What Does Session Initiation Protocol for Business (SIP-B) Mean?
Session initiation protocol for business (SIP-B) is a protocol that is based on session initiation protocol (SIP). It uses SIP features to be used in business telephony networks without modification of the SIP standard.
SIP-B take advantage of SIP call flows such as hold, transfer and multiple-line appearance, these are based on standard Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defined call flows. However, SIP-B is not an IETF standard but an initiative from multi software vendors such as Citel, Mitel, Siemens and Sylantro. These vendors have submitted their work to IETF for consideration to become SIP-B a standard.
Techopedia Explains Session Initiation Protocol for Business (SIP-B)
Sylantro and other vendors such as Siemens, Polycom and Citel have agreed to add 18 SIP features for IP phones. They also agreed to include the old private branch exchange (PBX) features such as call park, multi-line appearances on phones, distinctive phone rings and advanced conferencing as well as the bridging features.
Opposing vendors who are not as optimistic of SIP-B generally argue that SIP offers more than enough capability and already meets business requirements. As well, the point to SIP being an IETF standard, whereas SIP-B is not, and its call flows are already defined in SIP.
Nevertheless, SIP-B supporters strongly believes that users and service providers of business applications will benefit more from SIP-B because it simplifies migration, training, implementation and deployment.