XConnect and IP-V Gateways Launch New Telepresence and Video Exchange Services

Last week both XConnect and IP-V Gateways both launched new telepresence and videoconferencing exchange/directory services.  The services are more complimentary than competitive and both address different aspects of connecting video calls over disparate networks.  Both offer services similar to the goal of Polycom's recently announced Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC) which launched on June 1st with the support of a dozen carriers and partners including: AT&T, BT, MASERGY, Iformata, and Verizon among others.

The XConnect Video Interconnection Exchange

The XConnect Video Interconnection Exchange(VIE) is a global registry service aimed at global telepresence and videoconferencing managed service providers, FTTH providers, and cable operators who are offering video calling services to their customers.  The new service addresses the problem of different video calling services using:

• Different Communications Protocols: SIP, H.323, Cisco TIP, H.264, H.263, XMPP
• Different Signaling
• Different Registry Formats and Policies: Dial by Telephone Number, IP address, Buddy List, URIs

The goal of the XConnect VIE is to create a global registry that will translate the hodgepodge of video phone numbers, IP Addresses, and Buddy Lists into a global federated directory that will allow video end-users to easily connect with others on different networks who may be using a different addressing scheme.



While the company isn't providing any bridging and transcoding services currently it is partnering with companies who do and has launched the service with 5 operators on-board including Norwegian VoIP and video call provider Telio, whose CTO, Alan Duric, explained their rationale: "[VIE] will enable us to offer global, cross-network video calling to our customers, by removing the technical burden and challenges of interworking with other video-enabled networks."

The service is currently price supported by video network operators and managed service providers who pay either a flat or burstable rate to XConnect that allows their downstream customers access to the VIE directory and registry and registers their customer endpoints with the directory.  Currently the service supports SIP, H.264, and P2P video.  The company is working on supporting the Cisco TIP protocol but hasn't given a definitive date on when it will be supported. 

IP-V Gateway's Community Video Federated Inter eXchange (FIX)

IP-V Gateways is a telepresence and videoconferencing exchange provider that connects disparate telepresence and videoconferencing networks where high quality and high bandwidth video traffic flows between disparate networks.  The company operates exchanges in major telco interconnection facilities like Telx's facilities at 60 Hudson and Equinix's in 111th 8th Avenue in New York City. The service can connect to any of the hundreds of carriers that are within those major telehotels and today IPV, thru its MSP partners, services global requirements for thousands of end points on connections from carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon, Masergy, Savvis, Level 3, Global Crossing, Cogent, Virtela, NTT, Peer 1, Allstream, Bell Canada, C&W, etc. The service currently connects over 200 different networks and private labels exchange services for some of the biggest names in telepresence and videoconferencing managed services including: MASERGY, Providea, Telemerge, Solutionz, and IVCi to name a few. 

The FIX is an extension to IPV's VENAS architecture and Connectivity+ Platform which have been operational and serving clients for several years. The service transliterates IP Quality-of-Service tags between carriers using different tagging schemes, handles private IP address conflicts between different networks and customers and ensures security in the middle.

The Community FIX enables companies using telepresence and videoconferencing to connect to their supply chains and demand chains.  Enterprise customers looking to set up video connections to their partners, vendors, and customers can each purchase a flat-rate connection to the FIX based on the total amount of bandwidth that each member plans on exchanging.  The FIX adds TANDBERG's Video Communications Servers (VCS) to IPV's existing infrastructure to provide call control between each member allowing all members to use their own dial plans and the service supports point-to-point calls without the need for a bridge.

The Community FIX - IP-V Gateway's Video Exchange Program

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