A group of over 100 companies led by Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp has announced support for a forthcoming implementation of International Telecommunications Union and Internet Engineering Task Force standards, which is designed to ease communications over the Internet. The aim of agreeing the common implementations, says Intel, is to make video, voice and data communications over the Internet as commonplace as a simple telephone call. Microsoft and Intel are to work on the implementation over the coming months, with delivery planned for later this year. They are planning to use standards including T.120 for data conferencing, H.323 for audio and video conferencing, and the RTP/RTCP, and RSVP specifications. The idea is that other manufacturers will then be able to use the system as a basis on which they can add their own technologies, such as enhanced voice and video coder-decoders. Microsoft is planning to incorporate the system into its new ActiveX technology, which enables creation of Internet interactive applications and content (CI No 2,871), while Intel will include it in the next generation of its ProShare personal computer-based conferencing products. Companies supporting the initiative include 3Com Corp, Bay Networks Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, Digital Equipment Corp, Deutsche Telekom AG, Fore Systems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Lotus Development Corp, Madge NV, NEC Corp, Mitel Corp, Netscape Communications Corp, Northern Telecom Ltd, Novell Inc, PictureTel Corp, and UUNet Technologies Inc.
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