Commetrex and SnowShore Add Fax Extensions to SnowShore's Media Server Markup Language
Fax Finally Takes Seat at Media Server Table

For Immediate Release

Roswell, GA, October 8, 2003 – Commetrex, the only company to offer IP media server vendors the technology to terminate T.38 faxes, and SnowShore Networks, a leading provider of IP services infrastructure for wireline, wireless and broadband networks and author of the Media Server Command Markup Language (MSCML), have joined forces to extend the control protocol to support advanced fax functionality for IP services. MSCML specifies a SIP-based application-server media-server control protocol that has supported applications such as voice announcements, IVR, and conferencing. With the fax extensions, MSCML now supports unified messaging (voice, fax, and e-mail), as well as traditional fax-server functions. Commetrex has implemented MSCML for fax and delivers it as application-level example code with its host-based telephony middleware, BladeWare™, when it includes Multi-Modal Terminating Fax (MMTF) or TerminatingT38™.

“Commetrex' on-going efforts to help equipment developers avoid investing more time and money than necessary in their new products led to us adopt MSCML for use in Commetrex' new value-adding media-server telephony middleware, BladeWare," said Cliff Schornak, Commetrex' CTO. "We were pleased to find a command language that allows application and media servers to interoperate. With MSCML we can ship BladeWare to media-server developers with a ready-for-market command language that is destined for wide deployment."

SnowShore created MSCML in 2000 and submitted it to the IETF as an Internet Draft in 2002 after a rigorous two-year test and evaluation process. The protocol is used to drive the delivery of IP enhanced conferencing to wireline, wireless and broadband networks worldwide. Commetrex is one of a number of leading telecommunications vendors, applications developers, and service providers worldwide who has successfully tested and deployed MSCML in either the lab or live carrier environment.

“Developing inclusive solutions is a core philosophy at SnowShore,” continued Burger. “SnowShore authored MSCML to spur IP services creation and deployment forward. This latest development is another positive step and illustrates the benefits of MSCML’s openness and role in driving new advanced features into IP services.”

Prior to MSCML, there was no standard way to deliver SIP-based enhanced conferencing, and prior to the fax extensions of MSCML there was no standard way to implement fax functions in media servers. Basic SIP constructs, such as those described in the IETF’s “Basic Network Media Services with SIP”, served simple n-way conferencing well. However, enhanced conferencing applications also require features such as sizing and resizing, and in-conference IVR operations. MSCML payloads within standard SIP INVITE and INFO requests realize these features. Now, with the fax extensions, MSCML allows application developers to add fax to their application space.

Commetrex Corporation
Commetrex Corporation develops and markets enabling technologies designed to shorten the time to market and reduce the development cost of integrated-media telecommunications equipment. Long known for its market-leading fax and other licensed technologies, Commetrex is now completing a multi-year development effort to offer the equipment developer middleware software products and a media-stream framework, plus a comprehensive line of PCI and CompactPCI DSP-resource and network-interface boards.

SNOWSHORE NETWORKS
SnowShore Networks (www.SnowShore.com), a telecommunications equipment company, provides innovative IP communications infrastructure products to its OEM and System Integrator customers enabling them to deliver a wide array of IP solutions to their service provider markets. SnowShore’s suite of hardware-based media processing products, which include the N20® Media Server, A1™ Media Server and A1-Media Firewall, features the company’s patent pending SnowShore WireSpeedMedia™ technology, a high performance multimedia processing engine that is blended with an open and flexible platform architecture. SnowShore ‘s newest offering, the SnowShore Software Media Server, leverages this same flexibility and standards-based architecture in a smaller form factor enabling SnowShore’s customers to offer customized solutions with assured performance at scale. Founded in May 2000, SnowShore Networks is privately held and backed by Charles River Ventures, Matrix Partners, St. Paul Ventures, and 3i.