The SIP Forum took its first formal steps today toward solving problems with interconnection between service providers and their IP-PBX customers. The forum launched a SIPconnect Compliance program for ensuring interoperability among equipment manufacturers, software providers and service providers and advancing session initiation protocol as the standard for voice over IP.

Stopping short of a full-service certification program for now, the forum will issues its SIPconnect Compliance logo as a “seal of compatibility” for companies that abide by the requirements of the standard. Companies seeking to verify their compliance with the SIPconnect standard currently complete a questionnaire defining certain requirements for the standard such as security and then self-certify themselves. Because SIP is an open standard and allows for the use of extensions, SIPconnect provides one preferred method for many processes.

“Right now we don’t have a rigorous certification testing process in place. This is the start of the program and our goal is to get more companies involved in the process,” said Mark Enstrom, field marketing manager at BroadSoft and member of the SIP Forum’s compliance committee.

Along with BroadSoft, companies who have earned the stamp of compliance include Acme Packet, CBeyond, Digium, Ingate Systems and McLeodUSA. BroadSoft, CBeyond and Cisco Systems were instrumental in defining the SIPconnect standard, which was brought into the SIP Forum last year. The SIP Forum currently has 36 full members.

SIPconnect is a standards-based approach to direct IP peering between SIP-enabled IP PBXs and VoIP service providers. It was designed to directly tie enterprise customers to VoIP service providers using an end-to-end IP connection. It also eliminates the need for VoIP gateways and allows a call to remain VoIP between endpoints without being converted.

Chris MacFarland, chief technology officer at McLeodUSA, said his company is informing customers that SIP trunking is an excellent and cost-effective replacement for primary rate interfaces (PRIs), and ensuring interoperability of networks and equipment.

Enstrom said shipments of PBX gear are heavily favoring the IP-based systems and that by 2010 expects IP PBXs to represent 90% of the installed base. “In the past year, we have seen a real ramp up toward SIP trunking,” he said.

The SIP Forum will try to build awareness for the program through white papers, implementation guides, managing the RFC process and through industry events such as VoiceCon, where it also can get in front of enterprise customers to explain the importance of compliance.

“We don’t want to try to make them SIP compliant, but to help them understand what it means for them,” Enstrom said.

Other companies that contributed to the SIPconnect standard include Avaya, Inter-Tel, Mitel, NeuStar, Nortel, Radvision, Siemens AG, SIPEdge, Pulver.com and Talkswitch.