TMCnet News
Neustar to Advance Peering to Enable SIP ExchangesBy ROBERT LIU
TMCnet Wireless and Technology Columnist
With peering exchanges thrust out on to center stage in light of recent news (both good and bad), the industry’s largest powerhouses are stepping up their efforts to advance the model to better adapt to new and developing telecommunications standards.
Case in point: Neustar. On Monday, the provider for industry-wide number portability and clearinghouse services announced it has teamed up with three Internet interconnection providers, Equinix, TELEHOUSE and the non-profit Amsterdam Internet Exchange, to build out a network-to-network peering exchange for voice, video and content services using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based technologies such as IP multimedia (IMS) and VoIP.
“We don’t see other exchanges as competitive. We see them as natural partners,” NeuStar Chief Technology Officer Mark Foster explained referring to telecom service providers like Stealth Communications, which operates the Voice Peering Fabric.
During a telephone briefing before the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo in Los Angeles, Foster said Neustar’s offering, dubbed SIP-IX, has been in the works for half a year. The goal is to advance pure-IP peering models to incorporate the standards that are essential for newer technologies like push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) or hybrid video services.
“If you look at the technical challenges of IP peering such as the ISP do today, the IP protocols of how to interconnect hundreds of networks is well understood. That works for generic IP level,” Foster told TMCnet.
That’s because nearly all of the peering today (whether the relationship is set up as a barter or uses more of a paid model as in the mobile world) occurs on the same Layer 3 protocols. The challenge, however, occurs when developers want to incorporate protocols that “move up the stack” to other layers like session controls, presentation and the application itself.
“When you go up the stack, you have protocols layered on top of other standards. When you have a higher degree of variation, that creates more of a need for a mediation function,” Foster explained.
The Neustar executive said that is, in fact, the “secret sauce” of the SIP-IX offering – to provide that exact mediation function. With SIP-IX, network operators offering SIP-based applications will be able utilize existing IP network peering facilities to originate, terminate and share calls or sessions for mobile, fixed and broadband communications. This would enable, say, IMS operators to inter-work with non-IMS service providers
“Our goal is to do for SIP what Internet exchange providers did for IP,” Foster concluded.
Equinix said trials for the new service are currently underway and are open to interested participants.
“As the operators of the largest peering fabric in the U.S., Equinix has been researching opportunities to develop a SIP exchange platform that leverages on the critical mass of the more than 200 networks operating at Equinix,” said Peter Van Camp, CEO of Equinix.
NeuStar said it will engage in a significant number of trials in 2006 and expects to convert them to revenue-generating engagements in late 2006 as SIP-IX is contracted and adopted by network operators.
What advantages and business implications do carrier-level peering points offer over dedicated fiber? How secure are peering connections? For the answers to those questions and more, mark your calendar to attend the VoIP Peering Summit at this fall’s INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo, which runs October 24-27, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
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Robert Liu is Executive Editor at TMCnet. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Jupitermedia and has also written for CNN, A&E, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. For more articles, please visit Robert Liu's columnist page.
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