Cisco CUSP End-of-Support - Are you prepared?

If your business relies on Cisco Unified SIP Proxy (CUSP) to manage SIP signaling and call routing, it’s time to start preparing for a significant change.

Cisco has officially announced End-of-Life (EoL) for CUSP Version 10, with support ending on September 30, 2025. After this date, the product will no longer receive technical support, security patches, or bug fixes. For many enterprises, this creates both an operational challenge and a strategic opportunity.

What does End-of-Support mean for you?

When Cisco stops supporting CUSP, organizations still using it will face several growing risks:

• No more security patches or updates – leaving the door open to new vulnerabilities
• Increased downtime risks – without vendor support or bug fixes
• Compatibility issues – with evolving UC platforms, SIP trunks, or compliance standards
• Operational bottlenecks – as network teams spend more time maintaining ageing infrastructure

If CUSP is part of your voice core or SIP routing architecture, the clock is now ticking toward a critical deadline.

Why this matters

CUSP has been a central SIP routing component in many enterprise and service provider environments, enabling call control, SIP trunking, and platform interconnectivity. But with Cisco retiring the product, organizations must assess the impact on their voice architecture and plan a reliable, scalable alternative before support disappears.

Some key questions to consider:

• Can your current SIP routing setup scale with business growth and cloud integrations?
• Are you prepared to support CUSP internally without vendor help?
• Is your voice network ready for Microsoft Teams, Operator Connect, or future SIP providers?

Without a supported platform, making any changes - or even standing still - becomes a risk.

So what are the options?

If you're using Cisco CUSP today, your next step should be evaluating replacement strategies:

1. Stay on CUSP (not recommended): This risks security and performance issues post-EoL.
2. Migrate to another Cisco solution: May require significant redesign and may not deliver equivalent SIP routing functionality.
3. Move to a supported SIP routing platform that offers both flexibility and long-term vendor commitment.

Plan your CUSP replacement with Aura

To support organizations impacted by the Cisco CUSP End-of-Support deadline, Aura offers a structured and future-proof approach - built around Ribbon’s leading SIP technologies.

Whether you're managing a single voice core or a complex, distributed SIP architecture, Aura can help design and implement a solution that meets today’s needs and tomorrow’s demands.

Our solutions includes:

• Ribbon PSX (Policy and Routing Server)
  Replaces Cisco CUSP as the intelligent SIP core, delivering advanced call routing logic, policy enforcement, and number normalization across your environment.
  
• Ribbon SBCs (Session Border Controllers)
  Provide secure SIP trunk connectivity, voice firewalling, media handling, and interoperability across platforms - including Microsoft Teams, legacy PBXs, and carrier networks.
  
• Ribbon RAMP (Ribbon Application Management Platform)
  Ideal for organizations with distributed or multi-site deployments, RAMP provides centralized license and node management across all Ribbon components.

Key features & benefits of these solutions include:

• Advanced policy & routing logic
  Enables intelligent call routing based on caller identity, destination, time-of-day, cost, load-balancing, and custom business rules.
  
• Full number normalization
  Simplifies complex, multi-country dialing plans and ensures seamless interoperability between Teams, PBXs, SIP trunks, and other voice platforms.
  
• High availability & resiliency
  Designed with geo-redundancy, failover, and carrier-grade reliability built-in to support business continuity at scale.
  
• Cloud-ready or on-prem deployment:
  Deploy natively in Azure, AWS, private cloud, or on-prem - whichever best fits your operational model.
  
• Security & compliance
  Ribbon SBCs deliver built-in encryption and signaling/media security (TLS, SRTP), helping you meet modern compliance requirements and secure SIP communications.
  
• Smooth Microsoft Teams & cloud integration
  Fully compatible with Direct Routing and Operator Connect for Teams, supporting hybrid UC environments and cloud migration strategies.

Why Aura for your CUSP replacement?

As your trusted partner, Aura manages the entire transition from CUSP to Ribbon, ensuring zero disruption and full alignment with your business objectives.

Here’s how we support your migration:

• Conduct a detailed assessment of your current SIP architecture
• Design and implement a Ribbon-powered replacement, whether it’s SBC, PSX, or both
• Integrate with your existing UC ecosystem, including Microsoft Teams, legacy PBXs, and SIP trunks
• Provide ongoing support and lifecycle management, ensuring performance, security, and compliance well beyond day one

Don’t wait until September, act now!

The End-of-Support deadline is closer than it seems. Starting your planning now ensures you have time to evaluate, design, and implement the right solution - on your terms, without pressure.

Aura can help you navigate the transition with Ribbon’s industry-leading solutions. Get in touch today to start your journey.