AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC Reviews

My main use case for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is that we activated it as the Session Border Controller, the border controller, and a Media Gateway. We used a fixed IP from the client's network, which used telephony only for physical, in-person work at the agency, a public agency here in Brasília, in Brazil. During the pandemic, we activated AudioCodes Mediant interface so that it could register extensions remotely, to provide home office for the agency's professionals, including Teams. During the pandemic, AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC was essential in this case.

I had the opportunity to work with AudioCodes in support as an on-site technician at a government client, where I stayed at the G-Box Smart Space, known here in Brasília. I worked at a government client where I was on site. AudioCodes FXS converted telephony to analog extensions, conventional telephony, including for use in elevators, in deputies' offices, with the simplest possible telephony, with analog digital phones there. The ports of AudioCodes FXS would generate a 60-volt ring voltage, which we connected to the quick-coupling BLI block, internal cabling, and we did the jumpers and connections.

A point in the main use case that I believe could evolve and further facilitate my work is the replacement of modules. The boards of AudioCodes FXS were very interesting and worked effectively. They have a positive and negative point in that they would burn out relatively easily, because the FXS did not have, in the physical circuit of the board, a protection capacitor to protect it. The resistors and micro-components would burn out easily when there was feedback on the metallic network of the FXS. This module would burn out, and often the module itself would burn out. However, since it was modular, both the power supply of the equipment and the fans of the physical equipment of AudioCodes FXS, we just replaced the module, replaced the fan, replaced the power supply, and the four-port FXS module.

I also worked with physical AudioCodes that converted, which would be the Media Gateway part. It converted E1 to SIP, to E1, with BNC connector. There was the bus, functioning as if it were an E1 patch panel. It converted that bus to RJ45, so it would enter via pure SIP into our SIP server, which was a machine we ran with, actually several machines. There was a technology park there with six main servers: proxy, SIP server, database, application, the management server for the web part, and the internal PBX management system, with redundancy. I converted there to the network to reach these machines via the internal network. My history in the IP telephony area has always been with these positive and negative points regarding the physical part of the equipment, but I saw that the Media Gateway did not have issues, even with lightning in the region and power oscillation. The E1-to-SIP Media Gateway worked very effectively. AudioCodes FXS had that issue, but it was also excellent. The company carried these boards, which had 48 ports. We had around 16 FXS gateways and four E1-to-SIP gateways. The external operator's TDM E1s would arrive, the optical modems of the PSTN link, of the public telephone network, delivering the E1s, the 30 channels, and it would convert to SIP. We would put these channels into our internal PBX to handle incoming and outgoing calls. I also assisted international clients from Econ and Orange as well, who deployed SBC and deployed Teams. They activated Microsoft Teams on the network and used it as an SBC to interconnect with the operator.

A challenging point in my previous job was that it was necessary to activate media bypass on the SBC for it to work with the telephone operator I work with today, which is an important detail. We had a little difficulty with that, but after we did it, everything worked fine.

The best features that AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers in my experience are its management of acting as an SBC, border controller, and a true proxy for VoIP, in those cases I mentioned, which were really the best I saw. To interconnect with the operator and provide good security, physically in the client's internal telephony network, it was also excellent. The ability to set it as media bypass is very good. It only does the routing, delivering the media end-to-end, and the endpoints handle codec management. This includes codec G.729, G.711 a-law, u-law, and others, and it is negotiated at the endpoints when it performs bypass. For it to also do codec transcoding, I see that there are options there in the web interface that I have not tested.

In terms of how management and media control directly impacted day-to-day operations, I can add that the SIP and TDM E1 Media Gateway I worked with for more than six years with a digital device, converting to SIP, handled inbound and outbound calls easily. The ability to view in the web interface of the physical device itself is excellent. I am not talking about AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, but about AudioCodes Mediant 1000, to manage the logs of the layer two link, of the E1s, of SIP, and to check errors. This is very good. AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is interesting because in these technology parks, in the strategic cloud project, it is perfect for using SIP trunked into virtual machines. Today, telephony allows us to work with cloud PBX and use it as a SIP server, and use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC as a proxy server. This is a positive point because it brings all the know-how I have already described to the cloud. Then you can have your entire technology park in the cloud. The negative points would be bandwidth management, latency, where that data center is, where AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC instance is, the PBX, and the distance between the PBX and the SIP server, as well as security and firewall management, and how the firewall management will be carried out to protect this network from attacks.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC had a positive impact on my organization in terms of flexibility. Being able to place a VoIP proxy with an external IP to provide extension authentication via the internet, in a secure, isolated way, setting an IP, a port, and directing that internally, securely, to the client's PBX, generated flexibility for the company and security. It also increases productivity, including in that COVID pandemic timeframe.

