The rollout of NGN will bring with it in a new era of multimedia communications and with that a need to consider updating or replace the currently used H.323 and SIP multimedia protocols.

The question is whether to pursue development of a new protocol and a new generation of multimedia communication systems, or define new multimedia capabilities and functionality for existing protocols. Perhaps some consideration needs to be given to service control interface specifications. With work already underway in ITU on a new protocol dubbed H.325, the industry must decide whether to invest more time and resource into this pursuit.

The answer to this question will be one of the more fundamental issues addressed at this IMTC Forum and ITU-T Workshop, which will have to consider:

• Market acceptance
• Market need
• Benefit to end users
• Benefit to service providers
• Benefit to enterprise information technology (IT) staff

Additionally, the following topics will be addressed:

• New developments regarding video codecs following H.264, new audio and speech codecs, as well as new MPEG standards (e.g. Laser).
• Web activities – such as protocols, human interface needs, etc.
• IPTV
• Mobile network aspects
• Utilization of NGN capabilities in multimedia communication systems

The workshop focused on these topics and others aiming to define what direction multimedia standardization should take in coming years.