Test drive of Windows Messenger v4.6 upgrade
 
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Microsoft released Messenger 4.6 - an embedded Session Initiation Protocol stack in Windows XP that enables your PC to work as a soft phone on a voice-over-IP network - just as our interoperability testing was wrapping up. We gave it a run in our Dynamicsoft/Pingtel SIP test bed infrastructure.
We installed an off-the-shelf copy of XP Professional on a Compaq Deskpro EN Pentium III/1 GHz with 256M bytes of RAM. After Windows Messenger v4.6 was downloaded and installed, we registered the standalone client with the Dynamicsoft SIP Proxy Server and placed calls from Windows Messenger to the Pingtel xpressa IP phone, and vice versa. Voice communications on the Windows Messenger soft phone was clearly business-quality.
While this impromptu first look at this feature is by no means definitive, it appears that Windows Messenger 4.6 is a successful voice-over-IP implementation, and the implications could be far reaching. As consumers - to whom Windows Messenger is targeted - get used to voice-over-IP applications and begin demanding them, Microsoft's presence could put voice-over-IP on a trajectory toward exponential growth. This could also be a boon to SIP as the call-control protocol of choice.
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This year, look for increasing internetworking between H.323 and SIP products as greater acceptance of voice-over-IP among consumers fuels demand in the workplace, and generally greater acceptance of voice over IP among consumers.
Yocom is senior editor, Percy is a senior technology analyst, and Frigo is a lab test engineer at Miercom, a network consultancy and product test center in Princeton Junction, N.J. They can be reached at byocom@mier.com, kpercy@mier.com and mfrigo@mier.com. Dama is an independent voice-over-IP consultant and can be reached at kdama@worldnet.att.net.
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