In my opinion, AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC could be improved with more security features and VPN capabilities when you think of a SaaS machine, Software as a Service in the cloud. If AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC had the possibility of having that within the system, a more mature security module, it would minimize the need to keep creating that in Amazon Elastic, in DigitalOcean, in Contabo, whichever platform, in Azure, or wherever you place your machine. If it matures more, that would be very interesting.

I would like to reinforce that this security is different from cloud infrastructure compared to on-premises, on site at the client. When we are using an on-site AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, we are only exposing one IP on the internet, opening a port, from a machine that is in the cloud. It is completely exposed, with the firewall issue.

My comments and advice about AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC include adding VPN and connected networks. The cloud infrastructure is a different paradigm, so it requires more care in cloud architecture. If AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC itself provides this security aspect with an increasingly robust firewall, it reduces this external work of managing the security infrastructure.

I worked for more than six years with AudioCodes focused on VoIP, Voice over IP.

My experience with the stability of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is positive. I do not see complaints from customers or other customers who used it.

I did not test the scalability of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, but I believe it does have that capability.

I did not need manufacturer support for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC. I only needed support when we acquired the AudioCodes equipment, we installed and configured them. At most, when power modules or the fan of AudioCodes FXS, for example, burned out, we replaced them and requested the local reseller to supply new ones or sent them to companies that provided support that repaired the board components and carried out the actual repair of the electrical micro-components on the boards and modules. These equipment modules, when there was no way to repair them, were purchased new. There was also one I used that had Linux running as well, where we ran the SIP server inside it. It already did the job of a local VoIP server as well, and it was very good.

I previously used a different solution before AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, where the external IP was exposed on the PBX itself on the internet, without using an SBC or proxy server. This highlights the security layer I mentioned. Placing it at the border, as a proxy server for VoIP, limiting it to one IP and having it do the job of inbound and outbound gateway, routing incoming and outgoing calls, is very interesting.

I observed productivity and service maintenance being kept up and available, which relates to obtaining a return on investment from using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is that, since I worked in the technical area as an analyst, support technician, implementation, and maintenance, I did not participate in pricing, bids, and so on. However, the company had no problem acquiring new AudioCodes, either Mediant 1000, Mediant 500, 800, or Mediant Cloud. There was always ease in getting them in the Brazilian market.

Before choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I evaluated other options, but none was better than leaving the PBX itself exposed on the internet.

My advice to others who are considering using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is that AudioCodes is a responsible, professional brand, and it is worth using in your platform, in your project, strategically, whether in the cloud or on site. Overall, my experience with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC was very good. It is not for those who have a basic level of knowledge; you need an experienced analyst. It is more for an advanced level, but I highly recommend it for robust environments, projects, and large telephony projects. I gave AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC an overall rating of 9.

Public Cloud

Other

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC serves as my primary solution for establishing traditional session border control functionality, connecting the vendor cloud platform with the customer's interface, specifically using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to terminate solutions from Cisco or Microsoft, which acts as a B2B UA.

During a significant Microsoft Teams deployment, all traffic from Microsoft was being terminated at AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC before connecting to the vendor's PSTN network for PSTN termination.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC functions as a traditional session border controller serving multiple purposes from a voice point of view, anchoring traffic and manipulating SIP traffic while acting as a security layer between different networks, interfacing with vendors including Cisco, Microsoft, 8x8, and NICE by routing traffic based on its destination.

One of the best features AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers is the overall layout and functionality of the user interface, which is very easy to use, GUI driven, easy to configure and manage, and includes useful troubleshooting functionalities such as tracing calls with graphic outputs of different call legs.

The GUI and call tracing features have significantly helped my team when encountering call issues, allowing us to easily find details in the graphic user interface by entering the call's number and examining the call trace and ID, enabling us to systematically troubleshoot by mapping the call's origin and intermediate hops through different packet contents.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization as it has become part of our product suite, and none of our solutions deploy without it, reflecting its crucial importance.

While AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC aligns well with industry standards, additional features such as enhanced analytics, a refreshed GUI, and improved diagnostic tools for capturing audio and exporting call traces would be beneficial, alongside incorporating AI integrations to streamline customer specifications into configurations.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC since my first exposure in 2009, when it was being developed as a session border controller and edge devices.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is indeed stable, as evidenced by my own experiences with the product, which has performed well in extensive scalable networks handling high call volumes without significant performance issues.

The scalability is impressive, as I have deployed it across multiple regions with concurrent call volumes ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 per second, demonstrating its stability and scalability.

Customer support from AudioCodes has been good since 2009, and while they have improved over time and align with top players such as Microsoft and Cisco, there is still room for improvement, particularly at the tier one level, despite a strong escalation process.

Before selecting AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I had used various different vendors such as Acme Packet and MetaSwitch, and I switched because I required a solution certified by Microsoft for voice-based requirements, which AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC provided along with stability and ease of use.

In evaluating other options prior to choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I considered Acme Packet, MetaSwitch, and Cisco's OEM versions, but ultimately AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC emerged as the best fit for my Microsoft Teams-based solutions due to its certification, pricing, and compatibility with necessary solution features.

For anyone considering using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I strongly recommend it for voice-based solutions, especially since it is a certified product by leading vendors, ensuring stability, performance, security, and operational ease, making it a top choice among competing products. I have given this review a rating of 7.

Hybrid Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

My main use case for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC involves working for different clients where we implement AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC and other AudioCodes SBC for voice services across global sites with different geographical locations, focusing on interconnectivity and integrating various Telco and carriers for voice connectivity.

A specific example of how I have used AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC in one of my projects is the deployment for a site with 5,000 plus users, where we configured connectivity between a new site and existing sites with their on-premises telephony infrastructure and cloud or softphones to establish comprehensive communication and PSTN connectivity for the new users with new DID ranges.

I use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for many reasons, and one of the core reasons is to manage PSTN calls, control number manipulation, and have more control over call routing and trunk integration with different Telco providers from a pricing perspective, whether for national or international calls.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization by significantly reducing deployment times that previously required high levels of physical infrastructure setup, leading to quicker new site setups and eliminating the need for extensive training for engineers on cloud configurations, thus facilitating easier adoption and better scalability.

After moving to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I estimate we have saved approximately one to two weeks on deployments, and in cases of hardware issues requiring an RMA, we have saved about two to four weeks, which is a significant improvement.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers many features including message manipulation, which can rewrite or insert standard SIP headers using regex. This becomes crucial when a carrier sends a malformed P-Asserted-Identity or any non-standard contact header that Microsoft Teams would typically reject. Additionally, it automatically builds a standard TLS context, cipher suites, or SIP port profile, enhancing the configuration experience. The GUI remains consistent across different deployments like Azure and AWS, making it easier for those familiar with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to utilize without needing different documentation.

Message manipulation has significantly helped me in deployments, especially in resolving call forwarding rejections when using Microsoft Teams clients to forward incoming calls to personal mobile numbers. I encountered 403 Forbidden errors because the carrier perceived the outbound call as originating from a user's mobile number instead of their corporate number. Through AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC technology, we created a rule for P-Asserted-Identity to retain the user's number in the SIP header, effectively resolving this issue.

In addition to the features already mentioned, I would share my experience with cloud products versus previous devices. While older devices had lower RAM and would sometimes exhibit delays in saving configurations, AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has provided a smoother experience without such unresponsiveness.

Regarding improvements for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I see several points that could be addressed.

Firstly, I suggest revisiting the cloud licensing system, as I have noticed challenges with VM tie-ups to MAC addresses that need a more flexible pay-as-you-go model aligned with cloud subscriptions instead of fixed hardware IDs.

Additionally, a separate window for live SIP troubleshooting within a web browser would enhance usability, allowing engineers to view SIP ladder diagrams and call flows directly.

I believe I have mentioned all improvements needed for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for the last four years.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is very stable.

The scalability of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC in a cloud environment is notably high, allowing for easier upgrades based on load balancing and increasing concurrent call capabilities.

I rate AudioCodes customer support eight out of ten because while they offer considerable assistance, there is occasional lack of concrete information or confirmation, particularly regarding bugs or issues encountered.

