AMS: An Update on the Next Generation Multimedia System from the ITU-T

January 9, 2014

As users become more mobile and utilize more and more applications and devices, multimedia systems must necessarily keep up with the changing times. These very concepts have been at the heart of the Advanced Multimedia System (AMS), also referred to as H.325.

AMS is a new multimedia system that allows a person to utilize multiple applications simultaneously as a part of a multimedia session. Additionally, those applications may exist on one or more devices and developed by different software vendors or hardware manufacturers.

Examples of AMS applications include a flashing lamp application to notify deaf users of an incoming session, a menu-like application to navigate call center menus, a conference control application, file transfer application, whiteboarding application, application sharing application, robotic control applications, and the traditional voice and video applications. Most significantly, the kinds and type of applications that one can create for H.325 are entirely open to the imagination of the creator. Unlike legacy monolithic applications, anyone can create a new application and easily plug it into H.325 using the standard interfaces that are defined.

Built for the Internet, the signaling protocol is being defined using JSON to make it easy to integrate with WebRTC applications, as well as dedicated hardware and purpose-built software applications.

Recently, the Rapporteur for the experts group developing this new multimedia system prepared a presentation to provide an overview and update on the forthcoming system. You can view that presentation on the H.325 Information Site under the “papers” section.