An Era of Federation Is Upon Us

 

Another big forthcoming change is in the area of federation. Over the last year, I've been writing in these pages about the challenges of inter-domain federation. Today, voice over IP is siloed. Though widely deployed within individual domains, it has seen little usage as the glue to connect users across different domains. There are many challenges to achieving open, Internet-based any-to-any federation over IP. The complexities of number routing, the issue of spam and concerns over security are the biggest ones. However, the benefits are substantial - wideband voice, video, and enhanced features - both now, and into the future.

 

To that end, I published a series of specifications to the Internet Engineering Task Force in November 2009 that describe a new federation technology called ViPR. ViPR solves the problem of inter-domain call routing, focused on enterprise-to-enterprise federation. It has several key properties.

 

• It works with phone numbers. Users in one enterprise can continue to call the numbers that they've been using to call users in another enterprise. There is no need to change numbers or dial by e-mail address.

• It works with existing phones. ViPR does not require users to change devices. They can use their existing phones, and calls are simply routed over the Internet instead of the telephone network.

• It's secure. ViPR provides secure mapping from phone numbers to enterprises. It prevents an enterprise from stealing calls or hijacking phone numbers.

• It features auto-learning. The system is self-learning. The administrator in one enterprise does not need to configure a single piece of information about other enterprises. ViPR automatically finds and connects to other ViPR-enabled domains automatically.

• It allows for worldwide reach. ViPR works between enterprises anywhere in the world.

• It offers unlimited scale. ViPR works no matter how many enterprises use it, without imposing an undue burden on any one enterprise.

• It has anti-spam capabilities. ViPR has fully-automated anti-spam mechanisms built-in. Unwanted incoming calls are blocked without any interaction with end users or administrators.

• It doesn't rely on additional services. ViPR does not require additional services from telecom providers; enterprises can use existing PSTN and Internet connectivity without change.

 

At first glance, these properties seem to be impossible to satisfy in totality. Indeed, they are impossible to satisfy simultaneously without a change in underlying assumptions. The underlying assumption in previous federation solutions was that, prior to deploying the solution, the PSTN would be used exclusively to connect enterprises. After the federation solution was deployed, IP networks would be used exclusively.

 

ViPR, however, uses an incremental approach. Once enabled, it gradually shifts traffic from the PSTN to the IP network, using the PSTN itself to help drive the transition. ViPR is a hybrid technology, combining the PSTN with SIP and peer-to-peer technologies.

 

I have dedicated much of my work and personal life over the last three years to shepherding ViPR from concept to product, and in November 2009, coincident with the publication of its specifications, Cisco announced that it would be launching a commercial product based on the technology called Intercompany Media Engine. Cisco's announcement marks the beginning of true Internet-based federation for enterprise-to-enterprise communications.

 

Recent months have marked another important milestone in federation technologies - the launch of Skype for SIP. Skype for SIP enables federation between Skype (with more than 520 million registered users) and enterprise users, also using SIP. Enterprises can now obtain Skype IDs. Any Skype user can call those Skype IDs and be connected to users within the enterprise via a SIP-enabled PBX. This isn't just about cost reduction - it's also about lowering the barriers to communications. By making it easy for Skype users to connect to businesses right from their Skype clients, or from their Web browsers using the Skype toolbar, communications can happen more often.

 

Skype for SIP marks a really important first step in bridging together one very large community (the Skype user base) with another - IP-enabled enterprises. In the future, this connectivity will allow for services beyond basic voice - such as wideband speech, video, and collaboration. This, in turn, will fuel the network effect even further.

 

As we enter a new year and a new decade, I believe we are also entering a new era of unified communications - one in which rich communications experiences break out of their silos. 2010 will mark the beginning of widespread federation, enabling rich communications between users in different domains. Once we've achieved that, the industry will have conquered its final frontier.