There seems to be a lack of detailed understanding by service providers and equipment manufacturers alike regarding methods of "tweaking" systems and equipment to provide optimum levels of QoS for IP telephony. This session is designed to appeal to service providers and equipment manufacturers alike. Service providers would be introduced to QoS factors and how the information can be presented to them, and subsequently corrected, and the equipment manufacturers would be introduced to how these algorithms need to be incorporated into product designs.

To increase competition in the local telephone market service, Congress directed local telephone companies to offer telephone number portability in accordance with requirements prescribed by the FCC, with the stated goals of ensuring that all Americans have the ability to keep their existing telephone number at the same location when changing local telephone service providers; promoting competition in the local telephone market; and implementing this new service without degradation in the quality of telecommunications service. Come to this session to hear how Local Number Portability has fared in its first months of existence and what effects this regulation has had on the next-gen telecommunications market at large.

This unique double session features the industry's leading experts in a round table discussion of where exactly we stand in regards to Service provider IP telephony. You'll come away with a true sense of what's happening in the industry, with perspectives from the leading service providers exploring next-generation solutions, including the latest developments, a glimpse into the future, and some real-life implementation tales that you won't want to miss. Bring your questions, and we'll bring the industry leaders who are best positioned to provide the answers.

Come to hear true tales of deployment from a Service Provider who has "bitten the bullet" to implement next-generation packet telephony products and services. Learn and benefit from their experiences. You'll gain insights into the problems they encountered, the mistakes they made and the lessons they learned — and in the process avoid costly backtracking, false starts, and delays in your own network strategy. This is truly a can't-miss session for the service provider looking to chart a clear course to the network of the future.

A vast array of recent developments such as faster network access, increased use of the Internet, greater proliferation of technology driving greater network usage, etc… have placed a tremendous burden on the switching infrastructure deployed at the network's edge. In order to keep pace with the rapid changes and increases in network usage, it's become necessary to consider alternatives to the existing class of equipment that serves as the point of entry into the carrier's network. Come explore the state of next-generation switching technology, focusing on the needs and requirements of existing infrastructure as well as efficient and scalable provisioning of emerging services.

Traditional TDM switch makers look at billing as something they don't need to worry about. Talk to any switch guy about billing and he will likely say "we let the billing vendors worry about that." Billing vendors, on the other hand, typically know very little about switching and routing. The result is that with few exceptions switching vendors have simply adapted to the only IP billing protocol that was available - RADIUS. However, having been designed for dial-up Internet access, RADIUS is inherently ill-suited for billing voice services. And when RADIUS extensions are used (called Vendor Specific Attributes or VSAs), the solutions become proprietary and inflexible resulting in a significant impediment to the introduction of new IP-based voice services. Come discuss possibilities available with today's existing solutions and point out the pitfalls involved in attempting to deploy new IP-based voice services amidst this environment.

ENUM is an IETF protocol designed to facilitate the convergence of IP networks and the PSTN. The protocol (IETF RFC 2916) essentially enables the mapping of telephone numbers to Internet URLs. Thus, ENUM enables users to access Internet services from not only next-generation Internet-aware telephones and appliances, but also from regular phones connected to data networks through the use of gateways. One of the goals of our industry has been to make VoIP as transparent as possible, enabling VoIP calls to be as easy to make as regular PSTN calls. ENUM goes helps ensure that objective is met. Come see what this means for you and for the future of our industry.