SIP Protocol - Definition, History and Explanation

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, modifying, and terminating real-time sessions involving video, voice, messaging, and other communications applications and services between two or more endpoints on IP networks. Developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), SIP is an essential component in internet telephony and VoIP landscapes, providing mechanisms for setting up and controlling communication sessions. It functions independently of the underlying transport layer and can be used with several transport protocols such as UDP, TCP, and SCTP.