i3 Forum Issues "Voice Over IPX"
Paris (FR), November 2010 - The i3 Forum, which is comprised of more than 37 telecommunication providers representing a combined retail base in excess of 1.5 billion customers in over 100 countries, has announced the release of the official document outlining the technical and commercial specifications for Voice over IPX.
Using the GSMA IPX architecture as a baseline, "Voice Over IPX" contains the implementation specifications for voice service within the framework of IP Packet Exchange (IPX).
"This document is a key contribution to the industry by the i3 Forum", says Philippe Millet, Chairman, i3 Forum. "Such widely agreed-upon guidelines were not available until now. It will allow carriers who wish to do so to implement voice services in an IPX environment. This is one of the many ways to move towards an all-IP world, a goal of the i3 Forum."
IPX is a multiservice, converged, global interconnection model designed by the GSMA to carry existing services as well as next-generation services. It offers the benefits of IP, while adding controlled Quality of Service (QoS), security, cascading session-based billing, and multilateral interconnection possibilities.
This comprehensive document provides a set of specifications to achieve the basic requirements for areas such as IP routing, signalling, media, security, quality-of-service control, and service routing. Based on the June 2010 version of the GSMA IPX requirements, -œVoice over IPX- also highlights the business perspective on the multilateral hubbing connectivity mode.
"Industry bodies such as the i3 Forum and GSMA have a pivotal role to play in accelerating the industry-wide transition to IP", adds Millet. "The i3 Forum is committed to achieving this vision through collaboration and will continue to meet with other industry organizations until an all-IP world is realized."
The i3 Forum's Voice over IPX specifications complement existing specifications for voice over public IP and voice over private IP. While the i3 Forum specs differ from current GSMA IPX requirements, they try to address the business requirements of MNOs.
There have been some minor revisions and clarifications to the GSMA IPX requirements as a result of a joint analysis and study among GSMA work groups and i3Forum carriers over the past eighteen months, and an ongoing dialogue is being continued with the joint aim of moving the industry to IP.
With a pragmatic and open approach, the i3 Forum's efforts are focused around the practical challenges of evolving to IP. The i3 Forum's goal is to encourage and accelerate an industry-wide transition to IP-based interconnections for all voice services to enable efficiencies and new IP-based offerings.
