[March 17, 2005] SBC, VODAFONE AMONG NINE NEW MEMBERS OF RENAMED MULTISERVICE FORUM Tweet SBC, VODAFONE AMONG NINE NEW MEMBERS OF RENAMED MULTISERVICE FORUM Group Publishes Results of GMI Interoperability Event FREMONT, Calif. – March 17, 2005 - The MultiService Forum (MSF) announced today that nine companies have joined the organization. The new members are Acme Packet, Tellabs, Huawei Technologies, IP Unity, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Newport Networks, SBC, Tdsoft and Vodafone. “Our new members, some of the world’s leading carriers and system suppliers, are a testament to the technical work that the MSF promotes,” said Roger Ward, MultiService Forum president. “The telecom industry at large will benefit from the depth of technical expertise that these companies bring to our organization.” Mike Walker, group research and development director at Vodafone said, “Multiservice mobile networks are converging on IP transport and open service frameworks. We look forward to working with the MSF to accelerate the delivery of interoperable multi-vendor solutions.” Name Change Reflects Tech Focus The members of the MSF have approved changing the name of the organization from the Multiservice Switching Forum to the MultiService Forum to more accurately communicate the technical focus of the organization. The MSF’s technical work continues to support transport convergence, including switching. GMI2004 White Paper Unveiled The Global MSF Interoperability (GMI) 2004 White Paper is available to the public on the MSF website at http://www.msforum.org/interoperability/wp2004.shtml. The GMI 2004 White Paper is a comprehensive technical analysis of the MSF’s interoperability event, conducted simultaneously by 28 companies in Asia, Europe and North America. The event, sponsored by Navtel and Siemens, was hosted by Qwest in the United States, BT in the United Kingdom, NTT in Japan and KT in Korea. About Multiservice Network Technology Multiservice networks of the future will be based on distributed, open service architectures and a converged packet transport infrastructure, designed to support voice, data, video and multimedia services. With these advances, a common network infrastructure can support a range of access technologies including traditional analog lines, digital Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), broadband Digital Subscriber Lines (xDSL), cable modems and wireless access. About The MultiService Forum The MultiService Forum is a global association of service providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems. Founded in 1998, the MSF is an open-membership organization comprised of the world’s leading telecommunications companies. The MSF’s activities include developing Implementation Agreements, promoting worldwide compatibility and interoperability, and encouraging input to appropriate national and international standards bodies. For more information about the MSF and its members, visit the MSF web site at http://www.msforum.org/. ### [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]