H 323 Poison Pill or Panacea Clinton Dickey

H. 323 Poison Pill or Panacea Clinton Dickey -- Program Manager Inter-Tel Integrated Systems Fall VON ‘ 98

panacea A remedy for all diseases, evils, or difficulties; a cure-all. poison pill A plan or tactic that makes a merger prohibitively expensive or impossible

Three Schools of Thought Anything that can go wrong, will. Murphy’s Law Anything that can go wrong, avoid it. Bernard Strovonsky, 1940 Anything that can go wrong, probably already did Dogbert’s Top Secret Management Handbook

Who does H. 323 Affect? Standards’ Creators What components should be specific? What should be left for interpretation? Product Developers How does the specification fit into the product? How do you balance proprietary functionality needs with interoperability? Customers What does interoperability give you? What does this mean for the future of the IP Telephony products?

H. 323 Has Problems • Lowest Common Denominator • Missing Features -- Not Mature • Complex with many Options • Interoperability Difficult

H. 323 is Essential • No one can do it all • Standards enable division of expertise • Standards enable consumer choice • Standards create a larger market for equipment providers

Overcoming the Shortfalls • Participate in interoperability tests • Work closely with other vendors • Add proprietary extensions • Work with the standards and industry groups

What Have We Accomplished? • Alliances are being formed • H. 323 version 2 • Looking into interoperability in other areas • Examine other methods

H. 323 vs. SIP • H. 323 is here today • H. 323 has strong support from multiple vendors • Wait and see on SIP • Market will decide

Predictions • Market will choose H. 323 • H. 323 will continue to Mature • Industry Transformation

Thank You Clinton Dickey clinton_dickey@inter-tel. com www. inter-tel. com