IMTC: Successfully Establishing & Leading Standards-Based Interoperability

Greg MeyerIntel Corporation

October 8, 2013

• Hired at Intel August 1995 to lead T.120 interoperability testing in IMTC

• Contributed T.120 test plans to IMTC in 1995• Chaired

– T.120 Data Conferencing AG– H.324 PSTN Video Conferencing AG– H.323 IP Conferencing AG– Network Infrastructure WG– Others

• Organized & led over 40 IMTC interoperability test events from 1996 through 2002

• Director and Executive VP, 2001 - 2002

Greg’s IMTC Background

Topics

1. Past: What worked well–Standards vs. Proprietary–Consolidation–Interoperability– Interworking

2. Present: Where are we today– Leadership– Activities

3. Future– Successful Attributes

• Business broadband was ISDN PRI & T-1 @ 1.5 Mbps• Consumer Internet was dial-up modems @ 14.4 Kbps

(V.32bis)• Intel® Pentium® processor

– 66 MHz– 0.8 micron– 3.1 million transistors

• ITU-T formed replacing CCITT– H.320 Revised March 1993 (ISDN Video Conf)– T.120 definition begins (Data Conf)

• Several proprietary conferencing

implementations– DSP encoding & decoding required

Telecom & Computing in 1993

• Technology was BARELY able to support conferencing

• There was only ONE published standard (H.320)• Consequently

– The conferencing industry was mostly companies with proprietary implementations

– Implementations required special hardware (DSPs) and software; the standard Windows PC was not capable of supporting teleconferencing

Take Away #1

• September 1994, merger of – Consortium of Audiographics Teleconferencing

Standards (CATS) & – Multimedia Communications Community of Interest

(MCCOI)

• December 1995, merger with Personal Conferencing Work Group (PCWG)– The focus of PCWG was interoperability testing

between clients & MCU’s using proprietary protocols & codecs

IMTC is CreatedInternational Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium

• A number of industry groups had formed to address the chaos and splintering of a market with big potential

• IMTC consolidated a number of those industry groups around standards

• The merger with PCWG brought interoperability testing to IMTC

Take Away #2

• October 1995, IMTC established the T-120 Interop AG• March 1996, held first interoperability test event, “Event-

120” – Sponsored by Intel and Microsoft– Rules of Engagement established

• No requirement to forfeit IP • No announcements/marketing of specific test results• Engineering and product testing only

– no marketing demos – no clients, customers or observers

– 25 companies participated– Concluded with large, multipoint data conference

Establishing Interoperability

• The long-term success of IMTC interoperability was largely due to the processes and policies established for Event-120

• Dedicated resources of member companies were essential, especially sponsors

• Large, influential sponsor companies signaled unity and acceptance of the standards

• T.120 was chosen over H.320 due to new implementations needing testing– The importance of interoperability events declines

as more products are released

Take Away #3

• After Event-120, interop events for H.323, H.320 and H.324 began in earnest

• Monthly events for H.323– Smaller, lighter events– No large infrastructure, just IP switches/hubs– And T-shirts!

• After some H.324 events, the AG started virtual events– Reduced costs & travel– F2F events still needed for newer implementations

Interop Events Galore

• IMTC learned to adapt and scale – Reduce costs – Achieve higher interoperability for more member

companies

Take Away #4

• Individual standards testing (e.g., between H.323 terminals) were successful, but…

• The ultimate goal was interworking of any terminal to another terminal (e.g., between H.323 and H.320)

• SuperOp! was created to provide an all-inclusive interworking event– May 1997– Sponsors: Deutsche Telekom & Video Server– Berlin

SuperOp!

• Like Event-120– Large infrastructure (ISDN, IP, PSTN)

• But MUCH bigger!– All standard protocols (H.320, H.323, H.324, T.120)– More companies, more participants

• Interoperability conducted first• SuperConnection! Interworking followed

– Careful planning and scheduling of terminals, MCU’s, Gatekeepers and Gateways

• HUGE success, made into an annual event

SuperOp!

SuperConnection! (2000)

SIP

Endpoints (30)PolycomSamsungVTELTelesPictureTelRADVisionTandbergAethraSharpSonyTundoSorenson Vision

GatekeepersMicrosoftRADVisionEzeniaAvayaAspectTundoWhite PineNextoneCisco

Endpoints: Polycom, VTEL, Tandberg, AVM, Motorola, Aethra, PictureTel, Intel

AvayaEquivalenceVegaStreamMicrosoftNextoneNetergy

IMTC does not guarantee the interoperability level of above products

ezeniaWhitePine

ezenia

H.323

Nuera

DataConnection

H.320 Avayaezenia Polycom

Aspect

EndpointNuera

AccordAccord

• SuperOp! enabled a maturing of the industry– Interoperability– Interworking– Stress testing

• Released products benefitted as well as unreleased products

Take Away #5

• Stable Leadership– Deepak, Anatoli, Patrick L., Matt

• Combined with Market Leading Companies • In Essential Activity Groups

– IMS– SIP Parity– PSS– WebRTC– Telepresence– …

PresentThe Right Ingredients

• Wide-spread adoption of conferencing products depends on standards and interoperability

• Align activities in AG’s closely to new/changing standards

• Adopt of ALL standards-based conferencing to help the entire industry

• Continue SuperOp! and SuperConnection! Active IMTC members and sponsors are critical to

ensuring a successful industry

FutureKeys to Success

Happy 20th Anniversary, IMTC!

Thank You

It’s Been WIP for 18 Yearsftp://ftp.imtc-files.org/Archive/ITAG/ITAG120/