We have been using AudioCodes since day one, so we did not previously utilize a different solution.

There has been a clear return on investment with AudioCodes devices, especially with the cloud solution saving on hardware maintenance and preventing service interruptions associated with physical devices.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been great, with transparency provided by AudioCodes CSM and representatives regarding these aspects.

Before choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, we explored Oracle devices briefly but decided to stick with AudioCodes for compatibility.

Overall, I rate AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC a solid nine out of ten.

I rate it a nine out of ten due to the improvements seen in cloud solutions compared to previous AudioCodes devices where configuration was cumbersome and prone to data loss, along with operational ease in checking traces and managing alarms more efficiently.

From a governance and security perspective, I trust AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to handle these aspects effectively, as they are experienced in providing secure solutions for SIP and media security.

I estimate the accuracy of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities to be around eighty percent.

Since the accuracy is eighty percent, the reliability cannot be one hundred percent either, so I consider the reliability to be similarly at eighty percent, which is generally acceptable in the context of AI capabilities.

We did not purchase AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC through the AWS Marketplace.

My advice for others considering AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is to effectively monitor and manage devices from a single portal, leveraging AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's stable products and consistent firmware updates for a reliable environment.

My overall review rating for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is nine out of ten.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

My main use case for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is specifically for direct routing for Teams telephony.

A quick specific example of how I'm using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC with Teams telephony is that we have a SIP trunk with the service provider on one side, and on the other side, we have Teams. Additionally, we have configured an internal call manager like Cisco Call Manager to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for call routing purposes.

This is our main use case. We have Teams telephony where we are using Mediant, and additionally, we have Operator Connect and a calling plan both. We have a migration plan where all on-premises users using either Call Manager or Unify OpenScape or Avaya will eventually be moved to a cloud-based solution using direct routing with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization in many ways. Once we configure things and start working, we rarely see call issues or server issues happening. From a hardware or resource perspective, it is really nice and does not bother my day-to-day operational life much, which I feel is really good.

I have seen specific outcomes with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC. My experience with other SBCs showed that we did not find many issues, but with call routing, I see that it is easy here. The number of tickets logged with AudioCodes is really low, indicating we are not receiving tickets.

The best features AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers include really good troubleshooting along with the Syslog Viewer, which helps things get done quickly. Apart from that, the good routing, normalization, scripting, and everything else makes my day-to-day life very easy.

Regarding troubleshooting and log viewer features, whenever I find issues, I enable the HTTPS-based data transfer to collect logs on the Syslog Viewer. Syslog Viewer filters the call based on the calling number and called number, and provides a ladder diagram, which makes my life really easy instead of going into Notepad and figuring out which calls could have an issue. The ladder diagram and figuring out what could be the issue really makes my life much easier compared to other environments.

I have no comment for how AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC can be improved at this time, but I acknowledge that whatever AudioCodes is doing to enhance it, they have good information and might be implementing improvements.

I do not have a wishlist feature or needed improvements to suggest for AudioCodes at this time.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for one year.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is stable.

I have not tried expansion for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, but I believe it would be much easier as we have support from our server team, who gives me the confidence that we can do it easily whenever needed.

I have not raised a ticket with AudioCodes, so I do not have comments about customer support at this time.

Previously, I was on an on-premises solution based on Cisco and Unify OpenScape. Those are on-premises solutions, but now the client is moving to a cloud-based solution. We opted for a Microsoft Teams-based PBX system, where I selected AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for our work. I believe AudioCodes has a really good interconnect with Microsoft for any troubleshooting since they are certified by Microsoft, making it sensible to prefer AudioCodes over others.

I have seen a return on investment. In the VM, if we need more resources, we can change those resources. As of now, we went ahead with the minimum resource, confident that in the future, when the requirement grows, we can upgrade, and the new fair prices will be paid by the client. That is really good, and money is being saved until the user is available to use the particular feature.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC was really nice because everything was clearly stated while selecting the product from the marketplace.

I have evaluated multiple SBCs around the world, having worked on Ribbon, Oracle, and Cisco, but I had not worked with AudioCodes before. The recommendation from my partner team and other colleagues made AudioCodes appear to be the best solution for Microsoft Teams, leading us to pick it.

