How to make the move from ISDN to SIP: Part 1

The Changing Landscape

Today’s business climate calls for reliability, agility and flexibility. In order to deliver on these core goals, the tools companies need to communicate to their customers and the wider world must be future ready and fit for purpose.

However, that is not always the case. Many companies are still relying on traditional Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) technology for their business communications, most of which are now becoming obsolete in a business environment where terms of interaction are dictated by increasingly demanding customers.

With the phrase ‘always on’ an expectation rather than a bonus, moving to a modern system is becoming a necessary step for businesses that are serious about how they communicate.

In this 3 part series of articles from GHM Care, we explore how the telecommunications landscape is changing, why businesses are moving and what the map to change looks like. We also see how one business revolutionised their communications by moving from a traditional ISDN-based solution to Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) trunking.

Traditional Systems are Dying

It is common knowledge amongst telecommunications experts that ISDN is a dying technology. Indeed, BT intend to switch their ISDN network off entirely in 2025 and the general consensus is the technology will be as good as gone within five years. But this traditional system is still being used by many businesses.

What is ISDN?

ISDN is a communications network that relies heavily on physical infrastructure, specifically copper wiring. It came to prominence because it provided the opportunity to transmit voice and data over the same lines. However, because of its reliance on physical infrastructure to manage calls and additional functionality via a PBX (or multiple), this takes up space within business premises and requires resource to administer and maintain. Similarly, it is hard to add and remove new lines to an ISDN network because it requires physical addition and removal.

What is SIP?

The future-ready solution is SIP trunking. SIP is a ready-made replacement for ISDN, connecting a business’s PBX to the provider’s national network via broadband, ethernet or a private circuit.

SIP emerged through a growing need for reliable, flexible and scalable communications technology that enables growing businesses to manage communications effectively in line with demand and is already prepared for voice and data convergence further down the line.

In the next part of this 3 part series we will look into: 3 reasons for changing to SIP.