VoIP Vendors Move Mainstream

Addressing Application Development, Management

“We spend a lot of time talking about technology,” says Thom Baker, product line manager at Nortel Networks. “We’re trying to take this to the next level and target the consumer, to give them choices of applications and devices. That’s what it’s going to take to realize the promise of IP technology.”

In line with that thinking, Nortel has launched a global initiative to jumpstart mass market adoption of SIP-based multimedia by making it easy for device manufacturers and other vendors to interoperate with its Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) 5100 and 5200 products. It hopes to add at least 40 vendors to its roster of certified compatible manufacturers.

“There are not enough SIP clients out there to provide a choice to consumers,” explains Baker. “We want to seed the market with clients and devices, and interoperate with different products.”

Nortel believes that having more available, interoperable devices will lead to cheaper manufacturing costs, more affordable clients and more end-user adoption. “You should be able to walk into Best Buy or Wal-Mart and buy an SIP device,” he adds.

The program has gained some traction. Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) plans to adapt its VoIP reference designs for SIP-based chips in terminal adapters,VoIP gateways and IP phones to achieve Nortel MCS interoperability, extending clients to service providers, enterprises and consumers.

“Any vendors that use [TI’s] chips will be compatible with us,” says Baker. “They own around 80 percent of the market, so we’d like to see a lot of consumer SIP devices at the next Consumer Electronics Show.”

Third-party vendors i3 micro, Polycom Inc. and Uniden America Corp. also plan to develop interoperable products for video conferencing, wireless, and CPE and management, respectively.

Once devices are deployed, the next crucial step becomes providing the ability to use them regardless of the service provider’s infrastructure vendor. VocalData Inc. has launched Version 5 of its application server, with increased SIP support/interoperability for a long list of new integrated access devices, softphones and physical IP phones. It also recently announced an agreement with Mitel to integrate Mitel’s family of IP and SIP phones with the application server.

“It’s critical to make the end-user experience hassle-free,” says Mark Whittier, vice president of corporate marketing for VocalData.

In addition to interoperability issues, vendors hope to bolster the appeal of VoIP to end users.

For example, Sylantro Systems Corp. has a developers’ program for SIP-based applications for hosted communications. The idea is to facilitate rapid development of new applications to better meet end-user needs. The program supports open standards like Enterprise Java Beans, SOAP, VXML and CORBA, which enable unique call control, provisioning and portal development capabilities. OSS integration also is part of the initiative.

Meanwhile, VocalData’s Version 5 includes a new residential package for service providers, including features such as call block, call return, privacy/caller ID blocking and enhanced 911 support.

Service providers like Vonage Holdings Corp. and Genesys Conferencing are beginning to offer some of these applications.

Vonage plans to deploy UTStarcom’s PCMS voice mail application so customers can access voice messages either by phone, online or via email.

The company initially will offer the service to its customers in the United States and Canada and plans to expand the service globally by the end of 2004. Genesys, meanwhile, intends to use Convedia Corp.’s media servers for IP audio and Web conferencing. That will enable Genesys to rapidly provide customized SIP applications to meet market needs and also to optimize its infrastructure.

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