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Thanks to the newly unveiled PeerConnect registry, North American cable operators and their partners will be able to exchange information to establish IP-based voice and video calls.

The PeerConnect registry, introduced by CableLabs (News - Alert) and in conjunction with member companies and vendors, has been in development since 2009 and provides a secure, distributed service platform for the provisioning and distribution of session related data for SMS-MMS and voice-over IP Communications, according to company officials.

"We have designed this service to accelerate the adoption of end-to-end IP communications and open up the possibilities for new real-time communication services," said CableLabs senior vice president of technology development Jean-François Mulé, who has overseen the PeerConnect project.

The PeerConnect registry includes three main service elements:

-          A registration service allowing cable operators to dynamically provision various service data elements

-          A resolution service element for cable operators and their peering partners to perform number translation and routing queries to the registry using the IETF SIP and ENUM protocols

-          A replication element to dynamically distribute session routing data for SMS-MMS and VoIP to select partner companies

"The PeerConnect registry allows Comcast (News - Alert) to move telephone number translation services inside the IP domain," said Phil Miller, vice president, Strategic Partnership Development, Comcast Communications and Data services. "It provides a scalable solution for us to dynamically distribute numbers and other IP voice session routing data to select partners."

The registry has already received acclaim from other companies.

"Cablevision has been using the PeerConnect registration services for some time with great success to disseminate IP session routing information to peers,” said Wayne Thompson, vice president, Telecom and Internet Management at Cablevision Systems (News - Alert) Corp. “It is a scalable solution for managing peering relationships and it is built on open standards to advertise session routing data to various valued-added service companies.”

Echoed R.K. Gopinath, director, Wireless Product Development at Cox (News - Alert) Communications, "The PeerConnect registry is part of the SMS-MMS service platform Cox Wireless has been leveraging with great success for its mobile rollout.”