ATIS/SIP Forum IP Network-to-Network (NNI) Joint Task Force Publishes Draft Documents for Comment
North Andover, MA (PRWEB) November 12, 2014
The SIP Forum (http://www.sipforum.org) has recently announced that the IP-Network to Network Interface (NNI) Joint Task Force, a cooperative effort between the ATIS and the SIP Forum, is seeking public comment on two draft documents: an IP Interconnection Profile; and the IP Interconnection Routing Report.
In addition, the SIP Forum and ATIS are proud to report that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has publicly recognized and supported the work of the NNI Task Force in his keynote speech at the COMPTEL Plus Fall 2014 conference on October 6, 2014.
In his COMPTEL keynote speech, Chairman Wheeler focused on how to how the U.S. can promote and enhance industry competition during and after the transition to all-IP networks. He stated that Interconnection is one of the immutable values in the Network Compacta constellation of values that includes access, interconnection, public safety, consumer protection, and national security. He further stated that VoIP interconnection is an issue that needs to be solved so that customers small and medium size businesses, anchor institutions like schools, health-care facilities, and libraries, and others can enjoy the benefits of robust competition.
The full text of Chairman Wheelers COMPTEL keynote speech can be found here: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-329767A1.pdf
The backdrop to Chairman Wheelers speech is that the global communications industry is currently in the midst of an important transition from the legacy PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) infrastructure to a newer, more advanced SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and IP-based infrastructure for real-time communications such as High Definition voice and ultimately point- to-point video. Today, many advanced services cannot reliably work end-to-end because the interconnection between service providers often still occurs via the PSTNs lowest common denominator TDM-based (Time Division Multiplexing) facilities.
About the Task Force.
The IP-Network to Network Interface (NNI) Joint Task Force is a cooperative effort between the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the SIP Forum that has been meeting regularly for the past ten months to define specifications to support SIP-based Service Provider to Service Provider IP Interconnection. The Task Force is comprised of telecommunications technical experts representing a range of telephony service providers and suppliers, both large and small, which serve both consumers and businesses.
Although IP-based SIP interconnection between service providers is increasingly common, each network provider agreement must be negotiated and engineered on a case-by-case basis, leading to duplication of effort. Typically, equipment, such as Session Border Controllers, is used to normalize the protocol at the edge of each network to ensure the interconnection will work. The overall effect is to significantly increase the operational and capital cost of SIP/IP-based interconnection. In addition, there is no commonly-agreed methodology on how to translate phone numbers for routing data for SIP-IP interconnection. This is the situation the ATIS/SIP Forum NNI Task Force is working to resolve.
In December 2013, the IP-NNI Joint Task Force adopted a charter that included two primary goals: