This article originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY

What's new in the voice peering world? This conference. The inaugural Voice Interconnect and Peering Conference (VIPeering) was collocated with TMC's (News - Alert) ITEXPO in Los Angeles, and it brought out the movers and shakers in the business.

As the announcement stated, "VIPeering will explore the interconnect, registry and numbering technologies, best practices and partnerships that carriers and service providers need to keep pace with consumer and business demands for end-to-end IP communication services".

Exploration is important as it helps to identify paths that should be followed. Although commercial voice peering in an IP environment has been around for 7 years now it still seems as though it is just in its infancy. Hopefully with these bright minds at work the way forward can be furthered.

All of the speakers are experts in their domains and each highly regarded, so this conference was expected to produce meaningful results. Each speaker was notable and his/her value to the cause is significant. The speakers that stand out to me as true innovators, Jim Dalton (News - Alert), Michah Singer, Rod Ullens and Scott Wharton, are people who can really contribute to the education and awareness process.

So, what does this all mean for voice interconnect and peering? It means that it is a very real dimension of the greater industry. It commands its own conference within the larger ITEXPO (News - Alert), and for good reason. There are many players and opportunities in the segment and the roles they play are relevant to the functionality, efficiency and economics of service provider and enterprise networks. The vast ecosystem of VoIP is better understood and implemented through VoIP peering, and it is good to see that there are others that understand that fact as well.

Creating a basis from which to stand and then documenting the way forward is a service in and of itself to everyone who stands to gain from the knowledge of the proper ways of VoIP interconnection and peering. Whether by traditional bilateral VoIP peering, registry-based bilateral and, or multilateral VoIP peering, or any other permutation, the benefits exist and need to be exploited and shared.

Sharing is the essence of peering. It is reciprocal. You get back what you give. What you put in is what you get out. When it comes to the expense of time and energy, there is no better return on the investment.

I look forward to covering future VIPeering conferences and disseminating the documented advancements of the VoIP peering community.

Hunter Newby is CEO of Allied Fiber (News - Alert) (www.alliedfiber.com).