To IETF Megaco participants, and ITU-T SG16 participants, As most of you know, both the IETF and the ITU have working groups defining a device control protocol to be used between a media gateway controller and a media gateway. In ETSI-Tiphon, this is called the N-interface. Since November, there have been two different proposals on the table in both Megaco and in the SG16 group (MGCP and MDCP). There has also been a compromise proposal - MGCP-modified. MGCP and MDCP differ in many areas, the main one being the connection model. A goal shared by many, is to coordinate the Megaco work with the SG16 H.gcp work, and even to end up with ONE protocol, not two. At the Monterey ITU meeting, the MGCP/MDCP debate was directed at the connection model, and at the IETF meeting in Minneapolis last week, these debates continued. A design team was formed of authors of MGCP, MDCP, and MGCP-modified. Brian Hill, the H.GCP editor and Glen Freundlich were also present from SG16. The different connection models were presented, discussed, dissected... and we ended up inventing brand new terminology to allow us to explain a new connection model. While the terms context and termination may not seem clear at first, they do allow us to look at the problem anew, without the baggage of other proposals getting in the way. Brian Rosen presented the new connection model to the Megaco WG last Tuesday (3/16), and to the ITU during the H.gcp audio call this past Tuesday (3/23). Since then, a group of us has been fleshing out the model, defining commands, .... People from BOTH SG16 and the IETF have been involved. The result is the megaco protocol internet-draft that will be out this week, and sent to both the megaco@baynetworks.com mailto:megaco@baynetworks.com and the itu-sg16@mailbag.intel.com mailto:itu-sg16@mailbag.intel.com mailing lists. This internet-draft should be seen as a **working draft** - it has a good introduction to the new connection model, and provides descriptions of the commands, but certain sections contain editor notes that document unresolved issues. And some sections may be left blank. Anyone who would propose a different way to do something just needs to write it up and send it to the mailing lists for discussion. To foster collaboration, we are holding an audio call Monday March 29th at 10am EST, to which all participants in megaco and SG16 are invited. It will be a chance to air concerns and criticisms of the internet-draft, so that working group chairs and document editors can get a feel for the degree of agreement between the two groups. IMPORTANT: *****The audio call cannot make any decisions. There will certainly be people that won't be available for the call. *****Comments sent to the mailing lists carry equal weight to any discussions held in the audio call. *****The minutes of the audio call will be published to the mailing lists. Ideally, the SG16 group would agree to as much of the internet-draft as they can, and turn it into the current version of H.GCP. The more we agree on between the two groups the better. CALL DETAILS: DATE: Monday, March 29/99 TIME: 10amEST till 12pmEST NUMBER: 613-763-6338 PASSCODE: 121212# CHAIR: Nancy Greene
problems joining? Call 613-765-CONF (613-765-2663) 90 ports have been booked. NOTES: * because of the potentially large # of people, no tones will be used to mark people joining or leaving * to improve the voice quality, it is important to mute your phone when you are not speaking - press 63 to mute, and 66 to unmute.
Nancy Greene Bryan Hill ngreene@nortelnetworks.com mailto:ngreene@nortelnetworks.com bhill@videoserver.com mailto:bhill@videoserver.com