Packetizer

Celebrating 20 Years

February 2, 2020

This month marks Packetizer’s 20th anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been that long since Packetizer first began publishing content on the Internet. With tens of thousands of visitors every month, it has been remarkable to see the site blossom and prove to be a valuable resource for people interested to learn more about VoIP and videoconferencing technologies.

Over the years, the site has grown to offer various software products and other informational content that is useful to both developers of protocols and to those desiring to secure information. We also added some fun stuff that’s utterly useless beyond entertainment, like an implementation of Sierpinski Triangle and Cambridge Obfuscator.

While we have seen amazing interest in tools like AES Crypt and had a lot of fun with other technologies along the way, the primary motivation for creating Packetizer was to educate developers and users in the area of collaborative technologies and we remain focused on that. We value open standards and appreciate the fact that we have witnessed and been a part of a transition from legacy PSTN technology to IP-based technologies. That said, we are saddened by the fact that open standards are not embraced as much today as they were before.

Years ago, developers and consumers were interested in H.323 and SIP for voice and video communications. For a while, XMPP was hot for instant messaging and presence. As time progressed, though, we witnessed a regression in the industry to proprietary systems and protocols, with H.323 and SIP used only as bridging protocols between proprietary islands. In many ways, that’s disappointing.

Nonetheless, Packetizer has been and will remain a resource for packet-switched conversational protocols. Perhaps with time, people will begin to realize again the importance of industry standards and we can see a renewed interest in and growth of technologies that work with each other. We would still love to see something like H.325 become a reality.

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