Cloud SBC has been a long standing cog in the BVoIP wheel and an integral component to be able to scale properly.
What is SBC and Why Do I Need It?
Basically, real time communications react differently than normal data traffic like email and web browsing. The issue that many routers and firewalls present with the way they do NAT or PAT creates challenges when it comes to things like VoIP phones connecting back to a service or phone system somewhere off-site or in the cloud. Session Border Controller (or SBC) keeps the traffic moving and is designed to overcome the networking and routing challenges that usually affect things like VoIP.
Why Not An On-Prem Box vs Cloud?
On-Prem...
As many things in the tech world go there is many possible answers to get to an end result. There are plenty of options that allow for some sort of on-prem box or unit that can help the NAT/PAT SIP Traversal issue. However, when it comes to scalability and survivability the issues that on-prem SBC solutions present are difficult to scale. Imagine if all of the on-prem devices that you deploy fail then all the remote phones behind that unit go down. Sure, the phone system on the other end is working but your customers will preceive down time since they can't make or receive calls from their desk phone. How quickly can you go back and fix those units in mass? Also, physical hardware does fail and how quickly can you address another point-of-failure that then gets introduced to every site you have an on-prem unit. Do you stock spares at each site? Do you overnight units? Do you roll a truck? Again, when you think scale this is where things start to become challenging... I argue that if you are going to install an on-prem device to get your phones to work then why not just put the phone system on-site to begin with...
Cloud....
With a Cloud based solution there is no on-prem device to worry about other than whatever router / firewall is at the base of the network which is already required just to have internet at that site to begin with. The Cloud approach is more scalable because it can handle an almost unlimited amount of devices behind an almost unlimited number of remote sites. Sure, it does take a bit of effort and time to test and QA devices to work with the cloud SBC but the end result is devices can be moved anywhere behind almost any router / firewall and "find home" without extra help. If a Cloud SBC goes down then yes all the sites are affected which is why it's important to have more than one Cloud SBC to rely on for fail over purposes. Also, once an issue is resolved all the remote sites are fixed in one go rather than having to touch dozens, hundreds, or thousands of locations.
Closing Thoughts...
Here at BVoIP we work hard to plan ahead and make sure that the right pieces are in place to think and work at scale. It's sometimes hard to do as nobody has visibility in all future events, right? Cloud SBC is and has been a long standing critical component to the way we have been able to grow our company and help our partners grow. We hope this article sheds light on why it has been helpful!
What hundreds of IT and MSPs have discovered is that BVoIP is a resource that can help better serve their clients and staff. BVoIP has numerous apps that help automate and streamline day-to-day interactions with prospects, customers, and vendors. BVoIP also allows IT & MSPs streamline their technology offering by included Unified Communications-as-a-Service into their stack.
