HMP Media Servers Exposed!
Think you know what an HMP media server is? Think again. Sometimes things are not as they seem to be, and HMP is a prime example. What's the "P" in HMP stand for, anyway? Processing you say. Of course, but do all HMP media servers actually process the media stream, or just the media stream's buffers?
We're not just talking about semantics, here. The differences between the three types of HMP media servers can not only determine whether your current application will work, but whether the same system will handle your next application.
If you're interested in media servers, you're probably interested in HMP media servers. And, if that's the case, you'll be interested in Mike Coffee's new "CEO Letter". To read it click here.
You Gotta Go To VON
Join Commetrex at VON Fall 2006 in Boston September 11 - 14. Now in its 10th year, VON is the premiere tradeshow for VoIP, and, as you know, IP telephony is hot. For some time, you couldn't pick up an industry journal without reading about VoIP. Then, it showed up in mainstream business publications. And now it's the daily newspaper.
If you're part of the telecom industry, you need the latest information on IP telephony and video, and you’ll find it at VON. And if you're there, we hope you visit Commetrex in booth 1155 to learn about BladeWare, the industry's most architecturally advanced HMP (all-software) media server.
BladeWare is Commetrex' host-media-processing telephony middleware, a value-adding platform for the telecom-equipment OEM and system developer. IMS-ready, BladeWare supports IP-based network and enterprise voice and fax services. Fax2Email is a client application that uses BladeWare to accept SIP calls and to receive faxes using Multi-Modal Terminating Fax (MMTF). MMTF terminates both T.38 fax relay and G.711 pass-through fax, the latter being required to interoperate with gateways that do not support T.38.
We look forward to seeing you in Boston, and to welcoming you to our booth.
If you have any questions about Commetrex' participation in VON, call Alex Adams at 770-449-7775 x320 or aadams@commetrex.com.
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Skype is Amazing!
Have you tried Skype? The consensus here is that its audio quality is toll quality or better. (Gotta be a wideband codec.) Quite an accomplishment.
In 2002 Skype began offering a peer-to-peer (P2P) PC-to-PC no-fee voice service. All subscribers had to do was download the Skype software and equip their computer with the equivalent of a telephone headset. Skype's P2P technology is based on that developed for the Napster and KaZaA peer-to-peer file (music)-sharing network. But instead of the structured data of a file transfer, the network processes calls (like telephony) and streams the media in real time. Examples of other P2P networks are Napster, File-Sharing, Collaboration, Freenet, and Gnutella. These networks are based on open-source software, and are intended for data-file exchange, not real-time data transfer, such as that required for a voice or a fax call. The Skype technology also includes a method of traversing firewalls and handling Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow Internet packets to flow in real time between the two correspondent Skype clients. And the resulting audio quality is impressive.
Skype is now getting some competition. Here comes Google Talk, AOL's Total Talk, Damaka, and others. Google's entry is interesting as it is based on the XMPP/Jabber IM protocol, which supports addressing federation. Skype, AOL, and others solved the problem of telephony addressing being a closed, teleco-only dea, by creating their own closed addressing systems. But XMPP allows Jabber servers to discover addresses on federated servers.
The growing intersection of IM/social networking/Web 2.0 networking and telecom is fascinating to watch. We will comment from time to time, so watch this space.
Remember the CTI bus wars of the '90s?
There's been a lot of IMS hype, and it may be deserved. The purpose of IMS is to make the deployment and delivery of network-based value-adding applications more cost-effective. There's a lot to IMS, but it all has to do with finally connecting a caller with a service. And the IMS components that actually deliver the service are the application servers and the media servers. All the other stuff is there to get the caller connected with the service, do billing, etc.
But today there is much controversy within the app server-media server community over the control protocol that should be used between the two network entities. Not unlike the CT bus wars of the mid-'90s, we now have the media-server-control-protocol wars of the mid-00s.
A few years ago Cantata (nee Brooktrout, nee Snowshore) developed Media Server Command Markup Language (MSCML). This control protocol allows an application server to control a media server within a SIP-based service network, such as IMS. When SnowShore wanted to add support for fax they came to Commetrex. Cliff Schornak, Commetrex' CTO, worked with Snowshore to add the fax extensions, which are there today. (Click here for more on MSCML.) A few months later Convedia released MOML and MSML which, like MSCML, was designed to improve the ease of audio-conferencing system development, but does much more. Convedia also came to Commetrex to add fax, which we did. Both of these have been submitted to the IETF, but Cantata and Convedia are now duking it out in the media server control wars.
So, just as the ECTF ended the Dialogic-NMS PCM bus wars with H.100, there is an industry group out to end the media-server-control wars by developing a compromise protocol called Media Server Control Protocol. Click here for more on Media Server Control Protocol.
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