There is a largely misunderstood shift in telecom today: VoIP Peering through ENUM Registries. Peering is the concept of interconnecting networks, allowing IP and subsequently, VoIP traffic to be carried between service providers and companies without the need of the “middle man,” or in this case, an additional long distance service provider. By using session border controllers placed between the service providers, or IP PBXs between enterprises and then querying the call via an ENUM database, one can provide a “translation service” between the callers. The speaker will provide insight on both the network and business process implications of the Voice Peering and ENUM.

It can be said that ENUM weds traditional phone numbers and the Internet for VoIP, under the ENUM standard, which allows VoIP to use the DNS for signaling. But like any good marriage there are significant adjustments that need to be made. Most current DNS technology suffers from scalability issues. Similarly, the long DNS names of ENUM work badly when run on DNS servers tuned for short names. Customer data privacy is also a concern. But the marriage can be saved, it just requires attention to the needs of both parties. This session will explain to carriers what they should be putting in their ENUM RFPs, describe the traps of practicality, and demonstrate the ability of practice to match theory.

ENUM is considered by many to be the key ingredient for the successful convergence between PSTN and Internet. ENUM enables the routing of telephone numbers to IP thus enabling a more efficient method of routing VoIP calls to VoIP recipients (bypassing the PSTN altogether) and also facilitates PSTN to VoIP calling. SIP continues to evolve and is now an ever-present standard in worldwide VoIP deployments. Come to this session to learn all about ENUM and SIP: what they do, how they interrelate, as well as other considerations in these types of deployments.