I give AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC a rating of 8 out of 10 because there is always scope for improvement, and nothing is perfect in the world of technologies. The two points taken off are because no product is 100% sufficient; there is always room for improvement, as discussed in previous questions. Those two points are kept out for ensuring better features that come with different technologies and requirements of time.

The governance and security of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities are really nice because the configuration is based on the certificate and external NATed IP configuration that happens on Azure and other configurations, ensuring data coming in and out of AudioCodes is really filtered and does not impact the client environment, making it safe and really good.

Regarding AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities, I have not checked much, but I believe it deserves a rating of 10 out of 10 in terms of accuracy and reliability of output.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is deployed as a private cloud on Microsoft Azure, specifically for the client.

My advice for others looking into using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is to go for it.

Private Cloud

Microsoft Azure

My main use case for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is direct routing for customers using Microsoft Teams. For direct routing with Microsoft Teams, we have a direct trunk with our core SBC with customer-specific AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC instances for their dialing patterns, inbound, outbound, and another trunk with Microsoft Teams for their calling directly from their softphone, which is Microsoft Teams.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers excellent features including message manipulation and the easy way to capture logs through syslog. The message manipulation feature helps me in my work by allowing us to easily fix call failures due to incorrect number formats; for example, when we are sending a local dialing format, we can easily correct it by adding any country code. Syslog is very valuable for seeing the ladder diagram, IP addresses, and the communication between the SIP trunk and the ISDN trunk or the PRI trunk with the other side of the provider.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization by being cost-effective compared to other vendors in the market. It is easy to set up, not complex, and the troubleshooting is straightforward as long as I have knowledge and experience with AudioCodes devices.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC can be improved by adding more monitoring features on the interface itself. I know OVOC is available for AudioCodes monitoring, and there should be an internal way to connect with OVOC.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for five years.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is stable.

I would describe the scalability of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC as good; it is scalable when we have customer requirements in various regions, such as APAC or America.

I have not dealt much with customer support, but I would say it is neither exceptional nor poor; it depends upon the severity of the ticket and how soon they respond.

Before switching to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, we used Ribbon 1k or 2k because AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is far superior in terms of cost-effectiveness and ease of use.

I have noticed specific savings and improvements in efficiency; as part of the level-three operations team, I compared AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC with other vendors such as Ribbon 1k and 2k devices, and I discovered that this solution is more cost-effective and easy to use, with most of the features being useful.

No evaluation of other options was done before choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, as any new customers are offered only AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

I do not have specific metrics at this moment, but we have definitely seen positive outcomes as most customers prefer AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC over other vendors.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing indicates that it should not be difficult; AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is cheaper compared to other vendors.

I would rate AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC an eight out of ten because of the cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and easy implementation.

Regarding AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities, I think its governance and security can be enhanced by having the TLS feature, which is helpful for security. The accuracy of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities is good, approximately 80% or 90%.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC integrates well with our existing infrastructure as we have our core SBCs from a different vendor connected with the carriers, and then we have other SBCs that are the core SBCs connected with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, with another trunk between AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC and Microsoft Teams.

The main challenges I faced during deployment are primarily from the local carrier setup when routing calls locally within the country, as international carriers are not capable of routing the calls. AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC performs well under peak loads as we have a pair of SBCs, and it is well-managed during peak hours with local media optimization to reduce load.

I would rate the customer support an eight out of ten on a scale of one to ten. My advice for others looking into using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is to ensure the central SBC and the local AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC are set up accordingly to handle the media and the number of sessions to avoid any peak hour disruption.

My overall rating for this product is eight out of ten.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC serves as my primary solution to support SIP trunking for direct routing for Microsoft Teams. We have a SIP trunk from LoopUp, which is connected to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, and the Cloud SBC, mostly using two SBCs for high availability, connects with direct routing through the Microsoft network to Microsoft Teams.

With AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, we can connect any devices that are not directly supported by Microsoft Teams, such as analog phones on the customer side, door openers, special entries that could not be connected directly to Microsoft Teams, DECT systems, and legacy PBX systems.

The best feature of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is the security part because I can use the internal firewall of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC and easily configure classification to allow only SIP communication from configured providers. Additionally, AudioCodes support is reachable twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and provides excellent professional services.

