Using your 'Phone number' as an Internet address looks like it might be very popular

Imagine being able to reach a person anywhere simply by typing in a single telephone number on the Internet. The message could be sent to any possible point of contact: mobile phone, email, instant messenger, voice mail or any other form of electronic communication.

This kind of white pages on steroids is just one goal of a new technology that is now being tested. Proponents of the technology, known as "Enum", presumably an abbreviation of "electronic numbers", say it is a critical step toward merging the Internet and old-world telephone systems.

A simpler Internet-addressing system suggests that allocating every person at least one number they can use for their mobile phone, email address, instant messaging and faxes.

Many countries are now joining a group backing a simpler Internet address method that could theoretically give everyone a Web presence through a telephone number.

What are the main benefits that ENUM gives to subscribers?

ENUM enables Internet-based users to make a selection from a range of services available for communicating with another person when the caller knows only the telephone number or has access only to a telephone keypad.

ENUM allows users to gain access to Internet-based services and resources from Internet-aware telephones, ordinary telephones connected to Internet gateways, and other Internet-connected devices, where input is limited to numeric digits.

ENUM also enables users to specify their preferences for receiving incoming communications. It allows greater control over communications. For example, a person can specify a preference for voice mail messages over live calls during certain times of day, or may indicate a destination for call forwarding.

So whose idea was all this – why would anyone want to do this?

The Enum technology is in a large part the brainchild of a Swedish communications systems engineer, Patrik Faltstrom, who wanted to clear a frustrating clutter of pagers, email accounts, mobile phones, office phones, home phones, and instant messengers. He reasoned that if all these points of communication could use a single number, the world would be a much simpler place and communicating with one another would not only be easier but cheaper and faster.

Consequently the result of their work was the Enum standard, which was approved by a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) last year. At its heart, the technology allows plain old telephone numbers to be plugged into the same address system that Web sites now use, ensuring that computers on the Internet could understand, by way of example that "1800 800 549" as well as "abc.net.au."

Theoretically, an online user can access a person's contact information, including their email address, simply by typing in the person's phone number in the Internet address field of the Web browser.

Where is the technology at the moment. Is it being adopted by many?

Thus far, 13 countries that are members of the International Telecommunication Union have signed on to what is known as the “e164.arpa” proposal and plan trials. The group continues to coordinate other international efforts.

Some countries, such as Korea, are said to have planned to commercialise ENUM technology in the earlier part of this year, but were delayed due to technology issues and problems. The ultimate aim is part of their strategy to move towards the global trend of telecommunication and Web systems coming together, also known as “convergence”.

In May this year, Australia released plans to adopt the Enum system in this country. The Australian Communications Authority is encouraging companies to support public trials of Enum. So far they have invested more than a million dollars in developing the technology.

Earlier this year, the United States also announced plans to support the adoption of Enum. By accelerating the convergence of telephone and Internet systems, Enum is expected to provide a huge boost to online telephony services.

What kinds of customers will use ENUM?

While individual home telephone customers can use ENUM, users could also be companies, individuals, government organisation, military, and hosts of other non-individual users.

This prospect is particularly encouraging to Internet-phone proponents, who say it would allow old telephone networks and new voice-over-the-Internet services to talk to each other much more easily.

How is ENUM going to work for the average telephone subscriber? What does this system look like for that subscriber?

If an average telephone customer were to make a telephone call using, for instance, an Internet-enabled phone to another Internet-enabled phone, all of the steps in between are invisible to the user. To the call initiator and call receiver, this phone call would appear the same as a call made over the normal telephone network except it could be 5 to 10 times cheaper.

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au