Now, it's been some time since I last told you that some big guys in telecommunication decided all the crap with endless codec lists and standards and all the interconnectivity troubles generated by them should come to a smaller incidence if not to a complete halt.

So the French - AETA Audio Systems and the Germans - Mayah Communications shook hands and started a new organization, the Audio-via-IP Experts Group, whose sworn goal is to set new industry standards between all the formats and codecs running this very moment in the whole world (starting with our beloved Europe, of course) in what voice-over-ip communications are concerned.

This new group operates relating to the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) standards based on the G.711 and G. 722 protocols as well as the MPEG layers 2 and 3 audio coding and the ultimate ideal is to provide European communications in the VoIP range with full interoperability between any codecs different systems may use, exactly by following the same standards.

Now it's time for the first newcomer in the Audio-via-IP Experts Group, namely the European branch of the USA-based Orban/CRL company. After the first phase of development of the new group, interest has risen in Orban'd R&D department and after a few weeks of discussion, the family has one new member.

Thomas Krey, head of Orban R&D Europe declared: "We are proud to be a member of this Audio-via-IP Experts group. During the last weeks we have had good and intensive communication with both partners (AETA and Mayah). The cooperation between the three companies has accelerated the development which guarantees the highest possible quality standard for our customers.

A compatible implementation of audio over IP with SIP/RTP will be the result. We are implementing new SIP/RTP features into our codecs with the necessary and important input of the EBU members, our customers and with the participants of the Audio-via-IP Experts group. "

Needless to say that both AETA and Mayah (co-founders of the Audio-via-IP Experts Group) have welcomed Orban/CRL with open hands, this being the first palpable proof that their road has true significance and meaning. So far, Orban/CRL has been the first to join the Experts Group and it is expected that more communication companies will follow this example during 2007.

The only "impediment" if we were to call it this way is that nobody can become a member in the Audio-vis-IP Experts Group without actually having embedded the group tech in its own services and products.

As every beginning has its hard steps, I guess that this interoperability endeavor in the VoIP world will soon become a common fact and the old continent will have better communication; and why not, eventually extending the premises to other places where an IP is to be found.