The internal firewall and classification features help my organization by allowing only connections from Microsoft to prevent unauthorized access. For instance, we faced an issue where an attacker used an AWS IP range to emulate the Microsoft SBC for PSTN calls, but with classification, we only allowed connections from Microsoft, and the firewall settings enabled us to open media ports dynamically when the SIP connection is authorized.

AudioCodes offers a lot of different hardware and live services for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, and they also use LifeHub for bot configuration, allowing us to utilize bots for AI. We receive a comprehensive range of voice-related devices with the option to get Teams devices from AudioCodes, ensuring we have a single vendor for Microsoft Teams, which is advantageous given AudioCodes' extensive experience in voice competence and twenty-four hour professional service.

It would be nice if we could use AI on AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to automatically configure it. The upcoming firmware version will support replacing the public certificates required for Teams, so I have no further requests.

Regarding AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities, I believe it would be beneficial to use AI for configuration and troubleshooting. I notice that AudioCodes is already incorporating AI services with their live service, ensuring governance and security are well managed.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for around fifteen years.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization over the last ten years, as it has been reliable without any outages. We use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC with the Microsoft Cloud, which is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and we have not experienced any interruptions of the PSTN service for Teams.

This reliability has significantly impacted our team by reducing downtime costs to zero since we do not encounter downtime costs or high administration costs. Setup for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is a one-time process, and once configured, it requires no reconfiguration, apart from occasional firmware updates, which can be done easily through the Teams Admin Center, even for individuals less knowledgeable about Teams voice.

The stability of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is outstanding, with uptime near one hundred percent, and updates only take about five minutes.

The scalability of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is very easy to manage. As our organization grows, we can enhance the CPU and everything in the cloud, only needing to add additional licenses to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's scalability is perfect, with diverse offerings that accommodate small to enterprise businesses, as well as provider businesses.

My experience with AudioCodes customer support has been positive, as they can be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week with the right contract, and their service is quick regardless of where AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is installed around the world.

We previously used AudioCodes on-premises installation but switched to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to achieve high availability and eliminate on-premises hardware and data center issues.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC integrates perfectly with other tools in our environment because it offers an API for automatic management, allowing integration into the M365 ecosystem.

The setup for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is a one-time process, and once configured, it requires no reconfiguration, apart from occasional firmware updates, which can be done easily through the Teams Admin Center, even for individuals less knowledgeable about Teams voice.

I have not seen a return on investment.

From my perspective, the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is reasonable considering the service support that AudioCodes delivers.

I did not evaluate other options before choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

My advice for those looking into using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is to assess the number of concurrent sessions required, which will guide the decision on the appropriate resources needed on Microsoft Azure for CPU, memory, and installation. I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC serves as my primary WebRTC Gateway, functioning as the bridge between our mobile banking application and our contact center while providing in-app call functionality to call directly to a contact center agent or reach the contact center via the mobile banking application, which is embedded in the GUI.

I utilize the Cloud Edition, which is a cloud-native solution.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers exceptional scalability, orchestration via the Stack Manager, and a Kubernetes-like solution where microservices run efficiently. The cloud costs are minimal to maintain, and the interface is familiar, providing the same GUI and admin interface and shell commands. The commands remain consistent, making it a stable and familiar device, and I find the OVOC platform quite useful for configuring the monitoring.

The orchestration with the Stack Manager benefits my team significantly because we operate three environments: a development one, a test environment, and a productive environment. Without the Stack Manager, performing actions such as key rotation or certificate changes requires manual orchestration. However, with the Stack Manager, everything is automated, and deploying additional SBC instances or virtual machines and software updates does not require manual intervention because we simply inform the Stack Manager what we need, making it excellent that it is embedded.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization by providing backup PSTN connectivity for our contact center solution and the connection to our customers. Deploying it allowed us to instruct our customers to use the mobile banking application directly, which represents a major technical and customer experience improvement. It also enables us to record calls automatically, something not possible via standard PSTN calls where users must identify themselves. Via the mobile banking application, customers are already authorized, so recording can be done manually, which is a great feature being widely used by our customers. Additionally, using Genesys Contact Center enables us to deploy agents and AI assistants due to this connection.

Since deploying AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I have noticed specific metrics showing that most of our calls do not hit the PSTN at all, demonstrating very good call quality. As a result, we do not utilize other SBCs we have, indicating clear cost savings.

