SIP seems to be the most talked about acronym in the IT and Telecommunications industry at the moment but does it really warrant the hype? Ok so SIP or Session Initiated Protocol to give it a full title, has been enjoying a bit of an ego status for a while now, with many companies promising that this technology is the key to the pearly gates of convergence - how so? The beauty of SIP is that as an interoperable protocol it creates flexibility and choice for businesses to have a multi vendor communications infrastructure - at last we are no longer dictated to as to what products and software we can use dependant on the interoperability of the supplier with our current communications platform. With SIP the power is returned to the consumer who can choose what products and services are right for the business regardless of their integration capabilities as with SIP everything is compatible.

So how does Presence fit in? Presence just happens to be the most exciting application of SIP as it allows you to locate a user and determine their availability to communicate; this can be by phone, email, text or video - whatever is available on the network. SIP and Presence simplify communication especially for users with multiple devices, such as sales people, as all communications tools from mobiles, email and video can be integrated increasing productivity and efficiency.