Natural MicroSystems Adds Support for RealTime Fax to Fusion IP Telephony Platform; Upgrade Includes New Tools and Support for Intel Solaris
December 3, 1998
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)At CTI Expo Fall
'98, Natural MicroSystems(TM), the
technology leader in Open
Telecommunications(TM), today announced
Fusion 2.1, the latest version of its
award-winning, scalable Internet Protocol
(IP) telephony gateway development
platform. In addition to delivering robust
voice capabilities, the Fusion 2.1 software
upgrade features real-time fax applications
code that utilizes Natural MicroSystems' new
RealTime/NaturalFax technology. This allows
developers to quickly add real time IP fax
capability to Fusion-based gateways.
RealTime NaturalFax uses advanced spoofing
technology to enable the sending of faxes
over long-delay networks, such as the
Internet.
"Fax over the Internet is a major business
opportunity for IP gateway developers and
their service provider customers," said Allen
Carney, vice president of marketing and
business development at Natural
MicroSystems. " We're reinforcing Fusion's
position as the leading open platform for IP
telephony gateways by providing strategic
technologies such as real-time fax over IP."
Support for Intel Solaris Operating
Environment
The Fusion 2.1 platform supports the Intel
Solaris operating environment with plans to
support Sun Microsystems' SPARC Solaris
operating environment in 1999. This support
for the leading development environments
enables carriers, telecommunications
companies and Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) to develop robust, open, Fusion-based
IP telephony solutions for their customers.
Analysts project the continued growth of the
Internet and integrated applications such as
IP fax. Pulver.com, an Internet-based
consulting firm, predicts that the IP fax
industry will generate $24 billion in revenue
during the next five years. Natural
MicroSystems' Real Time/NaturalFax offers
developers the opportunity to provide cost
savings of fax over IP by enabling users to
bypass long-distance telephone charges
using the Internet.
Unique Network Analysis Tool Lets Gateway
Developers Simulate And Analyze Network
Conditions
In addition to a set of GUI interfaces for
debugging, Fusion 2.1 offers a unique
network analysis tool that enables
developers to evaluate Fusion-based
gateways under various conditions.
Developers can measure network delay and
packet loss to determine the impact on voice
quality. This new tool simulates network
scenarios by introducing delays, packet loss
and packet reordering. This enables
developers to determine gateway tolerance
of adverse network conditions and optimize
gateway performance.
Delivers Voice and Fax Capabilities over IP
Networks
Fusion 2.1 enables voice and fax capabilities,
traditionally transmitted via circuit switching
over the Public Switch Telephone Network
(PSTN), to be reliably and quickly transmitted
via packet switching over IP-based
networks, including corporate intranets and
the Internet. Unlike IP telephony platforms
available from other vendors, Fusion offloads
the processing of voice and data
communications functions from the host PC,
allowing it to run more robust applications.
Additionally, Fusion supports the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
H.323 standard to support calls from a
wide-range of IP Telephony clients and
gateways, and is committed to supporting
the emerging ITU T.38 specification for
real-time IP fax interoperability.
"Quick time-to-market, cost effectiveness
and support for industry standards are
extremely important in order to meet the
growing demands for IP telephony
applications like Internet Call Manager," said
Bill McMullin, president and CEO at
InfoInterActive Inc., a developer and
enhanced services provider. "Fusion's
openness and ease of programming allows us
to provide our major telco customers with
high-capacity applications in minimal time. "
About Natural MicroSystems
Natural MicroSystems (NASDAQ:NMSS),
based in Framingham, Mass., is the
technology leader in Open
Telecommunications, providing hardware and
software technologies and consulting and
support services for developers of high-value
telecommunications solutions. The Company's
state-of-the-art technology and NaturalEdge
Portfolio of Services and Support enable a
growing international network of OEMs, VARs,
systems integrators and service providers to
reduce time to market, leverage development
resources, and offer truly global
communications products. Natural
MicroSystems products are installed in more
than 40 countries worldwide.
Founded in 1983, Natural MicroSystems
developed the first PC-based telephony
product to utilize digital signal processor
(DSP) technology and was a leader in the
creation of MVIP and H.100, the industry
standards for interoperability in PC-based
telephony products. The quality processes at
Natural MicroSystems have earned ISO 9002
certification. More information on the
company is available at
nmss.com.
Natural MicroSystems, Open
Telecommunications, Fusion, NaturalFax and
NaturalEdge are trademarks of Natural
MicroSystems Corp. CompactPCI is a
registered trademark of Ziatech Corporation
CONTACT: Natural MicroSystems | Karen
Connor, 508/271-1380 |
Karen_Connor@nmss.com | or | Lois Paul &
Partners | Carrie A. Marino, 781/238-5734 |
Carrie_Marino@lpp.com
[Copyright 1998, Business Wire] |
