In the business world, there is the VoIP of today. At the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center at Texas A&M University, there is the VoIP of tomorrow. Through this facility, Cochair of ITEC’s Internet2 Voice Over IP Working Group Walt Magnussen spends his time and government money developing future voice-over-IP technologies. “The working group is focusing on VoIP reliability issues, interoperability testing and potential disaster recovery capabilities of VoIP,” he says, adding that “many of the capabilities that we are now testing will soon be standard product offerings.”In the meantime, Magnussen and his colleagues are studying new aspects of VoIP. One project revolves around a recent open-source protocol dubbed Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), a signaling protocol developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force. As Magnussen explains it, this new protocol is a hybrid of traditional HTTP and simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) that transfers data even faster than the current H.323 protocol standards in place today. Primarily used for VoIP, SIP also works for video or any other digital media type. According to Magnussen, enterprise customers will most likely use this technology to deliver services such as videoconferencing and remote blackboarding over VoIP down the road.“In the last few years, there was debate over whether H.323 or SIP would win out,” says Magnussen, who is also director for telecommunications at Texas A&M. “Here, we are already preparing for the next phase?SIP will win.”The group is also looking at VoIP’s role in disaster recovery. “Much of the Working Group’s disaster recovery efforts began after technologists at Columbia University were able to make calls out of New York City on Sept. 11 using the Internet2 network and VoIP,” he says. “This began some work that looked at the possibility of routing calls around congested telephone networks in disaster situations over reliable packet-based networks.” Related content brandpost Sponsored by Freshworks When your AI chatbots mess up AI ‘hallucinations’ present significant business risks, but new types of guardrails can keep them from doing serious damage By Paul Gillin Dec 08, 2023 4 mins Generative AI brandpost Sponsored by Dell New research: How IT leaders drive business benefits by accelerating device refresh strategies Security leaders have particular concerns that older devices are more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. By Laura McEwan Dec 08, 2023 3 mins Infrastructure Management case study Toyota transforms IT service desk with gen AI To help promote insourcing and quality control, Toyota Motor North America is leveraging generative AI for HR and IT service desk requests. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 08, 2023 7 mins Employee Experience Generative AI ICT Partners feature CSM certification: Costs, requirements, and all you need to know The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification sets the standard for establishing Scrum theory, developing practical applications and rules, and leading teams and stakeholders through the development process. By Moira Alexander Dec 08, 2023 8 mins Certifications IT Skills Project Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe