Internet2's SIP. EDU Community Expands To Over 140,000 Users

Next generation integrated communication program deployed by nine major universities and institutions

College campuses and research institutions have taken the lead in adopting next generation Session

Initiation Protocol (SIP) -based solutions for their everyday communications needs. Today, Internet2 announced that its SIP.edu program has reached a critical milestone with over 140,000 users who can now receive voice over IP (VoIP) calls at their university email address. Spanning campuses across the world, SIP.edu has been adopted by leading institutions including Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, University of Hawaii, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Colorado State University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich.

Engaging what is estimated to be nearly four million Internet2-connected users in an exploration of new communications models, SIP.edu is one of several new Internet2 initiatives seeking to encourage advanced communications applications that integrate voice, video, and instant messaging through presence services and open standards.

"The institutions engaged in the Internet2 SIP.edu initiative are promoting the convergence of voice and email identities, growing SIP-reachability among Internet2 members, and building a community of innovators that will pioneer the deployment of new campus communications services," said Dennis Baron, senior strategist for integrated communications at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and project leader for SIP.edu. "By supporting a community of schools and research institutions using SIP, we hope to facilitate more rapid adoption of the rich communications and advanced services that SIP can provide."

With its simple implementation and standards-based platform, SIP.edu enables universities and other research organizations to test a variety of SIP capabilities before making the investment in a full-scale system. In the first phase, an institution becomes "SIP.edu enabled," by making users reachable by voice at their email addresses. To implement SIP.edu, a participating institution must initially make all of its telephones and users reachable via SIP. This is achieved by integrating the legacy campus phone system and its online person directory. Once this first step is taken, participants can begin to explore and implement other SIP services. While SIP.edu focuses primarily in voice communications, the SIP protocol can support video, text, and other rich media applications.

"Through the SIP.edu program and with the support of Cisco Systems, the University of Hawaii has been able to explore firsthand the rapidly evolving requirements of advanced SIP communications services and how they will operate in a campus-wide environment," said David Lassner, chief information officer for the University of Hawaii, and Internet2 board member. "The SIP.edu adoption is a significant first step towards widespread deployment of SIP services."

Cisco has partnered with several schools to implement the SIP.edu architecture using Cisco's SIP Proxy Server (CSPS) and media gateway solutions. Cisco has not only made generous grants of equipment to these schools, but has also provided access to senior VoIP engineers who are working hand in hand with campus engineers to enable SIP.edu in each unique campus environment.

"Cisco Systems' SIP technology is enabling the research and education community to test and build scalable, reliable converged campus networks," said Doug Foster, customer solutions manager for IP Communications at Cisco Systems. "By providing a full array of call routing capabilities, Cisco's solution offers both large and small institutions a high performance platform that can be customized to fit their needs as they continue to evolve their IT strategies."

The SIP.edu program aligns with Internet2's mission to ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications developed by the research and education community into the commercial sector. SIP.edu allows university students to integrate next generation SIP services into their everyday lives. As these students graduate into the marketplace, they will expect these same capabilities at their offices and their homes, which will ultimately lead to greater demand and a rapid migration to feature-rich SIP services.

About SIP.edu The Internet2 SIP.edu initiative, which began in March 2003, seeks to promote the convergence of email and voice identities, the rapid growth of SIP accessibility, and the widespread deployment of enterprise SIP servers to serve as learning platforms for schools and research institutions looking to experiment with new enterprise SIP services.

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