VoIP trunking services allow enterprises to leverage IP network connectivity for inbound and outbound calls, rather than relying on traditional, on-premise analog or digital gateway interfaces to the public telephone network. As service provider offerings continue to mature and more enterprises migrate to IP-based communications platforms, these services are starting to make more sense. IT leaders should gauge the suitability of VoIP trunking services, particularly for redundant voice connectivity.
Why VoIP Trunking?
Although enterprises continue to move towards IP-based platforms for voice communications, most are still relying on traditional TDM-based interfaces for access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and local and long distance services. This includes individual analog voice circuits, but more commonly digital, as in ISDN T1 Primary Rate Interfaces (PRIs), which each consist of 23 voice channels. A growing issue for enterprises is that, although proven reliable, conventional voice circuits are rather inflexible and expensive with respect to provisioning and management. Essentially, VoIP trunking (also referred to as IP peering) affords enterprises an alternate, IP-based path to accessing the global PSTN.