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Here's the short answer - the VPF ENUM Registry is a multilateral peering service that allows organizations to send and receive calls among members directly, IP end-to-end, for no termination fee.

The use of the registry is also free, there are no costs to register numbers and for querying. Sounding good so far?

The ENUM registry is based on the IETF "RFC 3761" standard which maps telephone numbers to Internet addresses - URLs - and uses a look-up architecture based on DNS.

Again, it's completely free, for number registration, lookup and per-minute costs, with secure and easy methods to synchronize information like push and pull options. It also lets users route calls IP-to-IP across the VPF and bypass the PSTN and the public Internet, and has HD voice, SMS, MMS and Presence Support.

It also offers the ability to storage and retrieve CNAM information and the VPF ENUM Registry is an optional service available at no additional cost to all VPF members, designed to help VPF members to reduce expenses.

Here's how the call flow works when using the VPF ENUM Registry: The user initiates a phone call. The query is sent to ENUM Registry, where routing information is returned. Now if true, the call is established between the organizations through the VPF. But if it's false, the call is sent to a selected termination carrier, either via the VPF Minutes Market or a PSTN connection.

In addition, the VPF ASP Market is a marketplace for accessing applications, telco databases and gateway services over the VPF from companies. Services include 8XX, 411, E911, CNAM, LIDB, LNP and SS7.

Accessing ASP services via the VPF allows VPF members to reduce interconnect costs and provisioning times, as well as increase reliability and performance by bypassing the public switched telephone network.