ITXC, Lucent and VocalTec Publish iNOW! Internet Telephony Interoperability Profile

Business Wire, Feb 24, 1999

PRINCETON, N.J./MURRAY HILL, N.J./HERZLIYA, Israel

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1999--

iNOW! gains support in ITU and from new supporters including Alcatel, Analogic, AudioCodes, Ericsson, Linkon, NetSpeak, and OzEmail

Interline

IMTC also adds support to iNOW! initiative

ITXC Corp, Lucent Technologies and VocalTec Communications (Nasdaq: VOCLF) today announced that the iNOW!(TM) ("interoperability NOW!") Profile is available on the Lucent, VocalTec and ITXC websites as well as the iNOW! website (http://www.inowprofile.com).

Ascend, ITXC, Lucent, OzEmail, Siemens, and VocalTec submitted a contribution with elements of the iNOW! Profile for discussion at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)/SG16 Rapporteur's meeting in Monterey, Calif. in February 1999.

The iNOW! Profile, based on H.225.0 Annex G, H.323 inter-domain and inter-gatekeeper communications, is designed to quickly enable IP telephony vendors to create the interoperable platforms that customers are demanding.

"The iNOW! position was greeted favorably by the delegates," said Dale L. Skran of Ascend Communications Inc. and Rapporteur for Question 13 (Multi-media over Packet Networks). "I anticipate the final approval of Annex G in May 1999 at the SG16 meeting in Santiago, Chile. Annex G inter-domain communications is the final step required to allow large-scale VoIP networks to provide high quality service."

iNOW! originally arose from a breakthrough project in which Lucent and VocalTec worked with ITXC to develop interoperability on the ITXC network. The three companies demonstrated this interoperability (which is commercially available today) over the ITXC network at the Voice On the Net Conference in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1998.

At that show, the companies were inundated by questions from other vendors asking how they too could become interoperable. In an attempt to promote the growth of the industry, ITXC, Lucent and VocalTec agreed to publish the findings of their H.323 based interoperability.

Since that time most of the major gateway and gatekeeper manufacturers have joined in the effort and agreed to become interoperable.

New Supporters Join iNOW!

Alcatel, Analogic, AudioCodes, Ericsson, Linkon, NetSpeak, and OzEmail Interline have committed to implementing the iNOW! Profile in their products. These companies (see Addendum for quotes) join Ascend, Cisco, Clarent, Dialogic, Natural MicroSystems and Siemens who announced iNOW! support last month.

OzEmail Interline has additionally become a contributor to the Profile and has become the second service provider to endorse it. All companies that have committed to iNOW! interoperability are listed on the iNOW! website and additional companies planning support will be listed there in the near future.

Additionally, the International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC) has accepted the iNOW! initiative's request to review the iNOW! Profile for inclusion in IMTC-conducted interoperability testing events held throughout the world.

"We applaud the iNOW! initiative," said Matt Collier, president of the organization. "By reviewing the iNOW! Profile for inclusion in future IMTC testing events, we are helping drive standards based interoperability, a principle to which the IMTC has long been committed."

iNOW! supporters are active participants in standards bodies and activities such as the ITU, ETSI Project TIPHON, IETF and IMTC interoperability events. The iNOW! Profile, written by VocalTec, Lucent, OzEmail Interline and ITXC, is based on the ITU's H.323 standard as well as existing and proposed elements of H.225.0 Annex G.

The Profile is being published to encourage all Internet (IP) telephony equipment vendors to develop interoperable products and to support existing standards activity.

Today most vendors advertise that their products are H.323 compliant, yet this is not enough to achieve interoperability. Since each vendor selects different options within the evolving standard, their products cannot exchange calls.

Carriers like Bell Atlantic and ITXC Corp are demanding that manufacturers quickly become interoperable to allow IP telephony calls to be exchanged worldwide. This real and immediate business need is the key driver of the iNOW! initiative.

Tom Evslin, CEO and President of ITXC Corp, said that "Support for iNOW! means that interoperability under the ITU's H.323 standard is being achieved. This strengthens both the standard and the Internet telephony industry."

"The iNOW! Profile provides a strong solution for standards based inter-domain gatekeeper to gatekeeper interoperability," said Dr. Elon Ganor, Chairman of VocalTec Communications.

"iNOW! enables a carrier to expand its footprint by sending traffic over another carrier's network without revealing confidential customer and network information. This initiative is part of VocalTec's commitment to the development of broad standards that will support future services."

"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".