WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF THE
The SIP Forum is an industry association with members from the leading IP communications companies. Its mission: To advance the adoption and interoperability of IP communications products and services based on SIP.
The Forum promotes SIP as the technology of choice for the control of real-time multimedia communication sessions throughout the Internet, corporate networks, and wireless networks. The Forum directs technical activities aimed at achieving high levels of product interoperability, provides information on the benefits and capabilities of SIP, and highlights successful applications and deployments.
Each of our Working Groups has their own mailing list, many of which are open to individual, "Participant" members. Please feel free to join them, or to join the general "discussion" mailing list.
The Forum is open to individual "Participant" members, Academic/Institutional Members, and to corporate "Full Members". Individual "Participant" and Academic/Institutional membership is free.
To view our current Full Member Listing, click HERE. To view our Academic Member Listing, please click HERE.
You can find out more about membership here.
Need more information or logos? Visit our Press Room HERE.

SIP Forum Announces Registration is Open for the Second Annual SIPNOC -- SIP Network Operators Conference -- for the Worldwide Service Provider Community
The SIP Forum announced that registration is now open for the second annual SIP Network Operators Conference (SIPNOC US 2012), a two-day educational conference focusing on the challenges and opportunities related to the deployment of SIP-based carrier services globally. SIPNOC US 2012 will be held in Herndon, VA on June 25-27, 2012 and will build on the success of the inaugural event last spring, which attracted leading technical and operations personnel from the global carrier community and earned high praise from attendees for its educational, non-commercial and technical content that focused on the real-world challenges operators face when deploying SIP services in global IP networks. Unlike other events, this conference is designed for SIP network operations personnel, such as NOC engineers and network architects, instead of a high-level conference for marketing executives.
SIPNOC 2012 will build on themes first discussed at last year’s inaugural event: addressing issues critical to the reliable and successful deployment and operation of SIP-based services in carrier networks and the opportunities that come with it. Among the topics expected to be on the agenda at this year’s conference are SIP trunking interoperability and the SIP Forum’s recently ratified SIPconnect 1.1 technical specification, Fax over Internet protocol (FoIP) interworking, implementing SIP with IPv6, security, testing, application development, call routing and peering, troubleshooting and monitoring, emergency services, and the sharing of best practices for the utilization of Wireshark for network diagnostics within IP network environments.
The event will focus on the needs of service providers of all stripes, including telecommunications providers, major backbone operators, interconnect and wholesale solution providers, ISPs, cable operators, wireless network operators as well as large enterprises deploying major SIP initiatives. At last year’s SIPNOC 2011, informational presentations were made by a number of industry professionals from organizations such as Comcast Cable, Cox Communications, Sprint Nextel, CableLabs and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Dr. Douglas C. Sicker, Chief Technologist at the Federal Communications Commission, provided the keynote speech.
For more information and to register for SIPNOC US 2012, please visit the event webpage HERE.
To access the full text of the SIPNOC 2012 "Registration Opens" Announcement, please click HERE.
To access the full text of the SIPNOC 2012 "Save the Date" Announcement, please click HERE.
For archived information about last year's SIPNOC 2011, please click below to access a number of announcements:
The presentations given at the inaugural SIPNOC 2011 event have been posted to the SIPNOC document repository, and are available for viewing HERE.
SIP Forum 2011 Annual General Meeting Results
The SIP Forum 2011 General Meeting was held on Tuesday, 13 December 2011.
In the meeting, a review of the financial operations was conducted, as well as a review of the operational and technical activities that have occurred over the past 12 months since the last General Meeting. In addition, votes were cast for new board members and for two voting issues.
For more information about the meeting, including the voting results, the full text of the 2011 Annual General Meeting Notice, and the presentations given during the meeting, please click HERE.

SIPit 29 Concludes and Results Announced
SIPit 29 -- the 29th iteration of the premier International test event for real-time IP communications using the Session Initiation Protocol -- was hosted by ETSI in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 24-28 October, 2011.
Twice a year, organizations bring a wide range of implementations to the SIPit for a week of testing to refine both the specification and implementation of the world's next communication infrastructure. The purpose of the SIPit event is to test for interoperability of SIP implementations, to determine the source of incompatibilities, inform new standards work, and drive refinement of the specifications. This event is open only to implementers with working SIP implementations. It is not a trade show, public demonstration, conference or workshop. The individual results of the event are kept confidential.
The advanced testing sessions at the 29th SIPit focused on appropriate handling of early media from more than one source, advanced multimedia sessions, secure media, and resilient operation in the presence of NATs and firewalls.
To view the results of SIPit 29, please click HERE.
SIPit 28 -- the 28th iteration of the leading SIP Interoperability Test event -- was hosted by Digium on April 11–15, 2011 and was held at the Jackson Center in Huntsville, Alabama's Research Park.
