This handbook describes the architecture and the operational steps to install, operate and modify the Sipwise C5 CE.

In various chapters, it describes the system architecture, the installation and upgrade procedures and the initial configuration steps to get your first users online. It then dives into advanced preference configurations such as rewrite rules, call blocking, call forwarding, etc.

There is a description of the customer self-care interface, how to configure the billing system and how to provision the system via the API.

Finally, it describes the internal configuration framework, the network configuration and gives hints about tweaking the system for better security and performance.

Sipwise C5 (also known as NGCP - the Next Generation Communication Platform) is a SIP-based Open Source Class 5 VoIP soft-switch platform that allows you to provide rich telephony services. It offers a wide range of features (e.g. call forwarding, voicemail, conferencing etc.) that can be configured by end users in the self-care web interface. For operators, it offers a web-based administrative panel that allows them to configure subscribers, SIP peerings, billing profiles, and other entities. The administrative web panel also shows the real-time statistics for the whole system. For tight integration into existing infrastructures, Sipwise C5 provides a powerful REST API interface.

Sipwise C5 has three solutions that differ in call capacity and service redundancy: CARRIER, PRO and CE. The current handbook describes the CE solution.

The Sipwise C5 CE can be installed in a few steps within a couple of minutes and requires no knowledge about configuration files of specific software components.

Opposed to other free VoIP software, Sipwise C5 is not a single application, but a complete software platform based on Debian GNU/Linux.

Using a highly modular design approach, Sipwise C5 leverages popular open-source software like MySQL, NGINX, Kamailio, SEMS, Asterisk, etc. as its core building blocks. These blocks are glued together using optimized and proven configurations and workflows and are complemented by functionality developed by Sipwise to provide fully-featured and easy-to-operate VoIP services.

After downloading and starting the installer, it will fetch and install all the required Debian packages from the relevant Debian repositories. The installed applications are managed by the Sipwise C5 Configuration Framework. This configuration framework makes it possible to change low-level system parameters in a single place, so Sipwise C5 administrators don’t need to have any knowledge of dozens of different configuration files from different packages. This provides a bullet-proof way of operating, changing and tweaking an otherwise quite complex system.

Once configured, integrated web interfaces are provided for both end users and Sipwise C5 administrators. Provisioning and billing API allows companies to tightly integrate Sipwise C5 into existing OSS/BSS infrastructures to optimize workflows.

The Sipwise C5 CE is specifically tailored to companies and engineers trying to start or experiment with a fully-featured SIP-based VoIP service without having to go through the steep learning curve of SIP signalling. It integrates the different building blocks to make them work together in a reasonable way and implements the missing components to build a business on top of that.

In the past, creating a business-ready VoIP service included installation and configuration of SIP software like Asterisk, OpenSER, Kamailio, etc., which can get quite difficult when it comes to implementing advanced features. It required implementing different web interfaces, billing engines and connectors to existing OSS/BSS infrastructure. These things are now obsolete due to the Sipwise C5 CE, which covers all these requirements.