VoIP reigns supreme in the world of telecom. The VoIP market is worth over $ 82560000, growing at a CAGR of 3.1%. Startups and small businesses can reduce telecom costs by 90% by using VoIP. VoIP offers plenty of features but it comes at the cost of security and interoperability given the vast number of protocols and codecs in use and the nature of IP packets. In this context, any business, particularly telcos, which use VoIP must have a session border controller in place.
The session border controller
Telcos base operations on class 4 and class 5 softswitches, usually working on conjunction with an SBC solution at the edge of the network. SBCs can be proprietary hardware based appliances and they can be software based, which is what you should look at considering how fast VoIP evolves. A variety of software platforms can be used to develop an effective session border controller. Of these, FreeSwitch stands out as one of the finest open source platforms to build scalable enterprise grade SBC solutions.
Lower costs
Operators must consider costs due to competition and yet they cannot afford to ignore vital aspects of service quality and security. FreeSwitch based solutions are perfect from the cost perspective. It is especially so if other VoIP solutions in place are based on this versatile platform. It costs less when you choose an established VoIP developer well-versed in the use of FreeSwitch. It is easier for them to reuse modules and components to put together a custom SBC that will meet challenges.
Overcoming challenges with ease
Integration into existing setup is important for smooth performance. In this regard FreeSwitch SBC deploys easily on servers between telephony servers and trunking servers, it blends in seamlessly.
- In addition, if your business so demands, you can configure it for redundancy to make sure of uninterrupted services even if some servers or network components fail.
- Blended with elements of AI, FreeSwitch SBC offers better protection against DoS/DDoS, malware, intrusions and just about any attack, even detecting attempts in advance.
- Administrators will find it easy to set up and manage configurable call routing for outbound and inbound traffic with a session border controller based on FreeSwitch.
- Further, you get load balancing plus options on least call routing. Telcos can get developers to incorporate billing into the SBC, which works better at automation and does it speedily with minimum or zero errors. Important is that telecom operators can use different billing models to suit video, voice or text.
- You get a more effective and secure secure real time transport protocol plus transport layer security to encrypt and authenticate messages even as the SBC checks for integrity.
- Easy to set up virtualized operations on VMWare and similar platforms
- Configure network for NAT traversal, SIP header and protocol translation
- Granular control over resource, rate limiting and traffic
FreeSwitch lets developers come up with and deploy SBCs that live up to the definition of what a session border controller is. In this respect Kamailio or even Asterisk fall short since the developer would have to employ extended workarounds or hacks such as, for example, use of rtpproxy to relay RTP. Rtpproxy, however, lacks media transcoding. This is just one reason why, when you really need full-featured session border controller, FreeSwitch is the best platform on which your custom SBC solution should be built.
Looking back, looking ahead
When one talks about VoIP it is not SBC in isolation that you think about. There are media servers, gateways, SIP trunks and applications such as IVR, IP PBX and call center software as well as conferencing and SMS to think about. These are usually Asterisk or FreeSwitch based, the latter in case you want higher capabilities.
Existing telcos may already have FreeSwitch based solutions in which case the FreeSwitch SBC simply blends into the existing landscape. Startups and enterprises that are switching over to VoIP for communications will find that choosing FreeSwitch is a wise decision. It has inherently better capabilities to handle more concurrent calls and offers flexibility of incorporating all voice codecs. It is a natural progression that the SBC should also be FreeSwitch based. You get better admin control since SIP and RTP traffic go through the SBC.
There is convenience when you choose FreeSwitch for SBC. It does matter since it makes life easier for developers and you have a functioning system with fewer chances of mismatches.
In conclusion, it may be ego satisfying to get a developer to develop FreeSwitch SBC from the ground up. In most cases, established developers already have the nuts and bolts ready with them. Let them know your specs and existing or planned set up and they put together session border controllers quickly, with less effort and one that costs less but works efficiently, seamlessly and “transparently”, which is what an SBC should do.
