Slashdot Mirror
U.S. Endorses ENUM
esarjeant writes "It looks like the the U.S. has endorsed ENUM (also known as E.164.arpa). This means you get a single number for phone and Internet, look for demos at Spring VON (San Jose, April 1-3) and VISIONng will be engaging in US trials. Essentially this means you get a new TLD of e164.arpa with your phone number in front of it." The addresses look pretty long and unwieldy, but supposedly consumer devices will make it easier to use.
From http://www.networkmagazine.com/article/printableAr ticle?doc_id=NMG20020304S0011:
.arpa domain."
"Just how does ENUM turn phone numbers into domains? When an ENUM client queries DNS, it reverses the phone number ordering and applies the domain name at the end. If the original number is +1-415-947-6022, for example, the ENUM client removes all the dashes and punctuation to get 14159476022. The phone number is then sent to DNS as 2.2.0.6.7.4.9.5.1.4.1.e.164.arpa, assuming the server is located in the
Used to be the case in the UK. The UK's primary network system was JANET (Joint Academic NETwork), and its systems worked as you described.
For example, I used to go to University in Lancaster. My email address was csc345@uk.ac.lancs.cent1. To communicate with the rest of the world however, I learnt to always write this as csc345@cent1.lancs.ac.uk.
Cheers,
Ian
ENUM in the News
EFA expresses security concerns over ENUM, SMH, November 27, 2002.
Enum's potential applications aren't as widespread as promised, New Architect, July 2002.
Internet Telephone Numbering System (ENUM) offers promise of a single point of contact for all communication devices, ITU Press Release, May 31, 2002.
Listing Again, The Economist, April 11, 2002.
Phone number-to-e-mail service raises privacy concerns, Computerworld, October 5, 2001.
Your Rights Online: A Number For Everything, Slashdot, September 4, 2001.
One number & and no escape anywhere, The Times, September 3, 2001.
Please read the usage scenarios in this Internet Draft if you don't know what ENUM is about.