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Software SBC | Virtualized SBC | Virtual SBC
What is a virtual session border controller or virtualized SBC? Traditionally, a session border controller (SBC) is a
device positioned between carrier networks or between an enterprise LAN and a service-provider WAN. In the latter case, the border controller is called an
enterprise session border controller or eSBC. Whether it is delivered as a dedicated hardware session border controller or a virtualized network function, (a.k.a. software SBC) the border controller manages call (session) setup and teardown. The SBC also provides network
demarcation (demarc), or
separation (border) between network domains, as well as other types of management (control) over the data streams that pass between networks. With the growing popularity of software defined networking (SDN) and the burgeoning market development and adoption of network function virtualization (NFV), eSBC functionality is more and more often de-coupled from a dedicated hardware device and delivered as a virtual instance running as a virtual machine (VM) on top of a hypervisor. It is generally not well understood in the market why an eSBC is such a critical network element for a secure and reliable SIP-based enterprise phone system. The following publication will help close that knowledge gap.
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Who needs a Session Border Controller?
Why Virtualize?
Virtualization offers valuable benefits, including touchless, automated service deployment and activation, flexible real-time service scalability (up or down/more or fewer session licenses) through cloud-based edge orchestration, as well as greater reliability and high availability with no hardware limitations.
Virtualized SBC Applications
Whether virtualized and delivered in the cloud, or operated on bare-metal virtual customer premise equipment (vCPE), or implemented as a dedicated hardware device, an enterprise SBC is useful -- actually
necessary -- for organizations that choose to implement
SIP trunking, Hosted PBX, or unified communications (UC) services such as Microsoft Teams , Microsoft Skype for Business and Office 365 These applications, as delivered in the NFV or VNF model, are described below.
Virtualized SBC for SIP Trunking
In this scenario, virtualized software eSBC provides all the essential session border controller services as VNF for the organization that uses SIP trunking to provide the business phone system. The virtual SBC (vSBC) protects the corporate LAN form intrusions and other security threats emanating from the wide area network (WAN) with a clear network separation or demarcation point. Protocol translation (SIP normalization) ensures interoperability between the enterprise and the ITSP implementations of the SIP protocol. A common issue with Microsoft UC services is translation between industry-standard UDP protocol data units (PDUs) for SIP/RTP encoding versus Microsoft's divergent TCP implementation.
Virtualized SBC for Hosted PBX
Secure demarcation between service provider WAN and enterprise LAN
SIP normalization and interoperability among all SIP systems
QoS for crystal clear voice quality
Multi-WAN support for business continuity with voice and data survivability
Station to station calling preserves intra-office phone service during Internet or WAN outage
Edge Orchestration
Whether the eSBC is virtualized in the cloud or installed on a universal CPE (uCPE) at the subscriber premise, Network Edge Orchestration (a.k.a. intelligent edge) is typically required to activate, configure, scale (up or down), monitor and control VNF-based virtualized eSBC services.
