Vendors Extend iNOW! to PCs, Cell Phones

Posted: 12/1999

Vendors Extend iNOW! to PCs, Cell Phones

Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., is partnering with Intel Corp., Santa Clara,
Calif.; ITXC Corp., Princeton, N.J.; and Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., to
extend the iNOW! H.323 specifications to terminal devices such as PCs, personal digital
assistants (PDAs) and cellular phones. This interoperability will make voice over Internet
protocol (VoIP) calls accessible to a more diversified range of users.

The group demonstrated interoperability among an iNOW!-compatible Intel PC-based IP
phone and iNOW! Lucent and Cisco gateways at the Fall Voice On the ‘Net (VON) conference
in Atlanta. At the conference, attendees could engage in a live voice conversation using
Intel Internet Phone software and listen as the voice call was sent through an ITXC
network and was received either by a standard telephone connected to a Lucent MultiVoice
for the MAX 6000 gateway or connected to a Cisco 3620 Voice Gateway.

The demonstration of this extension of iNOW! specification is based on recommendations
developed by Intel, ITXC, Lucent and others and submitted to the International Multimedia
Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC). These recommendations extend the existing iNOW!
profile for IP telephony interoperability, providing immediate connectivity to existing
telephones for a whole new class of users and devices.