More interoperability! SIP Forum teams with i3 Forum-targets FOIP

There's lots of VoIP forum news this week. Not that the new UCIF is really competing with the SIP Forum. In fact, I can see both forums working closely one day on getting all the SIP testing working right, but the SIP Forum just wanted to make sure they made some headline waves as well this week. SIP Forum, an industry association for the promotion of the SIP standard and the i3 Forum--made up of 37 telecommunications operators devoted to creating industry recommendations for the transition to IP communications--have teamed to help promote the interoperability of SIP-based carrier services particularly Fax-over-Internet-Protocol (FOIP).

FOIP has been a particular challenge for the industry where lost data packets means corrupted documents. The two forums have both been working on the problem and have decided to pool their efforts.

"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," said Philippe Millet, Chairman, i3 Forum in a release.

What's interesting about the partnership is that the two forums bring a diverse swath of the industry. The SIP Forum brings in a number of telecom applications, services, and infrastructure vendors and now even US-based cable operators and service providers, while the i3 Forum's global membership focuses on international service providers.

For more:
- read the release

Related articles:
SIP Forum brings on new managment
IT EXPO West - SIP Forum aims for interoperability
SIP Forum: Championing Interoperability and moving beyond SIP Trunking