VIPeering Speaker at ITEXPO West: The Future of Peering

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

TMC’s ITEXPO (News - Alert) West launches this week and in anticipation of the first VIPeering conference –part of ITEXPO – consultant and co-organizer Hugh Goldstein recently spoke with Micah Singer (News - Alert), CEO of VoIP Logic. Singer is presenting during a Minutes Merchants panel at VIPeering, an event dedicated to exploring IP interconnection, ENUM, numbering and peering solutions. Singer shared how his company enables IP interconnection and peering by running the infrastructure to support the peering of more than 90 carriers and supporting the infrastructure on another 50.

When asked what role managed services and hosted switching infrastructure play in peering strategies, Singer noted the infrastructure has traditionally been something telecom operators have outsourced as they focus more on their competitive advantage. As for the future of the voice wholesale industry, Singer points to the increase pressure to find an innovation beyond margins based on imperfect knowledge.

In reference to the segment he thinks will drive industry adoption of peering first, Singer points to carriers.As HD voice has become more commonplace in 2010, Singer believes HD voice and video as drivers for forcing the industry to adopt IP interconnections are among the number of drivers for adoption. When asked about the volume of peering from his company’s perspective, Singer estimates 25-30 percent of calls that change carrier networking are using VoIP technology for that interconnection. The entire conversation follows:HG: Greetings Micah, please share with us how your company enables IP interconnection and peering.

MS: Very simply put VoIP Logic (News - Alert) runs the infrastructure that supports the peering of over 90 carriers and we support the infrastructure on another 50.  We work with carriers that use almost every flavor of signaling and peering methodologies from H323 all the way up to IPSEC.  As we expand our professional services we have started to provide network event monitoring with the goal of providing full NOC (News - Alert) services to strengthen our VoIP Peering infrastructure offering.

HG: What role does managed services and hosted switching infrastructure play in peering strategies?

MS:   The infrastructure has traditionally been something telecom operators have outsourced as they have become more focused on their competitive advantage.  If you need a few fiber optic connections you don’t hire a construction company, you buy it from a provider of fiber optic connections.  Such is the case with managed services and hosted switching infrastructure providers – they are well positioned to benefit from the growth of the technology as they provide skills, experience and a pricing model that can’t be replicated by an individual carrier.

HG: From your perspective – what is the future of the voice wholesale industry?

MS:  There is more pressure to find an innovation beyond margins based on imperfect knowledge.  It also seems like there is even more of an imperative to marry wholesale network purchasing savvy with some sort of a retail base of use.  Short of that maybe the emergence of the concept of ‘managed routing’ where someone pays you a flat rate or a flat percent above cost for routing.  For example, consider that a retail prepaid provider could choose a ‘wholesaler’ and have the wholesaler do all routing according to an SLA and then pay them cost plus for the service – making it cheaper than doing it in-house for the prepaid company.

HG: Which segment do you think will drive industry adoption of peering first: consumers, enterprise UC, or carriers?

MS:  Carriers.

HG: HD voice has become more commonplace in 2010 – what are your thoughts on HD voice (and Video) as a driver for forcing the industry to adopt IP interconnections?

MS:   I think they are among a number of drivers for adoption – other performance and integration enhancements like HD that make VoIP technology better for peering.

HG: How much peering is really going out there from your company’s perspective?

MS:   I estimate 25-30 percent of calls that change carrier networks are using VoIP technology for interconnection.  Not a hard guess with Skype (News - Alert) already credited with 13 percent of international calls.

Singer is presenting on the “Minutes Merchants: Peering from Arbitrage to Outsourcing,” panel from 11:30 – 12:15 on October 5in Los Angeles.

VIPeering’s premise is that the rapid development of IP Communications, HD Voice, and Video Telephony on the consumer and enterprise level is nearing the tipping point for mass adoption of IP interconnects. For some years, many in the industry had concluded that while technologically inelegant, it was still economical and practical to connect VoIP networks via the PSTN. The increase in the number of IP communications endpoints, and the sudden wave of awareness around multimedia communications will quickly change this. 

(source: http://voice-quality.tmcnet.com/topics/voip-quality/articles/106303-vipeering-speaker-itexpo-west-future-peering.htm)