Concluded WG Voice Profile for Internet Mail (vpim)
Note: The data for concluded WGs is occasionally incorrect.
| WG | Name | Voice Profile for Internet Mail | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acronym | vpim | ||
| Area | Applications Area (app) | ||
| State | Concluded | ||
| Charter | charter-ietf-vpim-01 Approved | ||
| Document dependencies | |||
| Additional resources | Additional VPIM Web Page | ||
| Personnel | Chair | Glenn Parsons | |
| Mailing list | Address | vpim@ietf.org | |
| To subscribe | vpim-request@ietf.org | ||
| Archive | https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/vpim |
Final Charter for Working Group
The Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM) Version 2 is currently a
Proposed Standard (RFC 2421) Applicability Statement. It is an
application of Internet Mail originally intended for sending voice
messages between voice messaging systems. As such, VPIM imposes
several restrictions on the message and transport to support the
characteristics of voice messaging. Many voice mail vendors have
implemented systems according to RFC 2421 and are in the process of
deploying these systems around the world. Most vendors have completed
(or are currently involved in) interoperability testing of VPIM
products and have posted their results on the VPIM website. This
working group will promote the advancement of VPIM v2 on the standards
track.
Several minor problems with VPIM v2 have been identified during the
development and testing of products. These problems can easily be
fixed with minor clarifications to the protocol. A revised VPIM v2
(and related protocols as necessary) will be produced to reflect these
clarifications. No protocol changes will be introduced in this update.
Though VPIM uses Internet Mail, its restrictions can be inconvenient
when sending and receiving messages from traditional desktop email
clients. As a result, there is interest in loosening the restrictions
of VPIM in a new version and make it the voice component of a unified
messaging protocol suite. This would make it easier for desktop
clients to send, receive, and forward voice messages while maintaining
support for the characteristics of a voice message.
The primary goal of Version 3 is to support interoperability with
deployed desktop email clients. A secondary goal is to specify
interoperability with Version 2. The result is that the semantics of a
voice or fax message within an email message can be interpreted at as
many clients as possible.
An initial proposal for VPIM v3 (also known as Internet Voice Mail
(IVM)) is currently documented in several Internet Drafts (see
draft-ema-vpimv3-*): VPIM v3 Goals, VPIM v3 Unified Messaging (Primary
Content), VPIM Addressing and VPIM v3 Specification. As well, several
supporting protocol extensions may need to be worked in this group or
in collaboration with other groups. These are: IMAP voice extensions,
voice directory profiles, content negotiation details for voice and
partial non-delivery notifications.
The working group will initially focus on agreement of the goals and
then define a set of protocol documents to address the media,
addressing, and handling semantics. Finally, VPIM v2 - v3 Interworking
will be documented separately if needed.
Collaboration
The voice mail vendors and several email vendors have been meeting in
the VPIM work group at the Electronic Messaging Association (EMA) for
several years. This team produced VPIM v1 (RFC 1911) and VPIM v2 (RFC
2421). This group meets three times a year in between IETF meetings
and is regularly attended by core VPIM proponents. As a result, there
is benefit to using this venue as an interim meeting.
In addition, the work of this group is related to similar work by the
Internet Fax WG. It is intended that Version 3 will use at least the
Simple Mode of Internet Fax.
As well, other IETF WGs may be interested in proposed voice extensions
to protocols. There may be value in collaborating on some work items.
Done milestones
| Date | Milestone | Associated documents |
|---|---|---|
| Done | Review final work items and close | |
| Done | Submit VPIM content negotiation to IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard RFC | |
| Done | WG last call on IVM/VPIM v3 content negotiation as Proposed Standard RFC | |
| Done | Submit VPIM directory to IESG for consideration as Standards Track RFC | |
| Done | Submit VPIM addressing to IESG for consideration as Standards Track RFC | |
| Done | WG last call on VPIM directory profile as Standards Track RFC | |
| Done | WG last call on VPIM addressing as Standards Track RFC | |
| Done | Submit VPIM IMAP client extensions to IESG for consideration as Standards Track RFC | |
| Done | WG last call on VPIM client extensions as Standards Track RFC | |
| Done | Submit IVM et al to IESG for consideration as a Proposed Standard | |
| Done | Submit VPIM v2 to IESG for consideration as a Draft Standard RFC | |
| Done | Submit VPIM addressing to IESG for consideration as a Proposed Standard | |
| Done | Submit IVM Goals to IESG for consideration as Informational RFC | |
| Done | WG last call on revised VPIM v2 for Draft Standard | |
| Done | WG last call on IVM Specification and related protocol documents as Proposed Standards RFCs | |
| Done | Issue revised VPIM v3 Specification and related protocol documents as Internet Drafts | |
| Done | Issue updated Internet Drafts of VPIM IMAP extensions | |
| Done | WG last call on VPIM v3 Goals as Informational RFC | |
| Done | Issue updated Internet Drafts of VPIM directory | |
| Done | Issue updated Internet Drafts of VPIM addressing | |
| Done | Issue updated VPIM v2 Internet Draft | |
| Done | Issue updated drafts of IVM/VPIM v3 Goals, IVM/VPIM v3 Specification and related protocol documents as Internet Drafts | |
| Done | Document interworking VPIM v2 implementations |