SIP Trunking equipment
From Bandipedia
SIP Trunks can work with a SIP ready PBX. SIP Trunks can also be made to work with traditional analog or key systems with an IAD (Integrated Access Device). The SIP Trunk service provider will need to interop with the underlying equipment manufacturer.
However, it should be noted with the advent of standards around RFC 3261 and SIP Connect, the challenge of finding compatible SIP Trunk Service Providers with SIP Trunk compatible equipment is significantly lessened.
A soft switch is a central device in a telephone network that connects calls from one phone line to another, entirely by means of software running on a computer system. Previously, phone connections were carried out by large legacy systems with physical switchboards to route calls.
A soft switch is used to control connections at the junction point between circuit and packet networks. A single device containing both the switching logic and the switching fabric can be used for this purpose; however, modern technology has led to a preference for decomposing this device into a Call Agent and a Media Gateway. The call agent primary functions are billing, call routing, signaling, and call management that makes it the 'brains' of the outfit. A call agent may control several different media gateways in geographically dispersed areas over a TCP/IP link.
The media gateway connects different types of digital media streams together to create an end-to-end path for the media (voice and data) in the call. A media gateway may have interfaces to connect traditional PSTN networks like DS1 or DS3 ports (E1 or STM1 in the case of non-US networks). Additionally, the media gateway may have interfaces to connect to ATM and IP networks and in modern communication systems Ethernet interfaces to connect VoIP calls. The call agent instructs the media gateway to connect media streams between these interfaces transparent to the end-users.
The softswitch generally resides in a building owned by the telephone company called a central office. The central office will have one or more telephone trunks to carry calls to other offices owned by the telephone company and to other telephone companies (aka the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN). Towards the end users from the soft switch, the media gateway connects to several access devices. These access devices can range from small Analog Telephone Adaptors (ATA) that provide just one RJ11 telephone jack to an Integrated Access Device (IAD) or PBX, which may provide thousands of telephone connections.
Typically, the larger access devices are located in a building owned by the telephone company close to the customers they serve with each end user connected to the IAD by a simple pair of copper wires.
A medium size device such as a PBX is installed at a business and single line devices installed in a residential building and plugged into an IP network to be dynamically configured for use in VoIP networks.
In more recent times (i.e., the IP Multimedia Subsystem or IMS), the Soft switch element is built into a Media Gateway Controller (MGC), and the term "Softswitch" is rarely used in the IMS context.
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