I believe there is little that can be improved with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, as it represents the best SBC available, and you can obtain it directly from the cloud store, specifically from the Azure marketplace, which works out of the box. I have not identified any needed improvements or wish list items for future releases, and I believe AudioCodes is performing quite well.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC specifically for three years, utilizing the SBC as a WebRTC Gateway exclusively.

For others looking into using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I advise considering cloud costs, which can be unpredictable. Securing someone from AudioCodes as a consultant to help deploy the SBC in a way that saves future cloud expenses is beneficial because scaling can lead to exponential cost increases. It is wise to assess potential cloud costs over the next three years and secure a professional AudioCodes implementation engineer for your project rather than relying on external consultants or partners. I would rate this product a ten out of ten.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

My main use case for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is for Teams Direct Routing setup, providing the enterprise voice solution to customers to have the voice calling feature from Microsoft Teams to the PSTN.

A specific example of how I use it day-to-day is for enterprise voice calling.

I have two kinds of setups with AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC: one where we inbuild existing PBXs to the customer environment and another where customers are migrating from Cisco to Microsoft Teams Direct Routing.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted my organization by simplifying configuration compared to Ribbon SBC, which was complex for me. This configuration is easy as we can manipulate messages and change headers as per the provider's requirement.

Regarding positive outcomes after switching from Ribbon SBC, there are cost benefits since AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is cheaper, and for internal setups, an external certificate is not required; we handle it via internal self-signed certificates. This makes configuration easier.

The best features AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers include interoperability with existing PBXs or any local PSTN provider.

Interoperability has helped my organization significantly because I work with different kinds of customers using both analog phones and IP phones, meaning Teams-compatible hard phones. I can use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to connect the analog phones to the SBC, allowing customers to use analog phones as well as log in to the Microsoft Teams cloud and utilize hard phone facilities. For calling, we can route the call from Teams cloud to any provider or to analog phones, and we can even connect Cisco devices via the trunk.

Regarding the features of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, the management is a bit complex to configure, but it is easy to access via SSH and the UI, accessible in both ways. Scalability is also flexible; we can use it for large setups or small setups, as AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC can handle both small and large users.

I think AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC could be improved because when I was logged in using the admin account and created another account on the SBC, deleting the admin account was allowed, which could lead to losing all the environment setup and configuration, preventing access to the existing SBC.

As for needed improvements, the documentation is good for new configurations, but for the syslog server, sending syslog data requires minimal configuration. Customers want CDR data in Excel-like CSV files with headers, which is not available currently, making it difficult for those who do not have AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC syslog knowledge.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for around six years.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is much stable.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's scalability is impressive; we can set it up in any environment, and it offers great interoperability, making it more scalable.

Customer support for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is good; whenever I raise a query, I receive prompt responses, such as when I emailed regarding licensing and received a response within ten minutes.

I would rate the customer support a nine out of ten.

I previously used Ribbon SBC and switched to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC when I joined Orange Business, where we also have Ribbon for regions where AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is unavailable, but we primarily use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC as Orange has a deal with the vendor to provide it at a low cost.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is deployed in my organization in two kinds of environments: one is an on-premises setup with boxes on the remote side, and another is a central setup where Microsoft Teams connects to a central SBC hosted on Azure cloud, which connects to a cascaded setup with a remote SBC available in the customer network.

We use Azure as the cloud provider for our deployment.

I have seen a return on investment; for interoperability, we can connect multiple vendors such as Cisco, Avaya, local PBXs, and provide connectivity to analog phones without needing to replace them.

For pricing, I am not on the sales team, but I know we manage licensing by purchasing it directly from AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC vendor and using an OVOC server to dynamically assign the license, pushing it from the OVOC server to the specific SBC.

Before choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I evaluated other options, but I prefer AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC as my first choice, switching to Ribbon only when AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is unavailable in specific regions such as Cairo, Egypt.

I rate AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC a ten out of ten because, compared to Ribbon, which was complex, this solution deserves a perfect score.

I chose a ten out of ten because of the simple configuration process; we can upload an auxiliary file and update it anytime without losing existing configurations, plus the interoperability feature allows multiple trunks to Avaya, Cisco, the Teams side, or any local PBX.

Regarding AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's governance and security, it uses TLS certificates for the trunk, but I cannot provide more details about security and governance beyond this.

