 Controller (SBC) at customer side Configuration of a softswitch and SBC at service provider side Testing and certification If you are considering deploying SIP trucks, most likely you have solid IP communication established. The existing physical connection for your data network can keep costs down because you might run your SIP trunks over the same connection. But, if you need to increase the bandwidth capacity of, for example, Gigabit Ethernet, you might need to install a new CPE. This kind of physical connectivity might cost between $3500 and $5000 (one time). So, before you deploy a SIP trunk, check your required bandwidth to support new calls. In this case, you might need to check the number of simultaneous calls and the codec for those calls. Just to give you an idea, a G.729-based call takes approximately 32 kbps IP bandwidth, whereas a G.711 call takes approximately 80 kbps. In most of the deployments, you need Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) as your SBC. In the Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) world, things are mature, and most of the cases are plug-n-play. You can find plenty of examples to configure your T1/DS3 ports in Cisco voice gateway. But you need to configure different kinds of parameters to make a success- ful SIP trunk deployment. You might try to configure your own CUBE by yourself; or you might ask your service provider to configure for you. Service providers usually configure their side. If they are asked to configure your side, they might ask for some money. So, when you order SIP trunk, check who will configure and test your side of the network. There is no need for additional hardware from your service provider, although your serv- ice provider might charge for provisioning a softswitch and SBC. And finally, the service provider needs some time to test the SIP trunk and certify the deployment. You might end up with significant testing efforts (depending on the com- plexity of your network and solution) before it goes into live operation. So, you need to negotiate with your service p