Product Brief
Telecom Software
Intel NetStructure® Host Media
Processing Software Release 2.0
for Windows
Media Processing Software for Building
Cost-Effective IP and TDM-Based Telephony Solutions
Intel NetStructure® Host Media Processing (HMP)Software Release 2.0 for Windows* combines the flexibility of software-based IP media processing with support for Intel’s leading-edge network interface technology, enabling solution providers to build pure IP and hybrid IP-TDM solutions.
Release 2.0 supports digital interface boards for HMP from Intel, which are first-generation PSTN-connectivity boards that interface with Intel NetStructure HMP software. This combined technology is a superior solution to the traditional DSP-based media span.
Intel NetStructure HMP software performs media processing tasks on general-purpose servers based on Intel® architecture without requiring specialized hardware. The software provides media services for building flexible, scalable, and cost-effective next-generation IP media servers and converged telephony applications.
Release 2.0 uses a built-in network interface card (NIC) and digital interface boards from Intel to provide IP and PSTN connectivity. It supports the industry-standard H.323 and Session
and call transfers using the H.450.2 supplementary services protocol. IP multicast support (transmit only) facilitates implementation of features such as announcements and listen-only conferences with a large number of participants.
When combined with digital interface boards for HMP from Intel, Intel NetStructure HMP software provides a cost-effective platform for developers to build TDM solutions today and migrate those applications easily to hybrid platforms and finally pure IP deployments. The combined technologies can be deployed as IP media gateways, enhanced services platforms, and converged PBX solutions.
Intel NetStructure HMP software is an Intel communications building-block technology. When installed on a system, the customer application “sees” an Intel telephony board with DM3 architecture, but all media processing occurs on the host processor. To help customers accelerate their time-to-market and migrate existing applications to IP, the software also supports two direct application programming interfaces (APIs): R4 for media processing and Global Call for call control.
Features
Benefits
Implemented as a software-only product Minimizes investment, development, deployment, and operational costs with a variety of media processing
configurations
Supports up to 400 channels of rich media processing Presents a broad choice of processing platforms on which to build on Pentium® III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Celeron® M, cost-effective IP and TDM telephony solutions
Intel® Xeon®, and the dual-core Intel® Pentium® Processor Extreme Edition processor-based platforms
Supports Intel NetStructure Digital Network Enables converged solutions for enterprise and service provider Interface boards for T-1/E-1 and Digital customers with easy migration to pure IP platforms
Station Interface boards
Compliant with the ITU H.323 and H.450.2 Provides easy interoperability for call control with a wide range of specifications and IETF SIP for call control gateways, gatekeepers, and other IP endpoints
Support for streaming media over Provides the interoperability needed for high-quality media streaming Real-Time Transfer Protocol (RTP) using with a wide variety of industry-standard IP gateways and endpoints the G.711 (packet size 10 ms, 20 ms,
and 30 ms), G.723.1, G.726, G.729a, G.729b voice coders
Support for Global Call and R4 APIs Allows easy migration of existing applications by providing compatibility at the API level with other Intel® communications products
Supports voice record/play with tone Enables the building of high-quality voice applications such as IVR
detection and generation and voice mail
Conferencing features include coaching, Facilitates development of advanced conferencing applications active talker notification, tone clamping,
echo cancellation, and scalability with a maximum of 320 parties per system
QoS threshold alarms, packet loss reduction, Improves Quality of Service (QoS) and minimizes latency to enable RTP/RTCP timeouts, and Type Of Service high voice quality
(TOS) byte setting
When deployed in the TDM network with Intel NetStructure Digital Network Interface boards, Intel NetStructure HMP software supports a wide range of PSTN protocols including ISDN and CAS. The boards are software-selectable between T-1 and E-1 trunks, and extend the flexible software model with downloadable firmware.
