Nortel Networks Media Application Server will work with Nortel Networks Multimedia Communication Server 5100 and 5200 by adding enhanced media processing functionality -- the cross-engineering of voice, video and text. This will enable service providers to take greater advantage of an IP (Internet Protocol) infrastructure, and to integrate multiple media into one service -- like voice access to e-mail, video e-mail, text-to-speech conversion, video streaming, and meet me videoconferencing.
"We are poised at the beginning of a new era of communication, one that is marked by the integration of communications," said Sue Spradley, president, Wireline Networks, Nortel Networks.
"Over the last 20 years we have seen the emergence of discrete communication vehicles -- like PDAs, cell phones, personal computers, and instant messaging -- that have had a tremendous impact on our lives," Spradley said. "Going forward it will be the integration of these devices and media into one communication session that will revolutionize the way we interact."
By introducing Media Application Server, service providers will be positioned to drive additional revenue opportunities by creating new, customized services for consumers and enterprises. Enterprises will be able to take advantage of these powerful new multimedia capabilities through services hosted by service providers, or by deploying products from the Nortel Networks Multimedia Communications Portfolio in their corporate networks.
"Service providers need to create new applications in order to maintain market share and drive top line revenues," said Danny Klein, analyst, Yankee Group. "Building on the success of their Multimedia Communication Server, Nortel Networks Media Applications Server delivers the features necessary for multimedia services. By supporting capabilities such as speech recognition, text-to-speech, and DTMF detection, this robust platform can enable service providers to take advantage of IP technology. These features will help accelerate the delivery of new multimedia services, which will one day be as prevalent as today's Caller ID and Call Waiting."
Media Application Server will have several distinct advantages over other products in the industry. Developed from the ground-up for an IP infrastructure, Media Application Server will position service providers to deploy new, creative applications without the restrictions imposed by traditional TDM solutions. Of equal importance, Nortel Networks will seamlessly integrate these new services with traditional telephony services and devices.
Nortel Networks will implement enhanced media processing capabilities in software rather than hardware, making it easier to adapt to new media and create new services. Resources will be scheduled, prioritized and dynamically allocated to applications as required, providing a more cost-effective solution than a hardware-based approach.
Media Application Server will support open interfaces -- such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and VoiceXML (VXML) -- to help expand the number of applications and services and speed time-to-market. By the second half of 2004, Media Application Server will also support multiple scripting engines for third party development, including Application Development Toolset (ADT), VoiceXML 2.0, CCXML, and SALT.
Nortel Networks Multimedia Communication Server 5100 and 5200 leverage an open, standards-based architecture, commercially available hardware, and the same software. The two products enable creation of advanced multimedia and collaboration applications for businesses and consumers. Nortel Networks Media Application Server -- scheduled to be commercially available for service providers in November 2003 -- will work in conjunction with these products to enable creation of new, customized multimedia services. In the future, Media Application Server will also be available to service providers as a stand-alone product.