Fax-Over-IP (FoIP), SIP Based Carrier Services, Addressed by The SIP Forum and The i3 Forum

Fax-Over-IP (FoIP), Challenges http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
The SIP Forum and the i3 Forum, industry heavyweights have partnered to help the growth of SIP based carrier services including Fax-Over-IP (FoIP) globally.

“The interoperability of fax-over-IP has been a priority for the SIP Forum for some time, and the i3 Forum has had a similar focus, The partnership is a natural one and we expect it to yield tangible results in the near future as FoIP becomes a universally deployed telecom application in next-generation IP-based networks.” ” said Richard Shockey, SIP Forum Chairman of the Board.

Between i3 Frum and the SIP Forum, the latter features a broad membership of primarily telecom applications, services, and infrastructure vendors, as well as a growing list of US-based cable operators and service providers. On the other hand, the i3 Forum’s global membership focuses on international service providers.

"A key objective of this partnership is to create a global coalition of stakeholders in the telecom community - operators, researchers, engineers and equipment vendors – and work together to better address FoIP technology issues in order to speed its deployment in IP network environments. Collectively we will work to develop concrete proposals and recommended solutions.” louded Philippe Millet, Chairman i3 Forum.

The SIP Forum and its FoIP Task Group will continue working with i3 Forum membership committees on joint technical initiatives pertaining to FoIP. Collectively, the two groups will address key FoIP interoperability issues pertaining to the deployment of fax services, specifically ITU-T T.38, in SIP-based networks. The challenges surrounding IP-based fax and the use of T.38 make it difficult for users to determine if T.38 can or will work reliably and thus offer a viable alternative to traditional TDM-based fax transport.

The FoIP Task Group includes Mike Coffee, CEO of Commetrex, and Gonzalo Salgueiro of Cisco, who serve as Task Group Co-Chairs; Max Schroeder, Sr. VP. Faxcore, who serves as the Task Group Whip; and document editors including Michael Chen, LSI Corporation; and Kevin P. Fleming, Director of Software Technologies, Digium, Inc..
Active FoIP Task Group participants include representatives from companies including Alcatel-Lucent, AEMcom, AT&T, AudioCodes, Biscom, Cox Communications, Dialogic Corporation, Digium Inc., C4U Solutions, Cisco Systems, Inc., Commetrex Corporation, Comunycarse, DevFoundry Software, emFAST, Faxback Inc, Faxcore, Lexmark, LSI Corporation, NeuStar Inc, Nortel, Omnitor, Opentext, Orange, Packetizer, Sagem-Interstar Inc., Samsung, Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, Sonus Networks, Telecom Poland, and Teridian Semiconductor Corp.
The i3 Forum is focused on collaborating with the worldwide communications community,expanding more than 37 telecommunications carriers/operators in 80 countries, to expedite the transition of voice and related communications services to ones based on Internet Protocol (IP). Within i3 Forum, the WorkStream “Technical Aspects” Working Group plans to deliver in October, following the outcome of the July, 2010 ITU-T SG16 meeting, a document devoted to addressing the specification guidelines for fax gateways together with the recommended test suites.
Press Release