Other important features include
• The ability to integrate any third-party call or connection control protocol stack if solution providers have their own H.323 or SIP protocol stacks
• The ability to programmatically control the volume of RTP sessions in order to improve the end-user experience
• Support for a variety of media processing functions such as — Play with volume control
— Record with automatic gain control (AGC) — Dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF)
— User-defined tone detection and generation, including industry-standard RFC 2833 and H.245 user input indication (UII) mechanisms
• Support for outbound call progress analysis with positive voice detection and positive answering machine detection algorithms
• Support for continuous speech processing functionality with APIs fully compatible with other Intel cards so Intel NetStructure HMP software can integrate with automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) engines
• Ability to scale up to 400 concurrent user sessions with a mix of voice, speech, T.38 and V.17 fax, and conferencing media processing resources per system
• Support for single and dual-CPU configurations with Hyper-Threading Technology
• Flexible licensing — runtime licenses can be created for any user-defined configuration within the product’s scalability limits
In order to guarantee real-time media processing performance, Intel NetStructure HMP software is implemented as a Windows* operating system kernel-mode driver that runs at real-time priority. The software is optimized to run on Pentium® III, Pentium® 4, Pentium® M, Celeron® M, and Intel® Xeon® processors.
Since Intel NetStructure HMP software is implemented as a software-only product, it can be installed and upgraded as easily as other software. The software is licensed using an industry-standard model that node locks the software using FlexNet* software from Macrovision.
Intel NetStructure HMP software can be licensed and deployed in any combination of call control and media processing channels, so customers can choose the combination of media processing resources they need. Locate the media processing channel modes you require and reference the Item Market Name when ordering. Note: Item Market Names are listed for standard ports and for “high-density ports” (HD), which are defined as configurations over 120 channels of RTP G.711 per server.
Item Market Name Type of Resource Features
DMIPS10C20W Conferencing Includes advanced features like coach/pupil mode, tone
DMIPS10C20WHD clamping, and active talker notification
DMIPS10E20W Enhanced RTP Adds the capability of streaming voice over RTP using
DMIPS10E20WHD the G.723.1, G.729a, and G.729b coders to the RTP
G.711 resource. Add on top of the RTP G.711 resource.
DMIPS10F20W T.38 and V.17 T.38 and V.17 fax termination (over UDP)
DMIPS10F20WHD fax termination
DMIPS10I20W IP call control Provides call control stacks for the H.323 with H.450.2
DMIPS10I20WHD supplementary services, and SIP protocols, with Global
Call API support. Can be used in “one-party call control”
mode or “third-party call control” mode.
DMIPS10R20W RTP G.711 Provides the capability of streaming digitized voice over
DMIPS10R20WHD RTP, using the G.711 coder with 10 ms, 20 ms, 30 ms
frames. Required for each RTP session.
DMIPS10S20W Speech integration Integrates HMP with speech engines for ASR and TTS
DMIPS10S20WHD support by using the continuous speech processing
APIs. Add on top of the voice resource.
DMIPS10V20W Voice Play with volume control, record with AGC, DTMF,
user-DMIPS10V20WHD defined tone detection and generation, including RFC 2833
and H.245 UII Table 1: Intel NetStructure HMP Software for Windows Resources
Configurations
Sample configurations for IP media servers developed with Intel NetStructure HMP software include network announcements, interactive voice response (IVR), voice mail, and conferencing servers.
An IP media server is always the endpoint that terminates an IP connection in the network. Depending on the customer environment (service provider or enterprise), the IP media server can be deployed in a number of ways. The following figures illustrate typical deployment environments.
Service Provider Configuration
Figure 1 illustrates how an IP media server based on Intel NetStructure HMP software can be deployed in a typical service provider environment for IVR, announcements, voice mail/messaging, speech, or conferencing applications.
An IP-PSTN gateway terminates PSTN connections. A softswitch manages all aspects of call establishment and teardown over IP. Once the call is established, an RTP connection is created between the IP media server and an endpoint. The softswitch tells the media server, IP endpoints, and IP-PSTN gateway when to establish or drop connections.
IP media servers are deployed according to two main models.
• Local — The application resides in the media server and controls the media processing functionality of Intel NetStructure HMP software via direct APIs such as R4 and Global Call.
• Remote — The application server controls the IP media server via remote interfaces, which can be implemented using standard protocols such as SIP or HTTP and a scripting environment such as VoiceXML. As Figure 1 shows, the customer must implement the remote control interface on top of the direct APIs because Intel NetStructure HMP software does not provide such an interface.
