John Patrick: ENUM is a Really Big Deal

penciling_in writes "John Patrick, former vice president of Internet technology at IBM, says 'ENUM is a really big deal'. Here is what he has to say on CircleID about this: 'Basically, ENUM is a protocol that will make it possible to converge the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet. In other words, a telephone number can get you to a Web service -- telephone number in, URL out. The idea can be extremely useful when you consider that most telephones are limited to twelve keys on a keypad. Every try to enter your alphanumeric login ID and password to a web site on a cell phone or Personal Digital Assistant? It is next to impossible! The biggest impact of ENUM will probably be for Voice Over IP (VoIP). In fact, it could be the tipping point.'"

Comments

Actually

[Gortbusters.org]

ENUM is good when the PBX is not authoritative for a number. For example, if someone dials a number inside a company, if that number is for another extension in the company you send the call there. It is only when this number goes outside of the company that it is useful.

BTW, It also plays well with SIP (RFC 3261), because that number can map to a SIP URI sip:user@domain to route a call. Neato!