When moving to Microsoft Teams Phone, most organizations want to move as much of their estate to the cloud as possible, which makes sense. Why would you want to have on-premises infrastructure to manage when you are moving to a cloud service?
This typically means moving PSTN connectivity to Operator Connect and/or Direct Routing as a Service. See our guide on PSTN Connectivity Options for an overview. Both these options mean no infrastructure for you to manage and no equipment on your sites or in your data centers.
However, it’s not always possible to go 100% cloud. Many countries either for regulatory or connectivity reasons require local on-site connections to the PSTN. In addition you might have an existing PBX or maybe phone related infrastructure like analog or intercoms that require local termination.
In most global enterprises there are at least a few sites that will require on-site connectivity, which is services by a local physical Session Border Controller.
A Session Border Controller (SBC) is a device that connects to a PSTN/VoIP network. It can perform various functions such as security, connectivity, quality of service, regulatory compliance. SBCs are usually deployed at the edges of different networks, such as between service providers or between enterprises and service providers.
These can be virtual but in the scenarios we are talking about, where local physical termination is required, they are physical rack mount boxes.
Beyond just deployment and configuration, Session Border Controllers are critical voice infrastructure that require monitoring and regular firmware updates to stay supported and secure. A customer can absolutely take this on with a trained in-house team, but it does require specific skills, and typically being voice infrastructure requires 24-hour cover and holiday cover, so needs a trained team of people.
Many organizations, while moving most voice to the cloud, prefer to outsource the monitoring and management of physical Session Border Controllers.
If you would like to start an order, or you have a question about Pure IP and Operator Connect, please send us a message and a member of the Pure IP team will be in touch soon to discuss your requirements.
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Pure IP’s SBC-Managed Service is a service for customers that removes the burden of managing on-premises SBCs within your communications environment.
Delivered remotely, this service can help you with any, or all, of the different stages from the initial supply, configuration and deployment of an SBC, through to its ongoing management. There is even an option for taking on the management of an existing customer owned SBC.
Benefits of Pure IP’s SBC Managed Service include:
To find out more about SBC Managed Services contact the Pure IP SBC Managed Services team.