Service providers often use remote deployment because scalability and availability can easily be increased by adding more servers. Remote deployments also work better in the hosted environments frequently used by service providers. However, remote deployments do have drawbacks: they are more complex and additional layers of software must be deployed to provide the remote interfaces needed to control media servers. IP Wide Area Network Softswitch Application Server Distributed Deployment IP Media Server (media only, requires
remote control interface) HMP† HMP† Local Deployment Endpoints: PSTN, Wireless, IP IP Media Server (Application, Media)
† Intel NetStructure® Host Media Processing software
Media Gateway HMP† Digital Interface Boards for HMP
Enterprise Configuration
Figure 2 shows how Intel NetStructure HMP software can be deployed in a media gateway or a converged PBX in an
enterprise environment for IVR, auto attendant, voice mail, unified messaging, speech, or conferencing services.
Corporate LAN PSTN Media Gateway IP PBX HMP† IP Media Server (Application, Call Control, Media) IP
WAN
PSTN
Legacy PBX
† Intel NetStructure® Host Media Processing software
Media Gateway HMP† Digital Interface Boards for HMP Converged PBX HMP† Digital Interface Boards for HMP Figure 2: Intel NetStructure HMP Software in an Enterprise Environment
Figure 3 provides a more detailed architectural view of the converged PBX element shown in Figure 2. Intel NetStructure HMP software presents the media and API to the application. It also controls the digital interface boards for HMP: Intel NetStructure Digital Network Interface boards for T-1 and E-1 connectivity and the Intel NetStructure Digital Station Interface boards, which drive digital station sets from major PBX manufacturers.
In this converged architecture, the application can support IP and TDM trunking, as well as drive both IP and digital station sets, all from a single platform. This ability delivers a remark-able level of deployment flexibility, and the opportunity to extend current Intel technology-based applications into new market segments.
Software Support
Intel NetStructure HMP software is a standalone product. It requires only the Windows XP* or Windows Server 2003* to function. Converged Server Converged IP PBX Application Third-Party IP Stack Global Call or R4 APIs H.323 Stack PSTN CC Station CC SIP Stack SI API R4 APIs IPML PSTN Intel NetStructure® HMP Release 2.0 Digital Network Interface Digital Station Interface HMP Media HMP RTP CT Bus Voice Mail IVR Conf. Server Fax Server Contact Center IP Network • Voice • Conf • Fax • Speech Digital Stations
Functional Description
Figure 4 shows the block diagram for Intel NetStructure HMP software. Intel NetStructure HMP software is built in the same way as an Intel telephony boards with DM3 architecture, but without any specialized hardware components.
The Intel NetStructure HMP software APIs are enabled through the same libraries and drivers as Intel telephony boards with DM3 architecture. The drivers sit on top of the Intel NetStructure HMP software resource framework, the core of the product. The framework implements media Application
Global Call API
Third-Party Call Control API
(Not Provided) IP Media API (ipm_) R4 Media API (dx_play) Call Control Stack (H.323, SIP) Third-Party Call Control Stack (Not Provided) R4 Libraries HMP† Drivers HMP† Resource Framework
Built-In Network Interface Card (NIC)
† Intel NetStructure® Host Media Processing software
Technical Specifications
Network InterfaceIP over a standard Ethernet connection Call Control over IP
Call control protocol H.323
H.450.2 SIP
Integration with third-party call and connection control stacks Provided via the IP media library Media Streaming over IP
Protocol RTP
Encoding formats: G.711 A-law, m-law 8-bit 8K (64 Kb/s); frame sizes 10 ms, 20 ms, and 30 ms G.723.1 G.726 G.729a G.729b QoS Alarms
Frames per packet control Packet loss concealment RTP/RTCP timeouts
Ability to modify the default TOS byte setting in the Registry
Tone generation and detection RFC 2833
H.245 UII
Media control over RTP Programmatic control of inbound RTP stream gain and outbound RTP stream volume
API Support
Call control Global Call over H.323, SIP, H.450.2
Third-party stack integrated via IP Media Library
Voice processing R4 voice (dx_)
