SIP Forum, UNH Lab Join Forces for SIP Interoperability
Leading Test Facility at University of New Hampshire to Support SIPit Events
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, and DURHAM, N.H. (February 14, 2007) – The SIP Forum and the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL), two of the leading organizations shaping communication technology, have formed a working partnership to support the SIPits, international IP communication interoperability test events.
SIPits are events where vendors from around the world come together to ensure that their products are compatible, and, as such, are helping to develop the personal and business communication systems of the future. SIPit 20 will be hosted by Alcatel-Lucent April 16-20, 2007 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Building on their existing relationship, the SIP Forum and the UNH-IOL will pool their technical expertise in IP communication to provide the best possible test environments for each SIPit.
The two organizations will create a complete IP network infrastructure that will be available for all future SIPit test events. The UNH lab will deliver, set up and manage the network at the location of each SIPit, and provide storage and maintenance between the events.
IP communication labs and companies take turns hosting the test events at numerous locations around the world. With the UNH InterOperability Lab and the SIP Forum providing infrastructure for each event, the SIPits will be able to offer more-consistent network capabilities to the hundreds of companies that participate in these events. It also will free the event hosts from the burden of building a network solely to support the SIPit.
The UNH-IOL hosted the 19th SIPit , in October 2006. Because of the lab’s advanced facilities, the event was particularly successful. That success highlighted the need for sophisticated network support for all the SIPits.
“The SIPits are becoming more and more complex and are integrating more components, such as session border controllers and the like,” said Lincoln Lavoie, senior engineer, UNH Interoperability Lab. “Having infrastructure like this will make it easier to build test components into the SIPits based on what we know people want to test and deploy.”
“Keeping the network running correctly during a SIPit is a daunting task,” said Robert Sparks, director, SIPit events, the SIP Forum, and vice president, research and development, Nostrum. “The event involves hundreds of new software and hardware implementations connecting to each other, some for the first time. With so many element frequently connecting and disconnecting and teams testing various topologies, network errors are inevitable. The team from the UNH-IOL is exceptionally effective at diagnosing and removing these errors so the event can focus on testing SIP.”
About SIP
SIP, the basis of most of the real-time communication services on the Internet, such as IP voice, IP video and instant messaging, was developed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). The IETF is the international organization responsible for all the basic Web protocols, such as HTTP and the mail protocol SMTP. SIP is part of the IETF’s newest generation of communication protocols, those that tie together the worlds of telecom and the Internet.
SIP offers many advantages to vendors and service providers alike, including rapid development of products and services, lower costs up front and ongoing, and a wide choice of compatible vendors and products.
About the UNH InterOperability Lab
Established in 1988, the UNH-IOL provides uncompromised, vendor-neutral third-party interoperability and conformance testing for data communications companies. For more information, visit www.iol.unh.edu or send e-mail to info@iol.unh.edu.
About the SIP Forum
The SIP Forum is an industry organization with members from the leading SIP communication technology companies. Its mission is to advance the adoption of products and services based on SIP, the leading protocol for IP communication.
The forum promotes SIP as the technology of choice for the control of real-time multimedia communication sessions throughout the Internet, corporate networks and wireless networks. The forum also directs technical activities, such as the SIPit test events, aimed at achieving high levels of product interoperability. The organization further provides information on the benefits and capabilities of SIP, and highlights successful applications and deployments.
Contact
Larry Schessel
chair, Marketing Working Group
The SIP Forum
+1-240-593-6911
press@sipforum.org
lschessel@nextone.com
Chris Volpe, PR