What is SIP?

http://askozia.com/voip/what-is-sip/

Home

AskoziaPBX

Call Control CTI

Call Flow Editor

Shop

Support

What is SIP?
SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and is the most widely used protocol in IP telephony. SIP controls how a call is established, how voice data is transferred during the call, as well as the termination of the connection. It can be used for other communication services as well. The SIP protocol was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

How does SIP work?

The Session Initiation Protocol is text based and only used for establishing a communication session. The actual data transmission is done by the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or the User Datagramm Protocol (UDP) on layer 5 of the OSI model. The Session Description Protocol SDP controls which of the protocols is used. SIP is very similar to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which makes it easy to integrate it into web browsers, applications, services and electronic devices. Since most electronic devices have access to the internet nowadays, it is easy to have them all use the SIP protocol for instant messaging, presence information, file transfer and voice calls.

SIP and VoIP

In IP telephony SIP is used by all types of services. IP phones are using SIP to communicate with other IP phones, IP phone systems (PBXs), gateways and SIP telephony providers. SIP is used in local networks (LAN) and the internet.

1 of 3

02/10/2013 16:15

What is SIP?

http://askozia.com/voip/what-is-sip/

Common questions about IP Phone Systems, PBX and VoIP

Can I use my fax with my IP-phone system? Connect multiple PBXs and IP phone systems How can I save energy with an IP phone system and green VoIP? How do IP phone systems work? Reasons to switch to an IP PBX phone system What are SIP or VoIP phones? What do FXS and FXO mean? What is a codec? What is a PBX Phone System? What is a voicemail system? What is an IVR or voice menu? What is auto-provisioning for IP-phones? What is BLF? What is Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)? What is echo cancellation? What is Hot Desking? What is PRI? What is SIP Trunking? What is SIP? What is T.38? What is Unified communications? What ISDN interface cards are supported by AskoziaPBX? Which SIP Status Codes are there?

Products

Service

More information

Company

Askozia Shop AskoziaPBX Call Flow Editor PRI Module Phone systems Free trial Download brochure

Find a retailer Support FAQ Wiki Forums Changelog

Why AskoziaPBX For business customers For IT folks Become a reseller Supported IP phones Technology partners

Contact Testimonials Blog News About Imprint

2 of 3

02/10/2013 16:15

What is SIP?

http://askozia.com/voip/what-is-sip/

Copyright 2013, plaintel gmbh. All rights reserved. Askozia is a registered trademark of plaintel gmbh.

3 of 3

02/10/2013 16:15