The service provider will need to provide network interconnects for customers to access the platform. Two types of connection are using required; IP - to support HTML and SIP telephony - and a connection to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
SIP Trunking
In order to satisfy customer demands, the IP network interconnect will require quality of service support for voice traffic. This will allow the telephones on a customer site to make and receive voice calls from and to the platform. This enables the service provider to supply a true SIP trunking service to its customer base.
IP Connections
The other uses for the IP connection are to provide web services to the end customer. These will be access to applications such as Web Assistant and Service Manager. Email notifications will also require a network connection from the service provider platform to the customers email servers.
PSTN Connection
A service provider might also want to supply a direct connection to the PSTN, either from the hosted platform or remotely from a customer site. This usually achieved using a standard gateway (Vegastream or Cisco) to convert from ISDN 30 to SIP. If this is installed a t a customer site then a SIP trunking connection as described above will be needed.