To view the results of SIPit 28, please click HERE.
SIPit 27 was held in Taipei, Taiwan on November 15th to 19th, 2010, and was hosted by ETSI's Centre for Testing and Interoperability and ITRI, the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
SIPit 27 welcomed attendees from 22 companies visiting from 10 countries, and included 34 distinct implementations. In addition, there were several first-time attendees, many bringing engineering prototypes. Click HERE for the full event summary report.
To watch a video interview from SIPit 25 with "SIPit Master" Robert Sparks, please click HERE.
To view the results of past SIPit events, please visit the SIPit section of the SIP Forum website HERE or the SIPit website at http://www.sipit.net.

SIP Forum Ratifies the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation Version 1.1!
The SIP Forum has reached an important milestone by formally ratifying version 1.1 of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation on March 1, 2011, with the unanimous approval of the SIP Forum Board of Directors.
The formal adoption by the SIP Forum Board of the SIPconnect 1.1 Technical Recommendation is based on recognition that the recommendation has been through credible peer review, including broad membership and significant community review, that it is stable and is well-understood, and that it is believed to have resolved known design choices.
For more information, please click HERE to read the full text of the announcement or visit the main SIPconnect page HERE.
To view or download the ratified SIPconnect Technical Recommendation Version 1.1, please click HERE.
The SIP Forum has created a repository of archived SIPconnect 1.1 documents,
which includes submissions from Avaya, Broadsoft, CableLabs, Cbeyond, MetaSwitch, Microsoft and Siemens, and contains various draft iterations, including v.00 through v.27 documents.
Please click here for the SIPconnect 1.1 Document repository.
SIP Forum UA Configuration Recommendation Ratified and Published as RFC 6011 by the IETF
The SIP Forum has announced that its User Agent Configuration Recommendation for the locating, retrieving and maintaining of SIP User Agents has been ratified and published as RFC 6011 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
The publishing of the recommendation as RFC 6011 marks a significant milestone for the SIP Forum, the leading IP communications industry association, and its UA Configuration Task Group, led by Chairman John Elwell, the Head of Standardization Strategy at Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH. The UA Configuration Task Group has been working on the procedure since 2009, and has designed the standard in a manner that addresses the needs of end users and services providers, as well as both small businesses and large enterprises deploying SIP-enabled endpoints.
Now published as RFC 6011 by the IETF’s Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) after a public review process by the IETF community, the User Agent Configuration Recommendation (UA Config) sets a standard procedure for how a SIP User Agent locates, retrieves and maintains current configuration information for a given SIP Service Provider. It requires that each User Agent, the configuration agent at the service provider and network infrastructure meet such requirements to ensure communication.
To view the full text of the announcement, please click HERE.
To view the published text of RFC 6011, please visit http://tools.ietf.org/search/rfc6011.
SIP Forum and i3 Forum Launch Groundbreaking International Test Program for Fax over Internet Protocol
The SIP Forum and the i3 Forum (www.i3forum.org) has announced a new testing program for Fax-over-Internet-Protocol (FoIP) services, aimed at identifying and qualifying transmission impairments and interoperability challenges that have arisen in IP-based networks as the T.38 protocol has become more widely deployed across carrier and enterprise network topologies. The first-of-its-kind testing program, which will take place from September through December 2010, will bring together a host of international communications carriers from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Middle East to examine global FoIP communications. T.38 is the international standard that supports the use of IP networks to transport real-time faxes.
For more information about the announcement, please click HERE
SIP Forum and the i3 Forum Partner to Promote Interoperability of SIP-based Carrier Services
The SIP Forum and the i3 Forum have joined forces to help spur the interoperability of SIP-based carrier services, including Fax-over-Internet-Protocol (FoIP) interoperability on a global basis. The two organizations have been collaborating and will continue to collaborate on a number of initiatives to resolve deployment and interoperability challenges posed by next-generation fax communications while bringing equipment vendors and service providers together in the process.
Collectively, the two groups will address key interoperability issues pertaining to the deployment of fax services, specifically ITU-T T.38, in SIP-based networks. The challenges surrounding IP-based fax and the use of T.38 make it difficult for users to determine if T.38 can or will work reliably and thus offer a viable alternative to traditional TDM-based fax transport.
For more information about the announcement, please click HERE
SIP Forum and the IPv6 Forum Forge Global Partnership
The SIP Forum and the IPv6 Forum have joined forces to drive the deployment and interoperability of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) related technologies and services. The cooperation includes plans to collaborate on initiatives to educate and co-promote the deployment and integration of these two next-generation protocols throughout the industry.
IPv6 is a next generation Internet protocol designed to replace and improve upon IPv4 which serves as the fundamental transportation layer protocol for today's Internet. IPv6 has a number of enhanced features and functionality designed to improve the security of IP traffic and provide more support for real-time communications. IPv6 syncs seamlessly with SIP in the application layer, which serves as next generation signalling protocol for handling VoIP and multimedia communications over IP networks.
