A number of leading networking and Internet companies
are banding together to support a new standard that would ensure the
compatibility of Internet telephony products.
ITXC Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc., and VocalTec Communications were joined
Thursday by networking companies Ascend
Communications and Cisco Systems, IP
telephony supplier Clarent, Dialogic,
Natural MicroSystems and Siemens.
Dubbed iNOW!, the standard will ensure that Internet telephony programs and
the IP gateways that carry the traffic will all work together. Previously,
Internet telephony products used varying standards and protocols to send
the traffic. That usually required two computers to be using the same IP
telephony software before voice traffic could be sent between the two using
the Internet.
The move toward a standard began earlier this fall at an industry
conference where Lucent, IP telephony carrier ITXC and VocalTec held a
demonstration showcasing interoperability between their products. IXTC has
already deployed IP telephony gateways from Lucent and VocalTec on its
network.
The newest products from Vocaltec and Lucent are already supporting gateway
interoperability. The remaining companies in the alliance have promised
their future products will conform to the iNOW! standard.
Tom Evslin, chairman and chief executive officer of ITXC, said it was
gratifying to see so many leading companies band together to help the IP
telephony industry grow.
“This is a great holiday gift to the IP telephony industry and its
customers,” he said.
