What does a Session Border Controller (SBC) do?

A Session Border Controller (SBC) secures and controls real-time communications by admitting end devices (such as two phones) to the session (or not admitting them, as needed), and then directing communications between the end devices and any intermediate devices on the network. SBCs are deployed at the network perimeter (that is, at the network’s border) so that they can control and secure real-time communications for both enterprises and service providers. Learn more about Session Border Controllers: What is a Session Border Controller.

Key Capabilities of a Session Border Controller include: 

  • Securing the real-time communications network
  • Enabling SIP trunking
  • Interconnecting and interworking networks and protocols
  • Acting as session traffic cop
  • Intelligent routing and policy controls
  • VPN tunnels
  • Firewalls

SBC Glossary

Learn definitions for common terms used in SBC and Cloud Communications solutions. 

 

  • Cloud-Native: Based on the use of containers rather than virtual machines (VMs)
  • Containers: A container is a running process with resource and capability constraints managed by a computer’s operating system. Containers run adjacent to each other on the same machine, but are typically prevented from interacting with each other.
  • Kubernetes: An open source container orchestrator. It automates the lifecycle of containerized applications. 
  • SIP Trunking: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an industry-standard protocol for establishing and controlling Voice over IP (VoIP) sessions and other forms of multimedia IP communications sessions such as video and text messaging.
  • STIR/SHAKEN: Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN) is the proposed standard to mitigate unwanted robocalls who use caller ID spoofing to increase the chances of speaking to a subscriber.
  • Direct Routing:
  • IMS: IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) enables Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over New Radio (VoNR), solving the challenge of unsupported voice when 4G / 5G roaming, removing the need for Circuit Switched Fall Back (CSFB). It bridges the gap between generations of voice to deliver seamless communications
  • VoLTE: Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is a way that operators can transfer traffic for voice over LTE in a standardized manner. In the beginning
  • SWe: Software Edition
  • CNe: Cloud Native Edition

 

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    SBC 1000 Datasheet

    Ribbon’s SBC 1000 Session Border Controllers provide market leading security and interoperability elements to simplify access to secure cloud-based services.

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    SBC SWe Datasheet

    Customers can deploy the SBC SWe as a Virtual Machine (VM) as a Virtual Network Function (VNF) in an OpenStack cloud infrastructure, or as a VNF in a public cloud.

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    RAMP Datasheet

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