The Acme Packet announces that 134 service providers in 43 countries are currently delivering SIP trunking services with its Net-Net session border controllers. This data is based upon an Acme Packet-conducted analysis of its more than 750 service provider customers worldwide. These service providers are currently in the early stages of their SIP trunking service delivery and they expect more significant enterprise adoption in 2010. This analysis and other industry data indicate SIP trunking is poised for substantial growth in 2010 as service providers look to meet enterprise demand for more cost-efficient means of delivering IP connections.

To better understand usage patterns and growth opportunities, Acme Packet grouped customer responses into standard categories: competitive local exchange carriers, incumbent local exchange carriers and cable. Highlights from the study indicate that deployment of SIP trunks is increasing in each region as all types of service providers are adding it to their product portfolio. Growth in specific regions, however, is being driven largely by specific service provider types making Acme Packet believe that the SIP trunking market will be highly competitive for the next several years. Highlights of the survey reveal the following:

• CLECs and cable operators in North America are deploying SIP trunks most aggressively. This increased competition is pulling the traditional ILEC into the market and paving the way for fierce competition as service providers aggressively leverage SIP trunking to win new customers and grow market share. As it stands today, CLEC deployments show a nearly 2:1 margin over ILECs in total SIP trunks deployed.
• Europe shows the most diversity in deployments within the various service provider types with ILECs deploying slightly over 50 percent of all SIP trunks today. The report indicates that the European market will become as competitive as the North American market over the next several years as these deployments mature.
• As expected, deployments in Central and South America have been driven by ILECs. The survey data indicates that the CALA region is likely to lag behind other regions in SIP trunking adoption based on its slow start.
• Deployments in Asia are more evenly split between CLECs and ILECs, each showing a steady rise in total number of deployments.

Acme Packet’s survey results lead the company to believe that a growing number of additional service providers will offer SIP trunking services. While not the initial use for SBCs in their networks, SIP trunking has the potential to be a key growth driver for adding SBC capacity in these networks in 2010. A leading analyst firm, Infonetics Research, also noted the growth trend in its report “VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers, Biannual Worldwide and Regional Market Size, Share, and Forecasts” from October 2009. Diane Myers, directing analyst, Service Provider VoIP and IMS, for Infonetics Research reported that IP connectivity for business VoIP is forecasted to grow from 8.5 million trunks worldwide in 2009 to more than 24.3 million trunks in 2013.