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[October 23, 2003]
Commetrex And SnowShore Networks Extend Control Protocol To Support Advanced Fax Functionality For IP Services
Commetrex, which offers IP media server vendors the technology to terminate T.38 faxes, and SnowShore Networks, a 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.
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