The SIP Forum announces it will host the third annual SIP Network Operators Conference (SIPNOC 2013), an educational conference focused on the challenges and opportunities of deploying SIP-based carrier services worldwide. Building on the success of past conferences, this year the SIP Forum will add an extra day of special workshops and sessions, designed to educate service provider technical staff on best practices and strategies for the successful implementation of SIP-based services and applications.

SIPNOC 2013 will be held at the Hyatt Dulles Hotel in Herndon, Va., from April 22-25, 2013, and will continue its practice of providing leading technical and operations personnel from the global carrier community with educational, non-commercial and technical content focused on the real-world challenges of deploying SIP services in global IP networks.

Early bird registration is available at http://www.regonline.com/sipnoc2013. More details about SIPNOC 2013 are available on its conference website at http://www.sipnoc.org.

Broadvox announces an extension of an aggressive new promotion for its commercial SIP Trunking service. Broadvox guarantees a free 5-day installation period to turn up service on its industry leading SIP Trunks plus a 20% discount off the price of each line.

SIP Trunking saves businesses up to 70% over the cost of traditional PRIs or analog phone lines. By combining voice and data over a single broadband circuit, SIP Trunking allows customers to use broadband more efficiently and guarantees that customers buy just what they need rather than being forced to purchase a 23-channel PRI. SIP Trunking is extremely scalable so companies can purchase lines as they need them. As the alternative to traditional telephony, business SIP Trunking is projected to grow by 15% per year, as more businesses choose to take advantage of the savings and benefits of Voice over IP via an IP PBX.

Edgewater Networks announces that Panasonic’s SIP communications-based phones have been certified as interoperable with Edgewater’s Plug & Dial solution. The Plug & Dial solution uses the EdgeMarc ESBC and the EdgeView VoIP Support System to automate the provisioning of a wide variety of IP phones. This automation reduces operating expenses and improves the end-user experience for service providers delivering cloud communications services.

Panasonic phones that have been Plug & Dial certified on EdgeView version 11.7.2 include KX-UT113B, KX-UT123B, KX-UT133B, and KX-UT136B.

Vopium announced its Windows Phone app, that let's users with Windows-based phones enjoy the benefits of extremely low-cost mobile communication. The company has made major news recently after a plethora of app launches for key platforms including iPhone, Android and an industry-first Blackberry WiFi app.

The free app, available from the Windows Phone Marketplace, runs on the Windows Phone 7.5, 7.8 and 8.0 versions, and comes with 5 free minutes after sign-up. One of the most exciting aspects of Vopium's service offering has been popular unlimited call plans , as well as "Pay as you go" call credits to help consumers economize their communication budgets.

The SIP SchoolT has awarded the 1000th SIP School Certified Associate. The SSCA is the leading vendor-neutral certification for networking professionals that is globally recognized and has become the SIP certification to attain.

Sreekumar G, the 1000th recipient says, "I'm currently working as a Technical Manager in AVAYA. My primary job includes supporting the AVAYA customers around the globe who are using Unified Communications solutions. The SSCA SIP certification was very highly structured and it's helping engineers in understanding the SIP concepts, call flow, etc. I would strongly recommend engineers who are working in the SIP domain to try this as it will really help in your day to day work."

SIP certification involves a series of online SIP training modules followed by an extensive online test of the technologists understanding and application of SIP. Becoming a SSCA demonstrates that the recipient can work effectively in the VoIP environment and SIP's migration into support Unified Communications. The SIP training program is specifically designed to not only educate on SIP but teach people how to work with confidence in situations that may be completely new to them. Use the discount code "1000SSCA" when purchasing the training and taking the test.

Citel Technologies is now interoperable with 4PSA's VoipNow, Unified Communications software and cloud service for Service Providers and Businesses. 4PSA provides modern, social oriented communications as an alternative to old PBX systems, enabling customers to easily upgrade while keeping their existing phones and cabling.

The Portico TVA offers companies the means to migrate their customers to VoIP without the unnecessary burden of ripping and replacing existing cabling infrastructure, purchasing new IP phones and installing Power over Ethernet switches. Customers can retain their existing digital, analog and Centrex phones without removing the existing switches by SIP enabling those phones through the use of the Portico TVA. This is a quick and cost-effective means of VoIP migration.

Virtual PBX earned the prestigious Silver status in the Golden Bridge Awards for its Virtual PBX Complete with VoIP Anywhere. The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program encompasses the world's best in organizational performance, innovations, products and services, executives and management teams, women in business and the professions, innovations, case studies, product management, public relations and marketing campaigns, and customer satisfaction programs from every major industry in the world.

Virtual PBX Complete with VoIP Anywhere is a hosted phone solution designed to provide small and medium-sized businesses with a full-featured business VoIP service. Mobile entrepreneurs and businesses looking to telecommute will find Virtual PBX's deep feature set, smartphone apps, low rates, and lack of proprietary hardware particularly useful when shopping for a phone system that can grow with their businesses. Virtual PBX Complete was the only cloud-based phone service to make it to the final judging round in the Telecom, Cable, Broadband and Voice Category.

Sonus Networks has again partnered with John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the publisher of the For Dummies book series, to produce two new books on how companies can take advantage of the transition to SIP based communications environments. These new books are:

• SIP Trunking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition (Wiley, 978-1-118-48767-9, September 2012)
• Session Management For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition (Wiley, 978-1-118-47072-5, September 2012)

Both books are available today and complement the Session Border Controllers For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition (Wiley, 978-1-118-37742-0, May 2012) book released earlier this year.

SIP Trunking For Dummies overviews how SIP trunking, and the move to VoIP, can collectively reduce traditional enterprise telecom bills by up to 75%. A July 2012 report commissioned by Sonus and conducted by Webtorials, found that one in three enterprises have deployed SIP trunking with an average cost savings of approximately 33%.