Network Equipment Technologies announced that its UX Series with Session Border Controller (SBC), a qualified gateway for Microsoft Lync Server 2010, is now certified to work with AAPT's SIP trunking service. AAPT is 100% owned by Telecom New Zealand. The company's SIP voice service is a SIP trunking solution, allowing customers with an IP-enabled PBX or SIP gateway device to connect to AAPT via Ethernet and have their telephony traffic carried via IP utilizing Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), providing a far more scaleable alternative to traditional ISDN.

Qualification testing of NET's UX Series with AAPT's SIP trunking was performed through a collaborative effort between AAPT's interoperability team and NET. Customers seeking to integrate legacy PBX and IP-PBX solutions and deploying Microsoft's Lync Server 2010 can now use NET's UX Series as the enterprise SBC and gateway for the termination of AAPT's SIP trunking services and/or co-located E1 ISDN services. This solution provides enterprise customers with the flexibility and cost-savings associated with SIP trunking combined with the productivity gains of unified communications on the Microsoft Lync 2010 platform.

The UX Series, in an enterprise-SBC role, provides high-performance VoIP communications for enterprise Microsoft Lync deployments with AAPT. The UX Series routes SIP sessions; converts signaling and media between Microsoft Lync and the AAPT SIP trunk; and acts as a demarcation device between the enterprise network and the AAPT network for establishing a reliable communication service.

"We are pleased to have achieved this certification with AAPT's SIP trunking service, as it offers customers the ability to continue using their existing TDM services (E1 ISDN) while providing them with a platform to migrate to SIP trunking services at their own pace," said Maurizio Fragasso, Regional Manager for NET Australia & New Zealand. "This solution also offers customers a secure, reliable and flexible demarcation device to accelerate the adoption and proliferation of Microsoft Lync as a voice platform, aggregating the customer's voice traffic towards AAPT's network."

"Interest in SIP trunking services is increasing as customers are looking to reduce their operational expenses while increasing productivity through the help of Microsoft Lync. This qualification is important to NET as it enables AAPT's large network of enterprise customers to securely connect with AAPT's SIP trunking services using our UX Series with SBC," said Kevin Isacks, Chief Technology Officer of NET.