Some time ago, I read something about MGCP protocol indicating that it would supersede H.323 as the standard for the VoIP industry. Is that correct? What is better?
Requires Free Membership to View
MGCP is a bit different than H.323. It was developed by Level 3 Communications and Telcordia. The Media Gateway Control Protocol came to light to allow a phone to provide the switching that used to be in the VoIP switch in a simpler manner (thereby less expensive).
In a traditional VoIP system, the phone switch determined what is an IP call and what goes over the PSTN. If you move all of that functionality into a phone, the expense of the phone obviously would increase. MGCP is supposed to alleviate some of this cost due to its simplicity in providing this functionality.
As for replacing H.323, I doubt that will happen anytime soon due to the number of H.323 units already out there. But then again, scales of economy can change things in a hurry!
This was first published in August 2003