Jeff,
Help us out here, if you will. There is an issue among threadsters as to the relevance of compatibility and inter-operability between gateways and gatekeepers of different manufacture. Below is a press release from Ericsson.
Would you mind putting this into some kind of proper perspective for us? In other words, debunk it, clarify it, whatever, and indicate where the assertions made by Ericsson are meaningful, and how much is just plain showmanship.
Also, I made some assertions of my own, over in another thread, that I would appreciate your assessments on, also, if you don't mind, at:
Message 5252517
and
Message 5253121
Would appreciate your input, and
Best Regards, Frank C.
=============
[With thanks to RBaron of the Ftel thread:]
Tuesday July 14, 11:50 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Ericsson H.323 Gatekeeper Now Commercially Available
Industry's First Standards-Compliant Internet Telephony Gatekeeper Ensures
Future Network Interoperability and Opens the Doorway for Exciting New
Services.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1998-- Ericsson today
announced availability of the industry's first industry standard H.323 Gatekeeper System
for carrier-grade systems, which adds the network intelligence needed to introduce
dynamic new services that have been the promise of IP telephony. The Ericsson H.323
Gatekeeper System also dramatically improves the management of Internet telephony
networks and ensures future interoperability with other vendor equipment.
The system is available immediately for worldwide commercial deployment and
evaluation by service providers, research labs, Internet telephony exchange carriers,
NexGen Telcos, and visionary startups developing value-added services for IP
telephony. Ericsson presently offers a full range of IP telephony solutions being
deployed commercially in 23 countries as of May 1998.
The new system will enable Internet telephony industry players to take full advantage of
the technology by:
-- stimulating the development of advanced value-added services for
networks, such as customized service categories and profiles for
individual subscribers
-- protecting existing investments in Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) by ensuring future interoperability between different
vendors' equipment
-- enhancing the dependability of carrier class VoIP network
management
-- utilizing least-cost routing options to increase network and cost
efficiencies
-- improving network reliability because the Ericsson H.323
Gatekeeper is independent of the Gateway
The Ericsson Gatekeeper was independently and successfully tested by Telenor Nextel
at the world's first public H.323 interoperability tests during June's Voice On Net -
Europe Conference in Oslo, Norway. The system is written in Java and developed on
UNIX platform for large scaleable applications. The commercial version is available on
a Windows NT or SUN Solaris platform.
''The Ericsson Gatekeeper system is the first of its type to offer interoperability with the
major client vendors,'' explained Ivar Plahte, director of telecom over IP at Telenor
Nextel. ''Our demonstration showed how it enables operators to dramatically improve
the management of their networks. We also demonstrated the real-time Java billing
machine, which we created to keep track of billing records on our network.''
''The system's network intelligence is bound to stimulate the development of exciting
new services from existing and start-up IP H.323 application vendors, research labs and
visionary carriers,'' said Thomas Anglero, business manager, Ericsson AS. ''Those new
services will pull voice over IP out of the 'cheap phone calls' category - we have entered
the era when IP telephony can truly impact the economy.
''Commercial and evaluation versions of the Ericsson H.323 Gatekeeper System are
available to operators, research labs and vendors. The evaluation package incorporates
the full functionality included in the commercial version of the H.323 gatekeeper system
but with a limitation on the maximum number of end-users. Once operators have
evaluated the system, they will be able to upgrade easily to the full working system.
''The Ericsson H.323 Gatekeeper is a full-blown Gatekeeper system, unlike any product
now available on the market,'' added Anglero. ''When you buy a gatekeeper toolkit
from other vendors, you're getting a slice of pizza - just some source code with limited
network involvement. With the Ericsson H.323 Gatekeeper, you get the whole pie with
extra toppings.''
Companies interested in further information or wishing to order the Ericsson H.323
Gatekeeper System commercial version or evaluation package, may access the Ericsson
Web page: ericsson.com
Ericsson's full range of IP telephony solutions are available for consumers, business and
SOHO customers, commercial customers, call centers, carriers and ISPs. They include:
-- Phone Doubler provides simultaneous Internet and telephone usage
over a single analog phone line.
-- Phone Doubler at Work allows access to corporate intranets or LANs
and all related services via a dial-up connection with
simultaneous voice telephone access.
-- Phone Doubler 800 is an E-commerce solution that allows call
center capabilities over the Internet. 800-calls can be initiated
from a web page with the click of a mouse.
-- IPTC supports phone-to-phone, fax-to-fax and PC-to-phone services
over TCP/IP networks. This includes long distance calling over an
IP connection.
-- Gatekeeper is a fully H.323 compliant gatekeeper product that
allows voice over IP network providers to deploy/manage their real
time voice, video, data, billing, security and other services.
Ericsson's 100,000 employees are active in more than 130 countries. Their combined
expertise in fixed and mobile networks, mobile phones and infocom systems makes
Ericsson a world-leading supplier in telecommunications.
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