Aspect Software Issues Challenge to
Contact Center Industry to Adopt SIP 2.0
$50,000 Guarantee and Interoperability Policy
are the Foundations for the Aspect Software SIP Power
Through Choice Program; Underscores Company's
Commitment to Standards
Aspect Software, Inc., the world’s largest company
solely focused on the contact center, today announced
it has launched a new SIP Power Through Choice program,
issuing a challenge to the contact center industry to
adopt a session initiation protocol (SIP) Interoperability
Policy. By adhering to this policy, solution providers
commit to the support of SIP 2.0 compliance and practices
that sustains a contact center’s need for flexibility
and responsiveness. This SIP Interoperability Policy
provides users and business partners with the confidence
to use SIP 2.0 compliant devices and software, with the
option for product validation testing.
"From our perspective, there are too many companies
out there paying lip-service to SIP. SIP gives companies
choice and there is no reason for vendors to force customers
into proprietary protocols or proprietary devices,"
said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of strategy at
Aspect Software. "Contact centers should have the right
to choose technology or products that will best help them
meet their strategic objectives. They shouldn’t have
artificial technology limitations and we believe that by
launching the SIP Power Through Choice program, we can help
companies identify those vendors who truly believe in SIP
and are bringing standards-based technology to market."
In addition, Aspect Software is also announcing a
first-of-its-kind SIP Power Through Choice Guarantee. The
$50,000 guarantee provides businesses with the confidence
to choose the SIP end-points that meet their specific needs.
The SIP Power Through Choice Guarantee states that if a
SIP-enabled solution from Aspect Software fails to establish
and terminate a SIP 2.0 compliant based telephone session,
Aspect will refund to the organization the cost of the SIP
validation testing services performed by Aspect.* In addition,
if such an event occurs, Aspect Software will contribute $50,000
to the SIP Forum (
http://www.sipforum.org), an organization whose mission is to
advance the development and deployment of innovative solutions that
comply with, and properly interoperate with other products
that use SIP.
"One of the main advantages of standards-based SIP
applications and devices should be the ability for end user
customers to mix and match equipment and applications from
multiple vendors. To the extent that vendors preclude
interoperability through diverse interpretations of the standard,
this goal is thwarted," according to Sheila McGee-Smith,
president and principal analyst of McGee-Smith Analytics. "
By creating the SIP Power Through Choice program, Aspect
Software not only signals their own willingness to create
SIP-compliant applications, they help communicate to the
user community that customers should demand this kind of
interoperability from all of their vendor partners."
The SIP Power Through Choice interoperability policy
outlines that vendors must adhere to the following:
- Organizations are welcome to use SIP 2.0 compliant
devices with a SIP-enabled solution to establish and
terminate a SIP-based telephone session.
- If a SIP 2.0 compliant device includes proprietary
features that are not part of the SIP 2.0 standard,
this policy assures that the SIP 2.0 compliant elements
of that device will function to establish and terminate
a SIP-based telephone session.
- SIP solution suppliers must make available validation
testing of an organization’s choice of SIP 2.0 device
with their SIP-enabled solution.
- SIP solution suppliers must offer organizations support
to address product interoperability issues with the
business’s choice of SIP 2.0 compliant devices.
Vendors that endorse the SIP Interoperability policy will
benefit from a larger, more accessible market through the
openness and ubiquity of SIP. In addition, it creates a healthy
and mutually beneficial vendor-customer relationship because
customers have more choice in which technology they invest in,
as well as the assurance from the vendor that their choice of
SIP devices will be supported, which eliminates many of the
concerns of VoIP deployments.
SIP is a standard protocol which provides a common platform
which allows computer hardware and software to easily interoperate.
Standards, like SIP, are particularly valuable to contact centers
because they deliver increased compatibility between components,
enabling true interoperability. Because of the flexibility that
SIP provides, it empowers businesses and contact centers to make
better technology investments that fit into wide-ranging budgets
and to avoid being locked into high-cost, inflexible proprietary
technologies.
Aspect Software has been demonstrating SIP interoperability
since 2001 and has had a SIP Interoperability Policy in place
since 2004. The recent releases of
Aspect® Unified IP™ 6.5 and
Aspect® Spectrum® ACD 10.1 serve as proof-points of
the Aspect Software commitment to offer standards-based applications
in an open environment.
* SIP Power Through Choice Guarantee conditions apply.
About Aspect Software
For more information Click Here or visit
www.aspect.com.
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