Twilio, a cloud-based communications company, yesterday launched SIP from Twilio, allowing the company to better target enterprises that use SIP in their calling systems. Furthermore, since SIP is also used for delivering video, it could mean that the company has a video-based offering in the works.
Most significantly, however, is the fact that SIP, unlike Twilio's other services which rely on carrier interconnects in different countries, is entirely IP based, making it globally available.
"SIP enables companies big and small to realize the flexibility of pairing their existing IP technology with the easy to use Twilio communications platform," said Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson in a statement. "We can't wait to see what they build."
Currently, SIP from Twilio only covers incoming voice calls, but outgoing call coverage is on the way. Either way, the service can still be used to bridge callers with a company's IP-based PBX, or it can be used on a website to integrate with a company's SIP calling system. Either scenario enables deeper integration with enterprise phone systems, providing them with further reduced reliance on traditional carriers.
Indeed, SIP from Twilio replaces the role of both the carrier and business PBX in an enterprise phone system, taking that functionality to the cloud.
Switching a call to IP also eliminates the cost of routing it on a traditional PSTN network. Meanwhile, SIP from Twilio will apparently cost a mere half cent per minute for the first 500 minutes used in a month, with volumes discounts available.
SIP from Twilio was first launched in limited beta form back at the company's second annual TwilioCon conference, at which time Twilio also announced beta support for WebRTC. WebRTC enables real-time communication capabilities within Web browsers without the need for plugins, while Twilio Client enables the integration of IP communication into Web and mobile applications. The company said that introducing WebRTC to the client offers an improved user experience and audio quality.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
