In the bad old days of email, email systems didn't interconnect; a message on MCI Mail had to go through hoops and contortions to show up (maybe) on CompuServe. This is pretty much the state of VoIP right now; to get from Here to There, too many IP calls hit a wall of compatibility issues. At last week's Internet Telephony show, Ingate Systems gathered a bunch of companies including BandTel, Objectworld, Voex, and Pingtel to establish a SIP Trunking alliance to ensure that their products interconnect with each other's. Pingtel is a particularly interesting player here, due to its corporate involvement in the IMS Forum, one of the driving forces behind IMS.

For more information about the SIP Trunking alliance:
- see the press release [1] from Ingate Systems