based on their location, active or nearby devices and the user's rules and preferences for communication.
An example of a future application: A user adds a new contact through his personal profile manager and assigns a hot button to it, then rushes out of the office to a remote sales office. He then activates his mobile phone while on the road. The personal virtual assistant recognises this and downloads the user's profile into the phone, including the new contact and hot button. The user now simply hits the button to reach his new contact. During this time, the personal virtual assistant routes all calls to his mobile. While on the phone, the user gets to the sales office and walks into the door. The personal virtual assistant is updated to the user's presence in the office and reroutes the existing call to the company’s internal wireless network. The user heads into a conference room for a meeting and tells the virtual assistant via speech access to switch the call to the conference room phone. During the meeting, the personal virtual assistant automatically routes calls to voice mail per the user’s direction. However, one of the calls is from his boss. The personal virtual assistant sends an IM message to the user’s Blackberry device for his availability. His response is translated to speech back to the boss informing him that he will call as soon as his conference call is over. Once the call is over, the personal virtual assistant then automatically connects the user to his boss.
Interested in trialling SIP?
Avaya SIP Softphone is a client-based SIP application for the PC or laptop running the Microsoft Windows operating system. The Avaya SIP Softphone uses the SIP protocol to allow users to make and receive telephone calls, send and receive instant messages, and see enterprise contact availability via presence. A license is required to use the SIP Softphone as part of an enterprise communication system requiring connectivity to a SIP proxy server, but it is also available for operation in a free licensed mode that supports Peer to Peer communication. In this mode, users can connect to other SIP Softphones without requiring a SIP proxy or registrar.
To download a whitepaper entitled, “Enterprising with SIP — A Technology Overview” or for more information on trialling SIP, please click here.
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