Is changing our VTC Network to SIP only a good idea?

Michael McClain · ‎02-27-2015

Hello,

I just want some input on this. There is a big push for our VTC Network (endpoints, VCS Controls and Expressways MCU's) to SIP only. Is that a good idea? Why and why not?

Thanks,

Mike

Patrick Sparkman · ‎02-27-2015

One thing to point out, is most everything Cisco is doing is leaning more and more toward SIP.

Examples:

TelePresence Servers are now SIP only, this can be seen with all the virtual models, as well as Conductor being SIP only as well.
Endpoints are starting to be SIP only, especially as we see more and more only being supported on CUCM. The SX80 was partially SIP only, when you registered it as SIP it disabled H323 (this has since been changed to be dual stack like other endpoints before it). However the SX10 is SIP only.

Over time, it's a good bet that H323 when it comes to Cisco will fade away and only be supported on legacy hardware. I even spoke to someone today that runs a large video organization and they're working on moving to SIP and away from H323, I've even made that move last year when we implemented Conductor (again, because it's SIP only).

Jens Didriksen · ‎02-27-2015

We run both SIP and H.323 - all of our systems, apart from SX80 with single stack registrations, are registered with both H.323 and SIP addresses. (It's actually the same address, only difference is SIP addresses gets @domain whereas H.323 is Alias only. Main benefits for us is we don't see unnecessary H.323/SIP interworking taking place - and fewer calls to the helpdesk complaining dialling external IP addresses doesn't work.

Cisco has stated, in this forum, that they want their customers to move away from H.323 and use SIP only. Doesn't work for us though - at least not for now.

/jens

Please rate replies and mark question(s) as "answered" if applicable.