(Session Initiation Protocol); Offering Complete Support for Voice-Over-IP
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Applications
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October 23, 2001 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — F5 Networks, Inc. (www.f5.com), a leading provider of Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM) products announced that it is the first Internet traffic management vendor to support SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and is the load-balancing / high availability solution provider of choice for dynamicsoft’s (www.dynamicsoft.com) carrier-grade Origination and Termination Solution (OATS).
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SIP is the new protocol that enables real-time messaging, voice, data and
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video and is the next-generation of Voice-Over-IP (VOIP). Microsoft’s
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Windows XP operating system will use SIP-based instant messaging (IM) and
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America Online, (AOL) Inc. has indicated that it will adopt SIP for its IM
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services and for interoperability with other services. By intelligently
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distributing SIP traffic among multiple SIP proxy servers, BIG-IP(R)
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enhances the performance and availability of dynamicsoft’s solution,
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providing carrier-class uptime (99.999%) and reliability.
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F5 is uniquely positioned in this market to address and support the
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challenges that carriers and enterprises face in building SIP-based
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networks, thanks to the intelligent, market-leading Layer 7 capabilities
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built into its traffic management software. F5′s BIG-IP(R) solution provides
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carrier-grade performance and effectively scales SIP traffic through its
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unique ability to Intercept, Inspect, Transform and Direct traffic flowing
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through SIP proxy servers. As part of the dynamicsoft solution, BIG-IP will
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load-balance SIP traffic and provide application persistence based on the
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unique SIP caller ID to ensure application and transaction integrity.
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“Our partnership with F5 Networks is strategic for dynamicsoft,” said Brian
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Allain, vice president of marketing at dynamicsoft, Inc. “Following
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extensive evaluation and testing, we have selected F5 to be our traffic
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management and load-balancing solutions partner because of their market and
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technology leadership. As a critical component of our dynamicsoft-Powered
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Origination and Termination Solution, F5 enables carriers to scale easily
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and cost-effectively, while delivering on the promise of 99.999 per cent
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availability that is absolutely vital to carrier-class SIP networks.”
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BIG-IP ensures application and call integrity by making sure that traffic
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persists to the correct destination and by providing session state fail-over
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in the event of failure on back-end proxies. Additionally, to ensure
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reliability and availability of SIP services, BIG-IP load balances
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dynamicsoft Route Engines and checks their health and availability before
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routing traffic.
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The market anticipates heavy volumes of SIP voice traffic, generated by the
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Windows Messenger features incorporated in the Microsoft Windows XP
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operating system (set to launch October 25, 2001). In recent reviews,
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Windows Messenger has been seen as a “killer app” because of its
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comprehensive unified and real-time messaging functions in an easy to use
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interface. As a result, adoption is expected to be rapid. SIP also provides
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a framework for developing an enriched mobile communications experience in
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the all-IP third generation (3G) era. It is becoming pervasive as the
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standard protocol in the 3G wireless world and with the advent of AOL’s and
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Yahoo’s standardization on SIP for messaging. Today, service providers
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(carriers) are looking for ways to tap into the tremendous market potential
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for terminating PC-based SIP voice traffic to the public switched telephone
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network (PSTN). Carriers offering wholesale termination/origination services
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have the flexibility to support their customers with new business models
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such as application hosting and new SIP-based services. As they build
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SIP-capable networks, carriers will need to guarantee call quality and be
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able to scale this traffic. F5 Networks is the only IP traffic management
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vendor to offer a complete solution today.
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“The fact that F5 is the only ITM company that can direct and manage
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SIP-based traffic is yet another proof point of our market leading
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innovation and technology leadership,” said Jeff Pancottine, senior
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vice-president of marketing and business development at F5 Networks. “We’re
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very enthusiastic about the joint OATS solution and excited about our
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partnership with dynamicsoft, which is clearly a leader in SIP-based
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solutions. By joining forces, F5 and dynamicsoft offer carriers an extremely
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cost-effective and reliable solution for managing SIP-based traffic;
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heightening their opportunities to offer services that can generate new
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revenue streams.”
