$Id$ iptel.org SIP Express Router (ser) http://www.iptel.org/ser/ 1. Introduction SIP Express Router (SER) is an industrial-strength, free VoIP server based on the session initiation protocol (SIP RFC2543-bis). It is engineered to power IP telephony infrastructures up to large scale. The server keeps track of users, sets up VoIP sessions, relays instant messages and creates space for new plug-in applications. Its proven interoperability guarantees seamless integration with components from other vendors, eliminating the risk of a single-vendor trap. It has successfully participated in various interoperability tests in which it worked with the products of other leading SIP vendors. The SIP Express Router enables a flexible plug-in model for new applications: Third parties can easily link their plug-ins with the server code and provide thereby advanced and customized services. Its performance and robustness allows it to serve millions of users and accommodate needs of very large operators. With a $3000 dual-CPU, the SIP Express Router is able to power IP telephony services in an area as large as the Bay Area during peak hours. Even on an IPAQ PDA, the server withstands 150 calls per second (CPS)! The server has been powering our iptel.org free SIP site withstanding heavy daily load that is further increasing with the popularity of Microsoft's Messenger. The SIP Express Router is extremely configurable to allow the creation of various routing and admission policies as well as setting up new and customized services. Its configurability allows it to serve many roles: network security barrier, application server, or PSTN gateway guard for example. 2. Feature List See http://www.iptel.org/ser/features for an updated feature list. Note that as features easily are added as modules, changes can occur quickly. Most of SER features are implemented as plug-in modules. See http://www.iptel.org/views/tableofmodules for a list of modules available in SER distribution. 3. About iptel.org See http://www.iptel.org/ser_history for the story of SER and iptel.org. 4. Obtaining Help We offer best-effort free support for ser. "best-effort" means that we try to solve your problems via email as soon as we can, subject to available manpower. To receive feedback to your inquiries, we recommend you to subscribe to the serusers mailing list and post your queries there. This mailing list is set up for mutual help by the community of ser users and developers. To participate in the mailing list, subscribe at the following web address: http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers. Send your questions to serusers@iptel.org. 5. More Information Most up-to-date information is always available at our website, http://www.iptel.org/ser/ Particularly, it includes: o administrator's guide o installation guidelines (INSTALL) o download links o list of known issues (ISSUES) o etc.