RE: ITU's H.350 and ENUM
- Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 15:51:26 +0200
Hi folks,
There is really something very wierd going on. I took some time to dig into and found
the following info:
ViDeNet (Video Developing Network) is setting up the so-called
"H.323 Global Dialling Scheme (GDS)".
This is currently a wild mixture
of a private numbering and dialing plan, containing of
1.an international access code '00', also called
THE WORLD GATEKEEPER PREFIX (very bombastic)
2.the E.164 Country code (the real one)
3. An organisational prefix?? (OP) -choose what you like e.g:
(Many national research organizations follow the telephone
number system in their country and use their area code and
organizational telephone exchange prefix. For instance, SURFnet's OP is 302305.
4.an Endpoint Number (EN)
This is all set up by a Numerical Addressing Space Management Team
Working Group (NASM) and implemented
in a ViDeNet Root Level Architecture set up with Gatekeepers.
At least ENUM and DNS is mentioned in the scope of NASM
NASM is responsible the management of ViDeNet numerical address space. This group designs the numerical address space and supporting routing schemes, including E.164int integration, hierarchical and flat structures, with particular emphasis on the root level and top tier architectures. Of particular importance is the alignment of existing h.323 addressing to E.164-like structures, in order to prepare the way for an eventual migration toward full DNS-based dialing, ENUM and related numerical address translation schemes.
Sofar ITU-T SG16:
At the same time SG13 is sending a liasion to SG2 AND SG16:
(TD122 (WP 1/2) Liasion on Videoconferencing Networks.
attached to SG13 Documents:
COM 13 - D353 (WP 2/13) - A proposal for launching research on videoconferencing services network
COM 13 - D356 (WP2/13) - Draft recommendation of a general description of videoconferencing services networks
both from China Telecom and Huawei Technologies.
In D356 a numbering plan is proposed (at least not containing an
World Gatekeeper Access code :-) and also not a choose as you like
Organizational Prefix, but instead an domestic access code.
(Regulators, watch out and free up some domestic numbering space,
to profide space for 100 Million H.323 Video terminals per country -
and the same for SIP). Hey, what about technology independance?
At least this proposal could be compatible with E.164
Both ideas are quite new, because neither a prefix nor an acces code can
be part of an E.164 number.
I attach below some excepts what I found sofar:
have fun
I consider this development at least very interesting in context with ENUM
Richard Stastny
PS: and I thought the next SG2 meeting will be boring;-)
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From D356
9. Numbering Schemes
9.1 Introduction
It is necessary that number resource for videoconferencing services networks is created and assigned in a unified way in order to facilitate the deployment of videoconferencing services and the efficient management of user resource. The principles for number formation and assignment have borrowed the advantages from PSTN networks and ITU-T E.164 recommendation is adopted. For ISDN videoconferencing services networks, the numbering of MCUs and terminals directly uses their ISDN numbers. If the approach described in section 9.2 is used, a mapping or correspondence relationship between terminal numbers and ISDN numbers shall be established on SMC. For ISDN videoconferencing services networks, the approach described in section 9.2 is used.
9.2 Numbering of terminals
The domestic number of a videoconferencing terminal can be formed in such a way that the first 3 to 5 digits to be used as access number followed by another 8 digits to yield a number with 11 to 13 digits. The last 8-digit sub number is composed of a 3-digit domestic area code and 5-digit intra-area terminal number. The formation rules are shown in the following diagram:
CC DAC CN
|-- --International videoconferencing terminal number --------|
|-- Domestic terminal number--|
CC＝Country code
DAC＝Domestic access code for videoconferencing
CN＝Customer number, 8 digits long with a structure H1H2H3ABCDE where HlH2H3 is the domestic area code and ABCDE is the intra-area terminal number.
When the capacity for customer numbers is limited, more numbers can be created by introducing either longer domestic area codes or longer domestic access code.
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From ViDeNet:
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The Global Dialing Scheme Explained
The Global Dialing Scheme (GDS) is a new numbering plan for the global video and voice over IP network test bed, developed by Terena.
It resembles the international telephone system numbering plan, with some exceptions. With the GDS, you can number each participating videoconferencing endpoint, MCU conference and gateway. GDS provides easy, uniform dialing throughout the world.
Each basic number consists of four parts:
1. The International Access Code (IAC) (also called the world gatekeeper prefix) This is defined as 00.
2. A Country Code (CC)
This follows the ITU international access code system. For instance, the country code for the Netherlands is 31. See the following PDF document for country codes:
http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164_717.pdf
3. An Organizational Prefix (OP)
Many national research organizations follow the telephone number system in their country and use their area code and organizational telephone exchange prefix. For instance, SURFnet's OP is 302305.
However, there are other possibilities. Some organizations use their administration number or make one up. National research organizations or videoconferencing service providers could instead supply you with an OP, as was the case with the old ViDeNet system.
In any case, your OP MUST be unique within a country. If you don't know your OP, please contact your videoconferencing service provider, your national gatekeeper, or the NASM working group (see below).
4. An Endpoint Number (EN)
Your EN can be any number and is decided by each organization. However, we recommend that it be no longer than seven digits. Each endpoint number MUST be unique within the organization. Both 305 and 1234567 are fine examples as long as they are unique.
