News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

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

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

Ann Arbor, MI. - December 22, 2004 - 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.

About Internet2
Led by more than 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and
government, Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network
applications and technologies for research and higher education,
accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the
partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster
today's Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2, see:
http://www.internet2.edu. 
 

Media Contact:
Lauren Kallens
Internet2
202.331.5345