How to use SIP Trunking as Redundancy for Business Communications
With any deployment of SIP Trunking a business owner will want to consider what happens in the event of a telecom service outage. From a backup phone line (trunk) to backup data connections, there is a wide range of recommended approaches to ensuring continued uptime for your voice connectivity, but adopting those approaches is typically expensive and imperfect. That’s where SIP Trunks powered by a cloud platform can provide a more flexible disaster recovery options and be delivered in a more cost-effective way.
The usual approach to SIP Trunking resiliency
Traditional advice is to configure a backup SIP Trunk, so that in the event of a service outage from your primary provider, your VOIP Communications infrastructure can automatically failover to using a service from a different provider. Backup SIP Trunks are typically recommended because without one, the only option from your primary provider is normally to use the feature of Unavailable Call Forwarding. This allows you in the event of an outage to forward calls to just one phone number–your fax line, a mobile phone, etc., which can be a pretty limiting experience.
Even a backup SIP Trunk only protects against an outage in the SIP Trunking from your service provider. Most installations will also want to build in redundancy or separate route for the underlying data IP connectivity. This can be done by deploying a second data connection like DSL or Cable to your site from a different provider. Alternatively in larger multi-site deployments, if there is private inter-site connectivity such as MPLS connections, calls can be routed to another office location and from there over a different data connection.
The cloud brings new options
A SIP Trunking service built on a cloud communications platform can offer a different level of global resiliency. SIP Trunking services uses redundant servers in redundant availability zones in redundant global regions, with each protecting the others at every level. This ensures a network that is both geographically widely available and also self-healing. Thousands of carrier connections with the best route chosen dynamically based on real-time quality data provides further resiliency.
But the cloud can offer a lot more than just resilience from a service up-time perspective. With a SIP Trunking service powered by a full communications platform, entire on-premise call logic can be replicated in the cloud. The same IVR that is run on-premise by a PBX or Call Center deployment can be replicated in the cloud, with different options based on backup connectivity choices. So a PBX or Internet connectivity outage can automatically be detected, with call routing seamlessly failing over to running the cloud-powered IVR.
The cloud brings a whole new approach to SIP Trunking, from greater global resiliency to a rich set of options available in the event of an Internet outage.
Do you have a disaster plan in place for your business? Call Randercom at (920) 731-3944 to learn option options to protect your business from telecom failures.
