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Enum’s days are numbered
Despite welcoming that Nominet has won the race to be the
Increasingly, office workers dial by name and directories using communications systems integrated into the phone system, while on our mobiles we select names from our address books. This means numbers are less important for users than the identifying metadata tags such as names and nicknames associated with them.
Yet, in a not-too-distant future where fully converged, unified communications hold sway, we will find ourselves making phone calls, and sending emails and instant messages all using the same address. This scenario, which is within touching distance, consigns Enum to being nothing more than a sidelined transitional standard as we swiftly progress from the old world of calling by number to the new world of calling by name.
Simon Paton, CommuniGate
Whilst end devices do indeed use mnemonics for dialling, most of the infrastructure does not. Numbers are still critical to the placement of calls.
ENUM is a technology that works at the infrastructure level, connecting together islands of VoIP. It does not work at the end user device level. In fact it is deliberately not intended to be used by people.
What it does do is let an enterprise that runs VoIP take control of their telephony in much the same way that they control email. This is an important step that many enterprises are more than capable of taking.
To make the change you are suggesting is so close means much more than just the end devices changing. It means the entire infrastructure has to change. There are plenty of telcos out there who still used PSTN extensively and will continue to do so for as long as possible. Even those that use NGNs still have support for numbering built into everything.
Not to mention those areas of the world whose infrastructure at the physical level is still only able to support PSTN.
Posted by :Jay Daley | December 17, 2007 12:59 PM