[VOIPSEC] ENUM an Peering agreements

[John T. Markott]

Given the need for distributed call lookup between VoIP providers, it is 
unclear how these organizations plan to enable global lookup.  In the 
absence of ENUM, will peering agreements prevail? 

Through my research I've found providers with numerous domestic and 
international peering agreements.  But others, like Vonage, are blocking 
call lookup from specific providers. And Skype who has a private p2p 
network, does not allow peering over IP. 

Obviously, call lookup databases are extremely valuable and are likely 
follow the same guidelines as ISP peering agreements, i.e. smaller 
providers paying for interconnection with a larger network.  But it does 
not seem logical that a telephone provider would keep their users and 
phone numbers private.  Isn't this counter productive?  Afterall, why do 
we have the whitepages?

In the future, will VoIP service providers be able to release these 
records to ENUM or will they seek to protect these records by 
establishing a private mesh of peering agreements?

Regards.

-- 
 John T. Markott
 MSINFS Graduate Student
 GA Inst. of Tech.
 jmarkott at cc.gatech.edu
 [mobile] 404.395.3494
 http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jmarkott