Real-time communications (RTC) no longer consists of just voice calls. They include video conferencing, instant messaging, desktop sharing, and team collaboration.

Making these different applications work together seamlessly requires Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), which is used to establish RTC sessions between parties.

As powerful as SIP is, it isn’t without challenges. There are differences in implementation between vendors, and security issues involved when transporting data across the Internet. SBCs address these issues by controlling RTC within — and between — enterprise and service provider networks.