Data provided by the body of a SIP message can be included either directly in the SIP message body, or indirectly by specifying an HTTP URL and metadata that describes the URL content. Indirectly specifying the content of the message body is used primarily in the following scenarios:

• When the message bodies include large volumes of data. In this case, content indirection can be used to transfer the data outside of the SIP network (using a separate connection or protocol).

• For bandwidth-limited applications. In this case, content indirection provides enough metadata for the application to determine whether or not it must retrieve the message body (potentially degrading performance or response time).

Converged Application Server provides a simple application program interface (API) that you can use to work with indirect content specified in SIP messages.