In the next few months, the SIP Forum and IPv6 Forum leadership will work together to formulate a joint program calendar for their combined membership which may include co- marketing and industry events, technology interoperability initiatives and technical working group collaboration.
For more information about the announcement, please click HERE
New Smart Grid SIG Presentation and Resources Available
A new presentation about the role of SIP in Smart Grid Networks was given by SIG participant Bill Leslie, Longboard Technologies, at the past Grid ComForum in Santa Clara, CA. To view or access this presentation, please click HERE.
The SIP Forum formed the Smart Grid Special Interest Group (SIG) with the focus of
evaluating the appropriateness of using SIP as a protocol for a number of Smart Grid areas, including the Home Area Network (HAN), Utilities' Operational Network, and PEV (Plug-In Vehicle) deployments.
This group will also evaluate the appropriateness of SIP in the list of priorities identified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) identified in the document “NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Release 1.0.
For more information about the Smart Grid SIG, please visit the SIG charter page HERE.
To access a new white paper entitled "Applicability of SIP in Smart Grid Demand and Response Communication", and to view other documents in the SIG's document repository, please click HERE
SIP Forum FoIP Task Group Publishes New SIP-SDP Problem Statement
The Fax-over-IP Interoperability Task Group has published a new T.38 SIP-SDP subgroup Problem Statement that details a number of SDP offer/answer interoperability issues found while implementing and connecting T.38 compliant endpoints together, primarily over the SIP signaling mechanism. Click HERE to view or download the document.
In addition, the Forum previously published an official task group problem statement, a document that details the various interoperability issues that currently plague FoIP services. This important document is available for download HERE.
The FoIP Task Group has developed a task group charter, which you can view HERE.
The FoIP Task Group evolved out of a special Fax-over-IP Interoperability Workshop in November, 2008 hosted by the SIP Forum and sponsored by Dialogic Corporation, that brought together researchers, engineers, and service providers to exchange ideas, share experiences, and propose approaches to address FoIP problems.
To view task group documents and other related materials, please visit the FoIP Task Group document repository HERE.
One of the Forum's most important technical activities is the development of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation -- a standards-based recommendation that provides detailed guidelines for direct IP peering and interoperability between IP PBXs and VoIP service provider networks, and the SIPconnect Compliant Certification Program through which eligible companies that are compliant with SIPconnect Version 1.0 can license the use of the SIP Forum's 'SIPconnect Compliant' certification mark -- the official brand of the leading standard for SIP Trunking products and services.
For more information about SIPconnect and the SIPconnect Compliant Certification Program, please visit here.
For a current listing of products and services that have achieved SIPconnect 1.0 Compliant Certification, please click here.
SIP Forum SIP Trunking Seminar Presentations Available
The SIP Forum presented a number of sessions during the Ingate SIP Trunking Workshop at the January 2010 ITEXPO at the Miami Beach Florida Convention Center. To
Presentations included a recent overview of SIP Trunking and the activities of the SIP Forum, an overview of SIPconnect and its value proposition, and Lessons Learned from Actual SIPconnect Deployments.
Click HERE to view and download the workshop presentations.
SIP Forum Hosts Luncheon at IETF 77
On Monday, March 22, 2010, over a hundred attendees at IETF 77 in Anaheim, CA, joined the SIP Forum for lunch to learn about current SIP Forum activities and initiatives.
To view and download the presentations given at this luncheon, please click HERE.
