How to explain SIP to a non-technical person

SIP ... or Session Internet Protocol ... is not necessarily a new concept of communication. It 'was all a bit' even though there seems to a resurgence in telephony applications today. But ... how do you explain what SIP is when he is asked?

Good luck with this, trying to explain to people is hard enough SIP techniques.

Here are some short simple statements that can help ...

- Allows SIP telephony via the Internet

- SIP allows us to packetize and prioritize voice traffic over digital circuits.

- SIP is a way in which voice is packed into a digital signal which is then activated for transfer via the Internet.

- SIP dig a channel in an IP network for voice / video can flow between two (or more) places. At the end of the conversation, SIP closes the channel up.

- And 'an Internet protocol like HTTP for web browsing, this is only used to make a telephone-like connection between computers, PDAs, VoIP phones or other devices that can talk over the Internet.

- SIP is a protocol that allows different mediums to communicate. All you need to know is that SIP is the new PRI and is more convenient from the point of view trunking.

- SIP has nothing to do with the internet .... regardless of where, when or how voice traffic is transmitted. f was sent as 0 and 1 ... SIP is what separates the voice from all other data.

- SIP eliminates the cost of maintaining two separate networks (Ethernet + POTS) by placing the telephone traffic on the Ethernet network.

- SIP is a business-class, integrated voice and data connectivity service provided to your IP-PBX (a telephone switch that supports voice over IP)

Or ... you can explain to a non-technical person, describing the operation of SIP VoIP in this way:

1. The callers and callees are identified by SIP addresses.

2. For a SIP call, the caller first locates the appropriate server and then sends a SIP request. (The most common SIP operation is the invitation).

3. SIP or VoIP is a technology that allows you to make calls between devices, either locally or via the Internet (managed or unmanaged). SIP is a standards-based technology that behaves much like your old phone line, but only uses the Internet as a medium.

4. Instead of directly reaching the intended call, a SIP request can be redirected or may trigger a chain of new SIP requests by proxies.

5. Users can register their location (s) with SIP servers.

6. SIP messages can be received over TCP or UDP

7. SIP messages are text based and use the ISO 10646 character set in UTF-8.

8. Lines must be terminated with CRLF.

9. Much of the syntax of the message and header field is similar to HTTP.

10. Messages can be request messages or response messages.

Now you are armed with some basic training in simple terms (or as simple as possible) .... SIP to explain what it is and does. If you need further help from a more technical nature SIP in deciding which solution would work best for your business application data .... use the resources available to Broadband Nation....