Using SIP addresses in business

SIP stands for session initiation protocol and its adoption as an open-source communications standard is revolutionizing communications. Within the Junction Networks universe SIP addresses control everything. Each username, extension, voice mail box or auto-attendant is an alias for a unique SIP address.

I know you are wondering “this is very interesting but why should I care? As long as when I pick up my phone and get a dial-tone, and my voice mail works, I am good to go.” This is true, but a SIP address can also be used as a powerful communications tool. My email address is tim@junctionnetworks.com. It is also my SIP address. If you have a SIP phone you can dial that address and call me...for free. You can be anywhere in the world. I can be anywhere in the world. With the next generation of WiFi enabled smart phones supporting SIP addresses I can be sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop in London and you can call me from a Starbucks in Sydney. For free.

Now entering SIP addresses into phones is a little complicated (but no harder than entering in an email address) but when you sync up your phone with Outlook or Thunderbird you can transfer all your contacts information easily enough. Junction Networks offers phone number click-to-call through the Firefox web browser, an ongoing open-source project called Cockatoo (http://cockatoo.mozdev.org/ui.html) is doing the same thing for the Thunderbird email program.

Most Junction Networks users have a SIP address in the following format tim@acme.onsip.com. However with a few simple changes to your domain names SRV records you can easily have your SIP address match your email address. Junction Networks is working with several leading cell phone manufactures to test various smart phones for true SIP capabilities. We will be adding reviews and updating our progress on the blog. These are really exciting times for the phone industry and SIP is playing a leading role.