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VoIP Directory Services Signaling (IPDS) Telcordia Industry Issues Forum (TIIF)

Open for Participation in 2008

Projected Start Date: January 1, 2008
Projected Completion Date: December 31, 2008
Participation Fee: $35K

Most service providers no longer question if they should transition their PSTN technology to VoIP — the only question is when this migration will occur. The drivers are clear for Information Services providers offering Directory Assistance (DA) and other Information Services to the VoIP industry. Companies that support end-to-end IP have an immediate advantage in this market.

The migration of the Information Services technology to VoIP immediately leads to a challenge. Today's DA branding, billing, routing, and other call-processing functions (e.g., operator queue selection) all rely on the dedicated incoming trunk group that resides between the operator switch and the local service provider's switch. With the migration to VoIP, dedicated trunk groups are no longer available to influence call processing and billing. Using dedicated physical and data links in an IP network is not efficient for the long term. As a result, the service provider information that is derived from the dedicated incoming trunk group either needs to be signaled or stored in a database based on the caller's charge number (i.e., ANI).

Information Services using SIP has yet to be standardized. In the area of Information Services (e.g., DA) and Operator Services, Telcordia received requests from Information and Operator Services providers and suppliers to engage the industry to influence Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other (e.g., ATIS) standards, so that interoperability among all the Information Services industry stakeholders can be realized. To respond to these requests, Telcordia launched a VoIP Directory Services Signaling (IPDS) Forum for DA and VoIP providers and suppliers in July 2006. This Telcordia IPDS Forum is intended to drive the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based Information and Operator Services architecture and relevant IP standards, such as SIP.

As of September 2006, the 2006 IPDS Forum has already contributed an IETF Internet Draft and ATIS contributions to the industry. These contributions identify new, desired signaling and discuss the Operator Services architecture. The IPDS members continue to work with IETF and ATIS to define an IMS-based architecture, SIP signaling, and call flows for Information and Operator Services. In 2008, the members may desire to also work with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) on multimedia information services standards to add the human element to Information Services when defining Information Services standards and call flows.

Successful results from the IPDS Forum will influence all industry stakeholders. Participating in the IPDS Forum can help ensure that participating companies' business needs are considered in the selected standards. To define the standards, Telcordia will

  • Examine the latest IETF contributions to determine whether any new mechanisms should be utilized for Information and Operator Services.
  • Consider multimedia information services scenarios including multiple access methods and delivery modes.
  • Consider PSTN and VoIP wireline and wireless end users.

On behalf of the IPDS members, Telcordia will commit resources with many years of expertise in Information and Operator Services, IP protocols, and standards organizations. These resources are available to the IPDS members to identify issues, request issue prioritization, make issue resolution recommendations, and write the standards based on the recommendations. Each IPDS member can either (1) commit resources to team closely with Telcordia experts to complete this work or (2) rely on Telcordia and other IPDS members to complete the work. In the latter case, the IPDS member can influence the standards and issues by providing comments.

The deliverables for the IPDS Forum will include PowerPoint slides, issues reports, and standards contributions, documenting the Information and Services architecture, signaling, and call flows.

Telcordia invites all interested members of the industry to participate in this Telcordia Industry Issues Forum. If your company is interested in participating in this activity, please contact Renee Berkowitz of Telcordia at + 1.732.699.4784.

Tradeshows and Events

Telcordia provides comprehensive, customized telecommunications solutions intended to help our customers meet today's challenges and to anticipate future opportunities. With our successful history of experience in GR development, telecom consulting, and providing large, complex software systems to the industry, Telcordia continues to set the forward path for voice and data-networking infrastructure and testing.

Please plan to join us at the upcoming 2008 events below!

  • ITUTelecom Africa 2008 – May 12-May 15, 2008 – Cairo, Egypt

  • TM Forum Management World 2008 – May 18-22, 2008 – Nice, France

  • Mobile Internet World 2008 – May 19, 2008 – Munich, Germany

More speaking engagements can be found here: Event Calendar.