For accuracy and reliability of output pertaining to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities, it is always reliable, securing all traffic using a three-way handshake protocol over TCP with TLS.

For others looking into using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, I advise that the configuration is easy and they offer good customer support. My overall rating for this product is ten out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC serves as the main communication solution between our internal telephony systems and our telecom operators, who are our suppliers. The integration between internal telephony and external providers is effectively supported by AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC offers excellent features including ease of configuration, integration between devices, and management capabilities.

The ease of configuration and management significantly simplifies the IT team's daily work by enabling the ability to copy multiple configurations between devices as long as they have the same software version. The devices can interact with each other and maintain high availability.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC has positively impacted our organization by centralizing the devices across a few locations and integrating them via the network. This centralization has delivered measurable benefits including process optimization, efficient resource use, and improved management.

A single configuration page for all devices could be an improvement for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC at the company for more than five or six years. I do not currently use the tool myself, but my colleagues do.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC handles increasing demands and changing needs effectively based on my experience.

The customer support from AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC was very smooth and helpful when I needed to contact them. Since I do not work directly with the support team currently, I cannot speak in detail about how the service is now.

We used a different solution previously, but I do not remember which one it was. I am certain it was decentralized.

Before choosing AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, other options were evaluated through a bidding process, so I cannot know for certain which ones were considered.

My advice for others considering using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is to study it and make use of the support and the usefulness of the manuals, which are easy to use and accessible. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

On-premises

Other

I use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for interconnection and call routing between Microsoft Teams and on-premises phone systems, and that has been the focus of my project work.

I created a tenant on Microsoft Azure to deploy AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, where I have an Avaya Communication Manager on-premises. I created a NAT on the firewall public IP address to allow communication between the on-premises phone systems and AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC in the cloud. I secured an SSL certificate from GoDaddy to deploy directly on AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC to establish a TLS connection to Microsoft Teams. From there, I created a SIP trunk from AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC directly to Microsoft Teams and another SIP trunk directly to the on-premises PBX, which has a TDM gateway allowing Microsoft Teams to consume the TDM on-premise E1 or PRI line. After implementing the project, I was able to call on-premises telephone systems from Microsoft Teams, and I can also utilize Microsoft Teams to consume the E1 line to call a PSTN line, which encapsulates the main focus of my project.

We utilize AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for call routing, specifically deploying a Huawei AICC, known as the Huawei Artificial Contact Center Intelligence, in a South Africa data center, where AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC serves as an intermediary connecting to other on-premises systems across Africa for call routing and SIP signaling.

The best features of AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC are its capabilities in handling and routing large volumes of traffic through different routing methods, including the manipulation of contact headers and SIP signaling to ensure compatibility with other SIP devices or applications, and it is also utilized in IMS call routing scenarios.

In scenarios with complicated routing for large enterprise customers possessing finite or infinite phone numbers and routing numbers, AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC allows me to declare different routing numbers and carry out simplified routing compared to traditional on-premises phone systems.

I also use AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC as a load balancer, with both primary and secondary systems acting as active and standby in order to achieve failover on Microsoft Teams on-premises connections using an SBA. AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC positively impacts my organization by supporting the reselling of SIP trunk services to end-user clients, where our SIP services are terminated on AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC, enabling us to act as a reselling platform for customers who wish to purchase SIP trunking services.

In terms of cost savings and increased efficiency, I find that AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is best suited for SME businesses, particularly in enterprise environments. I recommend it for enterprise customers due to its cost-effectiveness.

My understanding regarding potential improvements for AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC suggests the need for alignment with additional public cloud providers beyond just AWS and Azure to enhance their marketplace presence. The improvement I would recommend is to align AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC with other public clouds, beyond merely being available on AWS and Azure.

I have been using AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC for about seven years now.

AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC stands out not just as an SBC but also as a capable proxy for SIP signaling, routing, and various telephony system functionalities. I rate AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC a nine out of ten because of these capabilities, though it misses a perfect score.

Regarding AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC's AI capabilities, I feel that its reliability is not one hundred percent accurate, particularly in analyzing SIP issues and log-related problems.

My advice to others considering AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC is that it is the best SBC available for voice environments, and I recommend AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC one hundred percent to other customers.

I have assigned a rating of nine out of ten to AudioCodes Mediant Cloud SBC based on its outstanding performance and capabilities.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure