Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was conceived in 1996 as a signaling
protocol for inviting users to multimedia conferences. With this
development, the next big Internet revolution silently started. That was
the revolution which would end up converting the Internet into a total
communication system which would allow people to talk to each other, see
each other, work collaboratively or send messages in real time. Internet
telephony and, in general, Internet multimedia, is the new revolution
today and SIP is the key protocol which allows this revolution to grow.
The book explains, in tutorial fashion, the underlying technologies that
enable real-time IP multimedia communication services in the Internet
(voice, video, presence, instant messaging, online picture sharing,
white-boarding, etc). Focus is on session initiation protocol (SIP) but
also covers session description protocol (SDP), Real-time transport
protocol (RTP), and message session relay protocol (MSRP). In addition,
it will also touch on other application-related protocols and refer to
the latest research work in IETF and 3GPP about these topics. (3GPP
stands for "third-generation partnership project" which is a
collaboration agreement between ETSI (Europe), ARIB/TTC (Japan), CCSA
(China), ATIS (North America) and TTA (South Korea).) The book includes
discussion of leading edge theory (which is key to really understanding
the technology) accompanied by Java examples that illustrate the
theoretical concepts. Throughout the book, in addition to the code
snippets, the reader is guided to build a simple but functional IP
soft-phone therefore demonstrating the theory with practical examples.
This book covers IP multimedia from both a theoretical and practical
point of view focusing on letting the reader understand the concepts and
put them into practice using Java. It includes lots of drawings,
protocol diagrams, UML sequence diagrams and code snippets that allow
the reader to rapidly understand the concepts. KEY FEATURES

* Focus on HOW multimedia communications over the Internet works to
allow readers to really understand and implement the technology
* Explains how SIP works, including many programming examples so the
reader can understand abstract concepts like SIP dialogs, SIP
transactions, etc.
* It is not focused on just VoIP. It looks At a wide array of enhanced
communication services related to SIP enabling the reader put this
technology into practice.
* Includes nearly 100 references to the latest standards and working
group activities in the IETF, bringing the reader completely up to date.

* Provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a basic, though
functional, IP soft-phone allowing the reader to put concepts into
practice.
* For advanced readers, the book also explains how to build a SIP proxy
and a SIP registrar to enhance one's expertise and marketability in this
fast moving area.