H.248 is a Gateway Control Protocol (GCP), standardized by International Telecommunications Union Telecom Standardization Sector (ITU-T), that is used by a softswitch (also known as a media gateway controller) to control a media gateway. The standard is also endorsed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which refers to it as Megaco (Media Gateway Controller). Using the H.248 GCP, the softswitch can control resources within the media gateway to provide end-to-end service connectivity for voice, video and multimedia communications.