Presentation covers history of interoperability events in IMTC, starting from the very first events in the area of H.320 and T.120. Presented during IMTC 20th Anniversary Forum in Porto, Portugal by Greg Meyer

1. IMTC: Successfully Establishing
& Leading Standards-Based
Interoperability
Greg Meyer
Intel Corporation
October 8, 2013

2. • 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

3. Topics
1. Past: What worked well
–Standards vs. Proprietary
–Consolidation
–Interoperability
–Interworking
2. Present: Where are we today
– Leadership
– Activities
3. Future
– Successful Attributes

4. • 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

5. • 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

6. • 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 Created
International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium

7. • 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

8. • 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

10. • 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

11. • 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

12. • IMTC learned to adapt and scale
– Reduce costs
– Achieve higher interoperability for more member
companies
Take Away #4

13. • 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!

14. • 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!

15. SuperConnection! (2000)
SIP
Endpoints (30)
Polycom
Samsung
VTEL
Teles
PictureTel
RADVision
Tandberg
Aethra
Sharp
Sony
Tundo
Sorenson Vision
Gatekeepers
Microsoft
RADVision
Ezenia
Avaya
Aspect
Tundo
White Pine
Nextone
Cisco
Endpoints: Polycom, VTEL, Tandberg, AVM, Motorola, Aethra, PictureTel, Intel
Avaya
Equivalence
VegaStream
Microsoft
Nextone
Netergy
IMTC does not guarantee the interoperability level of above products
ezenia
White
Pine
ezenia
H.323
Nuera
Data
Connection
H.320 Avayaezenia Polycom
Aspect
Endpoint
Nuera
AccordAccord

16. • SuperOp! enabled a maturing of the industry
– Interoperability
– Interworking
– Stress testing
• Released products benefitted as well as
unreleased products
Take Away #5

17. • Stable Leadership
– Deepak, Anatoli, Patrick L., Matt
• Combined with Market Leading Companies
• In Essential Activity Groups
– IMS
– SIP Parity
– PSS
– WebRTC
– Telepresence
– …
Present
The Right Ingredients

18. • 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
Future
Keys to Success

19. Happy 20th Anniversary, IMTC!
Thank You

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