Cindy Waxer of VoIP news has decoded VoIP Jargon for the benefit of the average human. No longer will you have to nod your head and smile when your IT Guy starts talking in tongues.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Managed VoIP: With managed VoIP services, a third-party provider offers all of the equipment, software, operations facilities and technical expertise needed for a company to reap the benefits of an IP-enabled phone system without the costs, risks and headaches of an on-premise VoIP solution. Packages typically include the design, integration and deployment of IP telephony equipment and software, along with the management and maintenance of existing telephony solutions and the new VoIP network. To get the most out of a managed VoIP partnership, however, companies must establish a strict service-level agreement with a VoIP provider that guarantees a certain percentage of network uptime.

and

SIP (Session Initiated Protocol): A protocol for Internet telephony, SIP is a service that allows businesses that have a PBX system installed to use real-time communication technologies — including VoIP. By connecting a SIP trunk to a traditional PSTN (public switched telephone network), companies can not only communicate over IP within the enterprise, but also outside the business. What’s more, companies can replace traditional, fixed PSTN lines with PSTN connectivity via a SIP-trunking service, thereby creating a single conduit pipeline for multimedia components, including voice, video and data. As a result, a SIP-trunking service typically delivers greater cost savings and increased reliability as guaranteed by today’s SIP-trunk providers.