Nortel Wants to Take VoIP to the Next Level

Taking a page from open source initiatives, Nortel Networks announced a global strategy at SUPERCOMM to jumpstart mass market adoption of SIP-based multimedia by making it easy to 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 those with certified compatible manufacturers.

“There are not enough SIP clients out there to provide a choice to consumers,” explains Thom Baker, product line manager at Nortel. “We want to seed the market with clients and devices, and interoperate with different products,” the theory being that 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 a SIP device,” he adds.

Nortel will publish a comprehensive documentation suite to enable third-party development and testing of SIP-based clients and terminals, including test cases. The test cases allow program participants to follow the procedure to “pretest” before paying for interoperability testing by Nortel, reducing their investments in the process. Under an open client enrollment strategy, Nortel may approach vendors to offer them free testing. If the product passes, a $2,500 fee allows the third-party vendor to list itself as Nortel-compatible.

Nortel also offers an option for companies to join its developer program, which now has 350 members. For $500, members can access specifications and technical support.

The program has gained some traction. Texas Instruments Inc. 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 their 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 Uniden America Corp., i3 micro and Polycom Inc. also are on board to develop interoperable products for wireless, CPE and management services, and video conferencing, respectively.

“We spend a lot of time talking about technology,” says Baker. “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.”

Nortel also will provide program participants a Theme Designer Kit (TDK) so they can modify the MCS multimedia PC soft client to meet service provider branding requirements, or to provide customization in colors, backgrounds and other elements to end users. The TDK will be available in the fourth quarter of 2004.

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