Recent News
- The SIP Forum Opens Call for Presentations for SIPNOC US 2012 (New)
- SIP Forum Announces New SIP Trunking Interoperability Testing Initiative (New)
- Registration Now Open for the SIP Forum’s SIPNOC US 2012 Conference (New)
- SIP Forum Announces Dates for the Second Annual SIPNOC -- SIP Network Operators Conference (New)
- SIP Forum’s SIPit 29 Slated for October 24–28, 2011 in Monte Carlo, Monaco (New)
- SIP Forum to Have Strong Presence at ITEXPO in Austin, TX (New)
- SIP Forum Releases Results from SIPit 28 in Huntsville, Alabama (New)
- SIP Forum Announces Ratification of Version 1.1 of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation (New)
- SIP Forum Announces Detailed Conference Agenda for SIPNOC 2011 (New)
- Inaugural SIPNOC Attracts Global Service Provider Decision Makers (New)
- SIP Forum Opens Call for Presentations for Inaugural SIPNOC Event (New)
- SIP Forum Announces FCC Chief Technologist Dr. Douglas C. Sicker Keynote Speaker for Inaugural SIPNOC Event (New)
- SIP Forum Launches SIPNOC -- SIP Network Operators Conference -- for the Worldwide Service Provider Community (New)
- SIP Forum UA Configuration Recommendation Ratified and Published as RFC 6011 by the IETF (New)
- SIP Forum Welcomes Georgetown University as New Academic Member (New)
- SIP Forum and i3 Forum Launch Groundbreaking International Test Program for Fax over Internet Protocol (New)
- SIPit 27 to be Held in Taipei, Taiwan -- Registration is Now Open! (New)
- SIP Forum Releases Results from SIPit 26 in Kista, Sweden (New)
- SIP Forum and the i3 Forum Partner to Promote Interoperability of SIP-based Carrier Services (New)
- IPv6 Forum Joins SIPit 26 as Association Sponsor (New)
- SIP Forum and the IPv6 Forum Forge Global Partnership (New)
- SIP Forum Announces that SIPit 26 Registration is Now Open! (New)
- SIP Forum Welcomes Juniper Networks as a New Full Member! (New)
- SIP Forum Welcomes GRADIANT as New Academic-Institutional Member (New)
- SIP Forum Has Strong Presence at ITEXPO in Miami (New)
- SIP Forum Elects New Chairman of the Board of Directors and Board Members; Retains Managing Director (New)
- SIP Forum's Smart Grid SIG: What It Means for Utilities (New)
- New Video Interview on SIP Forum's FoIP Initiative (New)
- SIP Forum Forms New Smart Grid Special Interest Group (New)
- Video Interview with SIP Forum Director and "SIPit Master" Robert Sparks
- SIP Forum Welcomes Tele2 Nederland as a New Full Member!
- SIP Forum UA-Config Task Group Presents at SIPit 25
- SIP Forum Welcomes Bell Canada as a New Full Member
- SIPit 25 Results Now Available
- Eric Burger, SIP Forum Chairman, To Present At U.S Capital Visitor's Center
- Smart Grid Portal Features Q&A with Marc Robins, SIP Forum Managing Director
- SIP Forum User Agent Configuration (UA-Config) Task Group Updates at IETF 75
- SIP Forum FoIP Task Group Publishes Official Fax-over-IP Problem Statement
- SIPconnect Compliance Workshop Redux!
- SIP Forum Welcomes Texas A&M University as New Academic Member
- SIP Forum Opens SIPit 25 Registration
- SIPit 24 Results Now Available
- SIP Forum Welcomes University of Glamorgan as New Academic Member
- SIP Forum Welcomes Comcast Cable as a New Full Member
- SIP Forum Welcomes Genband as a New Full Member
- Eric Burger, SIP Forum Chairman, to Present at eComm2009
- SIP Forum Welcomes Columbia University as New Academic Member
- SIP Forum Welcomes 8x8 as a New Full Member
- SIP Forum Welcomes Cablevision Lightpath as a New Full Member
- SIP Forum Welcomes Two New Academic Members
- New Column by SIP Forum Director Chris Gatch entitled "Virtualization Tsunami
- SIP Forum Chairman Eric Burger Authors New Book
- Nortel rejoins SIP Forum as Full Member Company
- SIP Forum Welcomes XO Communications as a New Full Member
- New Video Interview with SIP Forum Chairman Eric Burger at IETF 73
- New FierceVoIP.com SIP Forum Column Debuts
- New Column by SIP Forum Director Chris Gatch on SIPconnect 1.1
- Mitel rejoins SIP Forum as Full Member Company
- SIP Forum 2008 General Meeting Results are In!
- SIP Forum Welcomes Cedar Point Communications as a New Full Member
- Strategic Path Features Interview with Managing Director Marc Robins
- SIP Forum Welcomes Samsung as a New Full Member
- SIP Forum Announces 2008 Annual General Meeting
- August 2008 SIP Forum Member Newsletter Now Available
- SIP Forum Welcomes ShoreTel as a New Full Member
- Nojitter.com Feature by SIP Forum Managing Director Marc Robins on SIPconnect
- Cox Communications is First Cable Operator to Join SIP Forum
- Column by SIP Forum Director Chris Gatch on Why Mobile SIP Will Surpass IMS
- SIP Forum Experiences Dramatic Surge in Membership
- IPconvergenceTV.com Video Interview with SIP Forum Chairman and Managing Director
- Telephony Online Podcast Features Marc Robins, SIP Forum Managing Director
- Column by SIP Forum Director Chris Gatch on SIP Trunking Growth in 2008
- SIP Forum Ratifies Version 1.0 of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation
- SIP Forum Elects New Chairman and Appoints Managing Director, Adds Industry Veterans
- Avaya Solutions Attain SIPconnect Compliant Certification
- SIPit 21 Results: Another Successful Event
- SIP Forum Hosts SIP Interoperability Workshop at IETF 70
- SIP Forum 2007 Annual General Meeting Results
- SIPconnect Compliance Program Launched
- SIP Forum, UNH Lab Join Forces for SIP Interoperability
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