Media servers will bring new services

As service providers slow their spending on gear to make the transition to versatile packet-based networks, one piece of network equipment that spans legacy and next-generation networks may buck that trend.

Media servers, general-purpose processing workhorses, plug into traditional voice networks or packet voice networks to deliver services such as voice recognition and voice-to-text messaging. They crunch packets on behalf of service software, packages that define new services and reside on media servers or on other application servers.

Under the instruction of the service software, the media server might convert voice into text for a unified messaging service, or process speech to trigger the appropriate recorded answer in a voice-activated response service.

The services these devices support will be attractive in a number of ways. For example, a company might buy a service that lets callers navigate their automated attendant using normal speech rather than punching phone digits.

Also, internal salesforces can use the same type of voice-activated services to automate access to key data they need when they are on the road.

This valuable functionality is keeping the money flowing for young companies that are developing these devices, says Morgan Jones, a general partner with Battery Ventures.

Battery has invested in media server maker IP Unity, and Jones sits on its board.

"Telecom in general is in a very tough situation, but [media servers] will have an easy time compared with the rest of the marketplace," Jones says.

This is because this type of equipment lets carriers quickly create new services while minimizing the number of new boxes the provider needs to manage.

The alternative is strapping together multiple devices to deliver one new service.

"With a media server, you can use one hardware platform to handle a bunch of different tasks," Jones says.

Plus, media servers operate equally well in traditional circuit-switched voice networks and in newer, packet-based networks. Indeed, this flexibility is a key thrust of media server maker ThinkEngine, says Rick Saltzman, the company's vice president of business development.

And it has venture capitalists and makers of ancillary gear opening their purses to fund companies focused on media gateways.

One such company, Convedia, just landed $20 million in additional venture funding to boost its total to $50 million. IP Unity has $48 million, with $24 million of that coming in August, and ThinkEngines has $15 million and expects to land a second round soon.

Key to the success of these companies is alliances with other vendors that make devices such as traditional phone company voice switches, media gateways and softswitches, says Tom Jenkins, vice president of consulting for TeleChoice.

"You want to know who their partners are and what other relationships they have," Jenkins says.

With close partnerships, applications, for example, can be tightly integrated with the media server, he says. Without such partnerships, the applications and media server might work together, but not as well or be more difficult to set up.

IP Unity just announced an alliance with softswitch vendor Sylantro, and both Convedia and ThinkEngines have alliances with Telica.

Vendors dedicated to media servers have cropped up in greater numbers during the past year, notes Tom Valovic, an analyst at market research firm IDC. Others in this area include SnowShore and Mockingbird Networks, he says.

These companies also compete with Nortel, Lucent and other larger network companies that make less-flexible media-server-like devices.

So far, IDC, which predicts how well network devices will sell, has no numbers on the media server market or which company is likely to perform well.

"Some are positioning themselves for major growth when voice over IP really hits the public network," Valovic says.

Meanwhile, they'll jockey for position hoping to catch the big wave.

Contact Senior Editor Tim Greene

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