Pactolus Debuts SIPDev.org Developer Community

Pactolus Communications Software Corp. today introduced its www.SIPdev.org developer community, which features open-source SIP-based service creation environment, application server and software media server to help developers create applications for VoIP and IMS networks. Membership is free.

SIPdev.org is aimed at service-provider and enterprise developers, and includes supporting resources, such as a Wiki-based knowledge center that all members can contribute to, online tutorials and reference information, support forms, and an open-source repository of applications and frameworks that members can draw from and contribute to.

This initiative is targeted at the part of the market that prefers to build their own solutions, but wants comprehensive technology and needs to know that they are deploying on scalable, battle-tested platforms, said Pactolus CTO and founder David Horton. By providing a complete development environment including service creation, media control, and extensible application interfaces we are providing everything a developer needs to create compelling IP services on a proven platform, at no cost.

Ken Osowski, vice president of marketing and product management for Pactolus, stresses that the inclusion of the service-delivery platform is a key distinction between SIPdev.org and other development efforts. Other open-source initiatives, he said, are limited in scope and do not include a service-delivery application and applications that developers can download and run.

The SIPdev.org is based on Pactolus RapidFLEX Service Delivery Platform (SDP), which is being used by service providers and is scaling to more than 3 billion minutes per month. Developers have access to Pactolus RapidFLEX Service Creation Environment at no-cost for non-production environments for a 120-day evaluation period with a 20-session cap. License extensions can be requested. Production licenses are available based on the number of concurrent sessions and run about $100 per session. Developers at educational institutions have unrestricted licenses to the SCE.

Osowski said the company expects innovation to come from the universities and wants to encourage contributions from that environment.

In a nascent market like this one I think one of the most scarce resources is developer expertise, said Frost & Sullivan analyst Elka Popova. And just having this development environment out there is important for the growth of the industry as a whole. Certainly, Pactolus is looking to drive some interest in its own platform. I think to some extent this will be successful. I can’t guarantee them this will be the biggest driver of people choosing their platform over others, but in such nascent markets, the most important thing is to make sure there is a pool of experts that can develop applications for service providers or enterprises.

Pactolus Communications Software Corp. www.pactolus.com