VoIP vendors take on interoperability

Group to begin testing at University of New Hampshire

In the rush to develop and deploy IP voice equipment, it appears almost every vendor and carrier has created an interoperability testing lab. Adding to the confusion is the birth of at least a half-dozen such labs across the industry.

This week, 12 vendors will throw more gas on the fire when they begin interoperability testing at the University of New Hampshire under the auspices of a new group created to fill in the gaps other labs and standards bodies are overlooking.

The Open Voice over Broadband, or OpenVoB, is in the process of defining 12 to 15 architecture models that can be used by carriers to develop voice service traveling over DSL, cable or wireless broadband infrastructures. The event, dubbed CallFest, is designed to allow vendors to evaluate and benchmark their technologies.

Unlike other events, though, the process in Durham, N.H., won't result in public announcements. In fact, OpenVoB has been working quietly for more than a year on the proposed architectures. In addition, one of the requirements for entry into the group is an agreement to work under nondisclosure.

"There are many, countless, official and quasi-official organizations, and many of them are thinly disguised public relations efforts," said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing for Accelerated Networks. "What we're interested in doing is accelerating the amount of time that is typically required between ratification of a standard and broadscale deployment."

Specifically, OpenVoB will start with seven architectures that use DSL access technology and various forms of transport and signaling protocols in the access and network portions of carriers' networks.

The group also plans to work on cable access and wireless architectures, though efforts in these areas are little further behind.

The first of the DSL-based models to be tested, D1, uses TDM and GR-303 signaling in the network layer and AAL2 loop emulation service in the access layer.

"There's going to be levels of testing," said Michael Ares, director of marketing for OpenVoB. "What we're trying to do is fill in where things aren't being done. Vendor testing always involves some proprietary interface. We try not to specify new things. We look at filling in holes."

In fact, even more than what it will do, the group is intent on communicating what it won't do: create standards.

"We're trying to come up with implementations that carriers have told us that they want," Ares said. "We want carriers to feel there are multiple products. They're not going to put their life on any one vendor. We started with standards from the ATM Forum and the DSL Forum. From that point on, we work on models that make sense."

"Standards bodies don't concern themselves with implementation," Walsh added. "It's left up to vendors, and the process is done very haphazardly. Until you have tight integration, our customers just aren't going to deploy. It's just too difficult to make it work."

Even with a clear-cut objective, though, OpenVoB anticipates putting out some work that gets rejected by the market or simply stays in limbo. "I think you'd have some type of natural selection where not all of those models survive in the market," Walsh said.

The future of OpenVoB is in the air, Ares said. However, if the group accomplishes its goals, he believes it should be able to disband in about two years.