 |
| |
- What is ENUM?
- How does ENUM work?
- Models of ENUM
- Types of ENUM
- Benefits of ENUM
- Why ENUM and DNS?
- What is NGN?
-
What is ENUM ?
ENUM (a term derived from telephone number mapping) is a new technology, which establishes a bridge between the worlds of telephony and the Internet. ENUM and the services linked to it, open up the whole world of communication to the user via normal telephone numbers. One number is sufficient to reach someone not only at their homes or on their mobile telephones but also over a fax machine or even at an e-mail address or through a webpage.
ENUM allows an end user to type a telephone number into an Internet connected device (such as a Web browser) in order to access a listing of Internet resources (URI) for that number which could include addresses for voice, text messaging, faxes, pagers, instant messaging, data modems, e-mail or Web sites. The available services associated with each E164 number are identified using the URI's held in the Domain Name System.
- How does ENUM work ?
In technical terms, telephony is coupled to the Internet by creating and registering a domain corresponding to a telephone number. For instance, the phone number +60389435510 is first of all assigned to the domain 0.1.5.5.3.4.9.8.3.0.6.e164.arpa. Below this domain, it is now possible to create records of all the means of communication available to its holder and to look them up via the Internet.
For this purpose, ENUM uses the DNS (Domain Name System).
The routing of incoming communications to appropriate output devices is determined by the records held at the ENUM name servers, which service providers operate on behalf of their customers.
-
Models of ENUM
The model of ENUM developed at ITU-T is based on a Tiered Architecture due to the layered structure of DNS. The tiers are described here below:
- Tier 0: Top level DNS e164.arpa. This is managed by ITU-T and operated by RIPE NCC;
- Tier 1: E164 country code ENUM DNS layer or .0.6.e164.arpa (in MY). Management and operation are handled at a national level;
- Tier 2: Terminal (NAPTR resource records) ENUM DNS layer: .0.1.5.5.3.4.9.8.3.0.6.e164.arpa. Management and operation are handled nationally.
-
Types of ENUM
| Public User ENUM | Private Infrastructure ENUM | Public Infrastructure ENUM |
| The end user can provision his or her records in the ENUM registry in the public domain e164.arpa. End user ENUM implies that the end user has "opted in" to the ENUM service. | Private ENUM uses the concepts of creating a domain name from a Telephone Number and resolving it to a URI. It does not, however, use the domain e164.arpa (or any other domain with regulatory oversight). | National number administrators typically assign Telephone Number to communications carriers, not to end users; the carrier then assigns the Telephone to the end user. National number administrators do not store any end user database or data. |
-
Benefits of ENUM
- A unified address
- Lower costs
- Easier communications management
- Links telephony in the Internet
- Single address multiple phone extensions
- Solve telephone number mapping within a telephone networks (including an IP telephone network)
-
Why ENUM and DNS?
ENUM unifies traditional telephony and next-generation IP networks, and provides a critical framework for mapping and processing diverse network addresses to unify the telephone numbering system E.164 with the Internet addressing system DNS by using an indirect lookup method, to obtain NAPTR records. The records are stored at a DNS database. It transforms the telephone number - the most basic and commonly-used communications address - into a universal identifier that can be used across many different devices and applications (voice, fax, mobile, email, text messaging, location-based services and the Internet).
-
What is NGN?
Next Generation Networking (NGN) is a broad term to describe some key architectural evolutions in telecommunication core and access networks that will be deployed over the next 5-10 years. The general idea behind NGN is that one network transports all information and services (voice, data, and all sorts of media such as video) by encapsulating these into packets, like it is on the Internet. NGNs are commonly built around the Internet Protocol, and therefore the term "all-IP" is also sometimes used to describe the transformation towards NGN.
|
