i3forum and OVCC Merge to Extend and Integrate Best Practices for Telco Transformation and Video Communications

PARIS, FRANCE--(Marketwired - May 03, 2016) - Leading technology consortia the i3forum and the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC) today announced a merger that extends i3forum's focus and influence well beyond telecommunications providers, to enterprises and the broad array of vendors, systems integrators and other organizations working to meet their visual communications needs. The new organization, which is incorporated as a not-for-profit in the United States, plans to increase the number of technology vendors counted among its currently predominantly carrier-focused membership.

i3forum, established in September 2007 to drive development of international IP interconnections among telecommunications providers and fight fraud, announced in February 2016 the expansion of its previous scope to include other advanced technologies such as IPX, IMS, NFV, APIs and IoT. Until now, OVCC has focused on the development of a global, standards-based visual communication network specification defining the technical and commercial terms required to implement a ubiquitous video service, supported across multiple carriers and equipment providers.

"The strategic expansion of the i3forum's membership, goals and activities through its merger with OVCC enables it to address two of the most important areas for its telco members: the effective transformation of their own networks and the associated service development and delivery capabilities; and successfully supporting the ever-growing demands of the enterprises that use their networks to consume advanced services like visual communications," said Catherine Haslam, senior analyst for Wholesale Telecoms at Ovum. "Expanding the vendor component of i3forum's membership broadens the scope of the discussion, brings fresh new perspectives to the issues the forum is working to address, and enables the alignment of telco and vendor roadmaps."

The OVCC is a group of global video exchange providers, network providers and equipment manufacturers that united to expand video communications and simplify video calls. OVCC members create multi-vendor, multi-network specifications offering a technical blueprint and business model to support the full spectrum of video systems, from immersive telepresence and room-based systems to high definition and standard definition, and from desktop clients to mobile devices. Its founding members include AT&T, BCS Global, BT, Orange and Polycom.