VoIP and ENUM

Long awaited CC1 ENUM LCC formed

Richard Shockey just distributed the following press release via the IETF ENUM mailing list:

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For Immediate Release: Media Contact: Jackie Henson McKenna Long and Aldridge LLP 202-496-7549 jhenson@mckennalong.com

TOP TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET COMPANIES FORM COUNTRY CODE 1 ENUM LLC TO FOSTER NEW INTERNET TELECOM TECHNOLOGY New Organization to Promote Development of Technology to Combine Internet with Traditional Telephony to Offer Streamlined Communication

Washington DC - (October 28, 2004) - Today, several leading telecommunications and Internet companies have announced the formation of a new organization, the Country Code 1 ENUM Limited Liability Company (CC1 ENUM LLC), to build the public infrastructure that will promote the development of ENUM technology in a single, carrier-class manner within the countries of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). The countries of the NANP include the United States, Canada and the Caribbean nations.

ENUM is a technology that allows users to combine the resources of the Internet with traditional telephony, uniting these two diverse worlds of communications and enabling a whole new range of communication applications. The ENUM system effectively enables individuals, businesses and other organizations to maximize the use of both the public Internet and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by associating telephone numbers with Internet domain names. As a result, phone numbers can be used to send traditional telephony services like voice calls or faxes which can be converted to digital packets for delivery to a variety of devices.

A common ENUM system becomes increasingly essential as applications like voice over IP (VoIP) become more widely adopted. The ENUM system bridges the technology gap between the public Internet and the Public Switched Telephone Network so that VoIP users of different service providers can communicate more simply with each other.

Through the launch of this new organization, the founding companies are seeking to build a commercial implementation consistent with the relevant open standards of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) upon which ENUM is based. The new company will help to implement a single, public ENUM system for those nations within the NANP that choose to participate. It is intended that the North American implementation of ENUM will adhere to national and industry privacy requirements. The LLC’s first task will involve selection of a vendor to take the initial steps towards creation of an infrastructure that would enable the countries within the NANP to establish their own national ENUM implementations. The limited liability company will also be responsible for selecting a vendor to develop the national infrastructure for the United States.

Country Code 1 ENUM LLC will manage the public infrastructure that translates traditional telephone numbers into Internet domain names, combining the reach and capabilities of the Internet with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to enable new communications capabilities. CC1 ENUM LLC members include AT&T, GoDaddy.com, MCI, SBC Laboratories, Sprint, and Verizon.