Virtual CT Bus routing R4 routing (sc_)
Conferencing R4 conferencing (dcb_)
Fax R4 fax (fx_)
Continuous speech processing R4 EC (ec_)
IP media (QoS, etc.) R4 IPML (ipm_)
Event reporting, device enumeration, and other R4 SRL (sr_) related functionality
Channel Density
400 concurrent user sessions with a combination of RTP streaming, voice, fax, speech, and conferencing resources per system Voice Processing Features
Features supported Play, record, and tone generation and detection
Play Volume control and index play
Technical Specifications
(cont.) Voice Processing Features (cont.)Audio file formats for play/record OKI ADPCM 24 K, 32 K
G.711 A-law, µ-law 48 K, 64 K All of the above in Wave format Linear PCM 8b 11 K (Wave format only) Linear PCM 8b 8K
Tone generation and detection Inband DTMF generation and detection
User-defined global tone generation and detection (GTG, GTD) RFC 2833 tone generation and detection
H.245 UII tone generation and detection Conferencing Features
Total parties per server 320
Advanced features N-way summing
Coach/pupil mode DTMF detection DTMF clamping Active talker notification DTMF Tone Detection
DTMF digits 0 to 9, *, #, A, B, C, D per Bellcore LSSGR Sec. 6
Dynamic range T-1: -36 dBm to +3 dBm per tone, configurable by parameter**
E-1: -39 dBm to 0 dBm per tone, configurable by parameter**
Minimum tone duration 32 ms, can be increased with software configuration
Interdigit timing Like digits: Detects with a >45 ms interdigit delay
Technical Specifications
(cont.) Interoperability with Other Equipment over IPMedia gateways and switches Intel NetStructure® PBX-IP Media Gateway
Cisco* 5300 Series Mediatrix 1204 Avaya* S8300 Avaya IP403 Office Cisco 2611XM Router Cisco AS5400
Cisco CallManager* 3.3(2) Cisco CallManager 4.0 Cisco CallManager Express* Quintum Tenor* Gateway
IP endpoints Polycom SoundPoint* series phones
Siemens optiPoint* 400 Microsoft NetMeeting* client
Grandstream BudgetTone* 1xx series SIP phones Cisco 79xxG IP
IP boards Intel NetStructure® DM/IP IP boards
Intel NetStructure® IPT6720C IP board
(Note: Boards must be installed in a different computer.)
Licensing
Enabling method Node-locked using FlexNet licensing utility
Hardware System Requirements
Memory Requirements1000 MB recommended
System Requirements
IP-only solutions — single- or dual-processor platform with an Ethernet NIC (Note: 100BaseT is recommended)
Converged solutions — single- or dual-processor PCI platform with an Ethernet NIC and digital interface boards for HMP from Intel
Processors Supported
Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Celeron M, and Intel Xeon processors
Intel NetStructure HMP Software Release 2.0 provides a very high level of flexibility in choosing media processing configurations, making it impossible to list all the available combinations of media processing resources. Table 2 references media processing configurations and required processing platforms as an illustration. Please contact your authorized Intel distributor to configure your system and get detailed system information specific to your configuration.
In all cases, average CPU utilization was below 65% (and in many cases was below 50%), leaving ample processing cycles for the application.
Table 2: Sample Configurations
Configuration RTP EnhancedRTP Voice Conferencing Fax Speech PSTN System CPU
IVR 400 0 400 0 0 0 0 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
IVR with Transcoding 120 120 120 0 0 0 0 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
IVR with E-1 CAS 240 0 240 0 0 0 240 Dual Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz
IVR with T-1 ISDN 120 0 120 0 0 0 96 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
Unified Messaging 240 0 240 0 48 240 0 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
Unified Messaging with 60 60 120 80 0 120 96 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
T-1 Clear Channel
IP Unified Messaging 120 60 120 120 32 120 0 Pentium 4 3.0 GHz
Conferencing 320 0 0 320 0 0 0 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
Conferencing with E-1 30 30 60 40 0 0 30 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
ISDN
Conferencing with 400 0 400 320 0 400 0 Dual Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz
Speech
Operating System Requirements
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