ITU-T Q12/16
,
the experts group focused on designing the next-generation
multimedia communication system referred to as the Advanced Multimedia
System (▲H.325), recently held a meeting in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. This was the first Rapporteur meeting of the experts group
since ITU-T SG16 formally created the new group to begin work on the
future multimedia communication system.
For those who are not familiar with ITU-T SG16, this is the Study Group
within the ITU that has had a long history in the development of
multimedia technologies, including the widely used ISDN video
conferencing system (▲H.320), the hugely successful
▲IP-based multimedia system ▲H.323, data
conferencing technologies defined in the ▲T.120-series
standards and utilized in such products as Microsoft NetMeeting, audio
and video codecs like G.723.1 and ▲H.264.
At this meeting, the group continued work on requirements and
architecture. The group also worked to define terminology that will
be used by the system, made plans for the various documents the group
expects to deliver, and prepared an initial skeleton outline of the new
draft Recommendation H.ams (planned to be H.325 when completed).
What makes H.325 unique is that, unlike legacy systems, "voice" is not the
primary focus of attention. Of course, voice communication will be
supported, but the main emphasis of H.325 is enabling multimedia
communications, whether that is text, app sharing, file transfer,
interactive gaming, voice, or anything else one might imagine. The
design approach taken with H.325 is one wherein applications are logically
and, quite possibly, physically separate from the user's "control"
device (referred to as a "container" in the current draft
specification). The interface between applications and the container
will completely open and will be well-defined, which means that anybody
can create a new application and make it available to users. The notion
of "plug and play" is finally coming to your telephone! (But, with H.325,
what is a telephone? Everything can be a part of the communication
experience!)
Another significant difference between this new system and legacy
systems is that the ITU has decided to utilize ▲XML for the
new system. The rationale is simple and logical: there is a tremendous
amount of support in the industry for XML. The success of H.325 will
depend on application developer support and XML is viewed as a key
enabling technology. By using XML, a syntax specification that is
widely understood and supported in every major development environment,
application developers will immediately be able to create applications
people can use.
To keep up with the progress of H.325, visit the
H.325 Information Site and
be sure to check out the
document status
page, which will be updated following every meeting. There are
also mailing lists you can join to participate in or simply follow the
work.
