Accessing Internet Web Sites Via Phone Numbers And Logos

Abstract

Is this the next big "Internet Land Grab"? According to the next generation of Web users surfing the Internet on your mobile phone should be just as easy as dialling a phone number.

If you were one of those that were late registering a Web address you probably found you couldn't abbreviate or shorten the name of your site for ease of Web access. For example typing in "www.abc.net.au" is a whole lot easier than typing "www.australian_broadcasting_corporation.net.au".

To add further impetus to identifiying ourselves on the Internet, we are running out of Internet addresses. This is akin to saying the street is full; no one else can live here now!

Why Would We Want To Number Web Sites?

That's the seminal idea behind the latest technology that intends to register the world's millions of ".com," ".net" and ".org" Internet addresses.

People will register existing phone numbers or simpler numeric strings called "logos" for connecting to the wireless Web. Consumers with Web-enabled cell phones could reach say, the Qantas site, by dialling Qantas (726827 on the mobile phones keypad).

This system contrasts sharply with offerings from many mobile phone carriers, which require typing in addresses such as sydneymorningherald.com to reach Web sites. Aside from the difficulty of even reading specially formatted Web pages on tiny cell phone screens, finding those pages is a time-consuming exercise that can require 50 or more keystrokes per address. Typing the letter "S" for instance, takes four strokes of the number 7.

To eliminate these difficulties, it is thought that a system that uses short numeric characters rather than alphabetical addresses is a better system.

How Will People Do This?

People with Web sites wanting to participate will need to register with an organisation that specialises in this process. The smart ones of course will ensure that the content of their Web sites will already be formatted for display on cell phones.

What Are The Main Benefits For People Adopting This Numbering Scheme?

Many folks will be anxious to sign up for this type of scheme after they missed out on the original great land grab for dot-com Web addresses. In the first uptake most people could register whatever names or acronyms they wanted.

Because we are running out of "address space" with this version of the Internet addressing system it will become even far more difficult to register what we want in the way of representative naming. Further some unscrupulous people have pre-registered names that do not ethically belong to them so they can take financial advantage by then on-selling them to businesses whose name actually represented the registration.

Consequently many people will want to get in on the ground floor and get their numbers before this system gets really popular and they miss out again. Businesses especially want to give all kinds of access to their customers in whichever manner they choose to log on to their sites. As you might expect they are anxious not to alienate anybody.

Does Everybody Believe This System Will Actually Get Off The Ground?

Still, some of us wonder if this type of application is not merely a short-term fix until other technologies mature. Voice commands for instance will allow us to surf the Web with the ultimate of ease. Voice is clearly such a good solution that almost any other method seems like a clunky evolutionary step.

Voice technology will probably still take a while to develop and reach the level of maturity that most of us will expect of it. Even so, it is highly likely that it will integrate relatively easily into an existing Web numbering system once it's viable.

Others remain at least a little sceptical about how much easier it makes a consumer's life when they have to think of the wireless Internet in a numeric way.

Most though consider numbering a fairly intuitive idea and a natural extension to have numbers versus letters. Many people memorise multiple digit phone numbers with ease. That's why so many companies spend a lot of money to "brand" their business numbers.

It is important to note that these Web numbering schemes do not attempt to address the other issues that have limited the appeal of accessing the Web from a cell phone. Such issues as the relatively small percentage of callers who have Web-enabled phones, cumbersome data entry by keypad, and Web sites that have been slow to reformat their content to be readable on tiny cell phone screens, still need to be addressed in their own right. Web numbering is simply attempting to speed navigation on the wireless Web.

You might say Web numbering is a whole lot more about quickness, not so much about stickiness. A numeric address will simply make it quicker.

One European firm has been forward registering sites. Today it has more than 107,000 registered numbers.

What Are The Major Obstacles Facing This System At This Time?

This Web numbering system faces the classic "cart before the horse"dilemma: It must attract Web sites to register (even though there are few users with Web enabled mobile phones at this time), and at the same time promote the numeric addresses to callers while there are few sites using them.

Still, there are not enough consumers using Web-enabled phones to make a company, like say Ansett, want to spend too much time on this.

They are probably much more interested in changing their phone number and changing how their phone number is dealt with. Everyone uses that.

We Are Running Out Of Internet Addresses, How Can That Be?

Most of today's Internet uses IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4), which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.

The answer is IPv6, which strangely enough is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 (IPv4).

IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.

Some introductory information about the protocol can be found at www.ipv6.org/faq.html

Just Out Of Interest, Where Can I See Web / Domain Names Listed?

If you would like to see if a domain name (that is usually a Web Site Name) exists or names that are similar to one you would like to use then visit www.aunic.net.au. From this point you can track down just about any information you can think of regarding domain names.

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