"Seamless operation of IP telephony requires the ability to initiate@ redirect and reconfigure media connections in a fast and efficient manner. The reduction of ""dead time"" and quick response to user actions both demand that media operations be carried out as quickly as possible. For example@ a caller might be redirected from an endpoint that does not answer to a voice messaging endpoint that answers automatically. A call may suspend media transfer when a user invokes ""hold""@ then should re-establish media transfer quickly when the user re-joins the call. Similarly@ media connections should be quickly reconfigured when a user activates a conference or is switched to an automatic announcement. Such capabilities are available to the simple endpoint type (SET) as described in Annex F of [ITU-T H.323]. This Recommendation provides a method by which an endpoint may negotiate the capability to initiate@ rearrange@ reconfigure@ or close one or more media channels as efficiently and quickly as a SET using the repeated Fast Connect procedures. The advantages of this method@ relative to [ITU-T H.245] include: ? the ability of one party to initiate creation of both transmit and receive media channels (not strictly possible in [ITU-T H.245] since the ModeRequest cannot specify a capability@ nor can it specify replacementFor); ? the ability of two parties to establish media channels with a single exchange of messages ([ITU-T H.245] requires a three-way to five-way exchange); ? the ability of one party to close a media channel with a single message ([ITU-T H.245] requires two or three messages); ? the ability of one party to redirect a media channel with a single message ([ITU-T H.245] requires at least three); ? optional use of tunnelled ITU-T H.245 to provide capability exchange@ master/slave negotiation and non-media controls such as user input indication. The generic extensible framework (GEF) of [ITU-T H.225.0] is used to negotiate the use of Extended Fast Connect (EFC) procedures. This negotiation may proceed in parallel with tunnelled ITU-T H.245 capability negotiation via the parallelH245Control tunnel and/or standard Fast Connect establishment of one or more initial media channels@ as described below. The term ""party"" is used herein to refer to either an endpoint or a gatekeeper actively involved in call signalling and media control with another party. The EFC feature may be invoked between endpoints (direct-routed calls or relayed via a gatekeeper)@ or may involve one or more active gatekeepers or call feature servers. The term ""third party"" is used to indicate an active party that is not the source or recipient of a media channel."