Technical details of MMTel (Multimedia Telephony):
- Overview:
- MMTel stands for Multimedia Telephony. It is a technology that allows communication service providers to offer a wide range of multimedia services to their customers.
- It extends traditional telephony services by enabling voice, video, and other media to be transmitted over IP networks.
- Standardization and Evolution:
- The MMTel standard is a joint project between the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) and ETSI / TISPAN standardization bodies.
- It is currently the only global standard that defines an evolved telephony service, enabling real-time multimedia communication with telephony-like characteristics.
- MMTel operates over both fixed broadband, fixed narrowband, and mobile access types.
- Key Features:
- Converged Communication: MMTel offers converged, fixed, and mobile real-time multimedia communication using various media capabilities:
- Voice: Traditional voice calls.
- Real-time Video: Video calls.
- Text: Chat and messaging.
- File Transfer: Sharing of pictures, audio, and video clips.
- Dynamic Media Handling: Users can add and drop media during a session. For example:
- Start with chat, add voice (Mobile VoIP), add another caller, add video, share media, transfer files, and drop any of these without ending the session.
- Single SIP Session Control: MMTel allows a single SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) session to control virtually all supplementary services and media components.
- No need to set up additional sessions for activating video, adding new users, or transferring files.
- Simplifies conferencing and ensures lip synchronization in an all-IP environment.
- Network-to-Network Interface (NNI): MMTel provides a standardized NNI, allowing operators to interconnect their networks.
- Users from different operators can communicate with each other using the full set of media capabilities defined within MMTel.
- Converged Communication: MMTel offers converged, fixed, and mobile real-time multimedia communication using various media capabilities:
- IP Transport and Mobile Access:
- Unlike legacy circuit-switched telephony services, MMTel uses IP transport over mobile access.
- Mobile access technologies focused on MMTel include:
- HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access)
- 3GPP LTE (Long-Term Evolution)
- EDGE Evolution
- Efficient IP transport is essential for seamless multimedia communication.
- Benefits:
- Interoperability: MMTel enables interoperability across media parts in fixed-mobile convergence scenarios.
- Efficiency: Single-session approach simplifies management and ensures consistent user experience.
- Global Standard: MMTel is globally recognized and widely adopted.