Sterling, which pioneers the use of new technologies to improve business processes and efficiency, is using SIParators at its Wall Street operations center and Woodbury, NY office to protect its IP-PBXs and to connect to a SIP Trunking service provider, resulting in a two-thirds reduction of its telecommunications expenses.

SIP trunking rapidly reduces telephony costs by using the Internet instead of the PSTN to carry communications traffic (voice, etc.) as far as possible, in effect eliminating long-distance telephony charges. SIP trunking also enables an enterprise to use just one connection for both voice and data, eliminating the cost of redundant network connections.

The SIP trunking solution bridges between VoIP and the PSTN. Sterling, like other enterprises, can now use VoIP to call people who still use traditional telephony service. With SIP trunking long-distance calls are routed over the Internet and terminated at the service provider's PSTN gateway which is located closest to the person being called. The result is a savings for Sterling of approximately $1,000 per month, or 2/3 of their previous telephony costs.

In addition, using SIP trunks eliminated the need for Sterling to purchase local PSTN gateways and costly ISDN BRIs (Basic Rate Interfaces). The company still uses PRI (Primary Rate Interface)-rate ISDN for incoming calls, 911 and toll-free calling but the expense is modest since all outgoing calls that are billable are sent to the SIP trunking service provider.

With such a rapid reduction in communications expenses, Sterling expects that the SIP trunking installation, including the IP-PBX, the Ingate SIParator and the trunking service will pay for itself in less than six months.

"As a company committed to a high-tech, high-touch experience for our customers, SIP trunking helps us maximize the opportunities available with IP communications," said Eliot S. Robinson, Executive Vice President, Sterling National Bank. "Ingate's SIParators were the ideal solution to allow us to deploy SIP trunks. They were fully interoperable with our IP-PBX, the SIP trunking service provider and our existing security infrastructure and perhaps most importantly they just worked."

Ingate SIParators work in parallel with a company's existing firewall to enable businesses to utilize SIP-based VoIP. They solve the Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal issues that are faced by businesses using SIP. They also provide the advanced routing capabilities necessary for enterprises to easily connect to carriers' SIP trunks. And for remote users, small branches and mobile workers, Ingate's Remote SIP Connectivity capabilities allow these workers to use the centralized IP-PBX and the SIP Trunking service to make and receive calls.

"Sterling Bank's experience highlights the benefits of proven SIP applications that streamline business processes and improve the bottom line," said Steven Johnson, President, Ingate Systems. "We are proud that Sterling chose Ingate to enable their SIP trunking deployment."

Sterling plans to expand its use of the Ingate SIParators and SIP trunking to other offices throughout the Sterling Bancorp network. They also plan to extend their use of IP communications beyond voice traffic, to include IM, presence and other productivity-enhancing applications.

Source: InGate