Cbeyond announced that chief technology officer Chris Gatch has been re-elected to the Session Initiation Protocol Forum Board of Directors. The SIP Forum is an industry association composed of decision makers from leading IP companies that seeks to further the interoperability and adoption of products and services using SIP communication tools.

During previous leadership roles with the SIP Forum, Gatch engineered the transition of the SIPconnect Interface Specification, which facilitates connections between users and service providers, from Cbeyond to the SIP Forum. In 2006, a team led by Gatch released the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation establishing the first industry standard for SIP trunking between IP PBX and service provider networks. During his new term he looks forward to supporting the SIP Forum’s roll out of a major update to SIPconnect in version 1.1.

“A good sign a technology standard is gaining acceptance is when it evolves to the point of helping vendors, providers and customers resolve their biggest issues,” said Gatch. “SIP has become the industry standard which enables small businesses to control their real-time multimedia communications without sacrificing quality or money. I will continue to work with the SIP Forum to uncover additional ways the technology can meet the needs of small businesses.”

A veteran of the telecommunications industry with more than a decade of VoIP technology experience, Gatch is serving his third term on the SIP Forum Board of Directors.

Cbeyond was the first VoIP service provider to embrace SIPconnect and was also one of the first to launch successful SIP trunking capabilities. Today, Cbeyond offers a full suite of BeyondVoice services with SIPconnect to provide the IP phone and data services necessary for efficient business operations.