Lucent
Technologies, VocalTec
Communications and ITXC Corp. Wednesday
started an initiative to push for interoperability among IP
telephony platforms.
The iNOW! (interoperability NOW!) Profile, written by the three companies
and with Australia’s OzEmail
Interline, is based on the International Telecommunication Union’s H.323 standard as well as existing and
proposed elements of H.225.0 Annex G.
As part of the program, participating vendors are provided with blueprints
for achieving revenue-generating gateway to gateway and gatekeeper to
gatekeeper interoperability. Companies who have already signed on include
Alcatel, Analogic, Ascend, Cisco Systems, Clarent, Ericsson, Linkon, NetSpeak and Siemens.
The companies say while many firms claim they are H.323
compliant, they are not necessarily interoperable. To
facilitate the growth of IP telephony worldwide, carriers are demanding
that manufacturers quickly become interoperable to allow IP telephony calls
to be exchanged globally. iNOW is targeted toward companies looking to fuel
worldwide standardization.
“Our customers are demanding multivendor interoperable Voice over IP
solutions,” said Chris Schoettle, vice president of IP Communications,
Lucent Technologies.
“The iNOW! Profile enables vendors to deliver
‘ready-to-go’ interoperable IP telephony products within the framework of
the ITU H.323 standard.”