IP COMMUNICATIONS AND SIP

Converged IP network technology is a reality. Cisco has been delivering these types of productivity benefits for years, with solutions built on Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data), a blueprint for building secure, high-performance converged IP networks.
SIP is a peer-to-peer, multimedia signaling protocol that integrates with other Internet services, such as e-mail, Web, voice mail, instant messaging, multiparty conferencing, and multimedia collaboration. When used with an IP infrastructure, SIP helps to enable rich communications with numerous multivendor devices and media. SIP can set up individual voice or conference calls, videoconferences and point-to-point video-enabled calls, Web collaboration and chat sessions, or instant messaging sessions between any number of SIP enabled endpoints, including IP phones, PCs, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones. In the opening scenario, the participants could be using end devices from any number of different vendors, and if the devices supported the necessary SIP applications with sufficient attention paid to implementation, the rich-media conference call would work perfectly.
SIP is an IETF standard that promises to open up IP communications networks to new hardware and software players, giving enterprises more options and flexibility in building converged networks. At one time, enterprises that employed time-division multiplexing (TDM)-based PBXs had to rely on the PBX vendor to supply any required features and functions; now, converged IP networks and SIP open up the application development process, allowing applications from independent software vendors with expertise in specific vertical markets. This process is enabled by the approach the IETF has taken to SIP which is defining the base-level functions required for interoperability, but leaving room for differentiation at the application level.
Cisco has been instrumental in defining SIP standards. The company has been at the forefront of SIP technology since the first SIP IETF RFC was published in 1999. Cisco engineers currently co-chair both the SIP and the related SIPPING working groups, and the company has been delivering SIP-enabled products since 2000. Cisco has participated in numerous multivendor SIP interoperability and test events, and is a founding member of the SIP Forum industry group. In delivering SIP-based solutions, Cisco draws on years of experience building converged IP networks for enterprises as well as service providers-an advantage that is unique in the industry