The whole numeric number therefore looks like: <IAC><CC><OP><EN>
Examples:
The Megaconference informal test MCU:
00(IAC) 1(CC) 189(OP) 7201234(EN)
Typed into your videoconferencing endpoint, the number would simply look like: 0011897201234
The GDS also defines an alphanumeric dial plan (not used during the Megaconference game). This part is equal to the alphanumeric dial plan of the old ViDeNet and should be in the form: <station ID>@<fully qualified domain name of the institution>
An example is: egon.verharen@localhost
More information on the GDS and the Numerical Addressing Space Management (NASM) working group overseeing its development can be found at: http://www.wvn.ac.uk/support/h323address.htm and http://www.vide.net/workgroups/nasm/index.shtml
Courtesy of Egon Verharen
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H.323 Global Dialing Scheme (GDS)
The Global Dialing Scheme has been adopted by a number of European Countries for H.323 interzone dialing - including Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. More countries are currently being added to the system.
The scheme defines 00 as an international dialing prefix and the the use of the well-known ITU-T country telephone codes. Zone prefixes and extension numbers are defined by the national managing agent - usually the National Research Network (NRN) in that country.
E.g. To dial a conference hosted in the UK, dial 0044 01002 468 where:
00 is the international dialing prefix
44 is the code for the UK
01002 is the zone in which the MCU hosting the test conference is registered
468 is the conference number
It is also possible to dial existing ViDeNet numbers through systems connected to the dial plan. Dial the ViDeNet dial number as if you were connected directly to a ViDe zone. ViDe numbers usually begin with a single 0. All other numbers begin with 00.
Note: Within your country system it may be necessary to dial an additional prefix or 'Exit Zone' prefix. This is similar to dialing 9 for an outside line from an internal telephone system. Contact your national gatekeeper manager for more information.
The Global Dialing Scheme uses a hierarchy of gatekeepers to route call setup information nationally and internationally. National gatekeepers have knowledge of all zones within a country, World gatekeepers have knowledge of all National gatekeepers.
Where a country does not have a National Gatekeeper and an institution within that country would like to join the system, it will be possible for another National Gatekeeper to act as a 'Virtual Gatekeeper' until that country has its own Gatekeeper in place. This means that the institution can have a number within its own country code from the beginning.
If you would like further information on connecting to the system please contact:
Egon Verharen at Surfnet
Victor Reijs at HEAnet
Steve Williams Welsh Video Network
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Numerical Addressing Space Management Team (NASM) Working Group
Scope of Work: NASM is responsible the management of ViDeNet numerical address space. This group designs the numerical address space and supporting routing schemes, including E.164int integration, hierarchical and flat structures, with particular emphasis on the root level and top tier architectures. Of particular importance is the alignment of existing h.323 addressing to E.164-like structures, in order to prepare the way for an eventual migration toward full DNS-based dialing, ENUM and related numerical address translation schemes. This group is responsible for the allocation of ViDeNet address space to lower tier domains. In particular, the group identifies which organizations and research networks will be responsible for managing national gatekeepers. The group's operational responsibilities include the review of new ViDeNet membership requests, assignment of address space, and configuration of the top-level gatekeeper meshes. Members of this group will ha
ve root administrative access to the ViDeNet management system and all top-level gatekeepers and will ensure the integrity of data registered with ViDeNet. All address assignments made by this group are final. Architectural recommendations of this group require the support of the ViDeNet Zone Administrators.
Project Leader: Tyler Miller Johnson
Team Members and Liaison Responsibilities:
Europe and Africa
Steve Williams, UKERNA (Wales)
Victor Reijs, HEAnet (Ireland)
Bert Andree, SURFnet (Netherlands)
Egon Verharen, SURFNet (Netherlands)
North and South America, Including Internet2
Tyler Miller Johnson, University of North Carolina (US)
Tim Poe, University of North Carolina (US)
Megan Crabb, Ohio State Univesity (US) Internet2 Commons - Special Liaison
Australia and Asia
Stephen Kingham, AARnet (Australia)
Membership Guidelines: Project team members are appointed by the Working Group Chair. All members of this group must be zone administrators or representatives from active ViDeNet zones. Membership terms are from January 1 to December 31 of any calendar year and terminate automatically, with the option to request renewal.
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ViDeNet Root Level Architecture
ViDeNet will adopt the hierarchical gatekeeper scheme developed by the European research and education community and described in detail at http://www.wvn.ac.uk/support/h323address.htm. This architecture will support existing and new ViDeNet users, the Internet2 Commons and international video and voice over IP deployments. The initial implementation of this hierarchy will be built around the RADVISION ECS Pro version 2 gatekeeper. A global root gatekeeper will have as children, gatekeepers associated with each country. The Numerical Address Space Management Team will manage the Global Tier, country tiers when appropriate agreements are reached with individual countries, and certain leaves as appropriate, such as the ViDeNet Public Zone and other public, shared or test resources. A RADVISION ENC tool will be used to administer the gatekeeper hierarchy. All information on the hierarchy will be stored in a database that will be accessible via secure client by mem
bers of the NASM team.
In the first iteration, a single global root will be implemented. This global root will have a live hot standby gatekeeper configured to automatically fail-over in the event of the unavailability of the primary gatekeeper. A US gatekeeper will be similarly configured to serve Internet2 and other US sites. The ViDeNet Public Zone will be configured as a leaf serving MCU resources globally and acting as test facility.
Simultaneous to the creation of this simple, redundant hierarchy, a set of alternate gatekeepers will be implemented at both the global and country tiers. An alternate gatekeeper, with a live hot standby gatekeeper, will be implemented in Europe and Australia. These gatekeepers will be neighbored in a mesh with the global root gatekeeper in the US. This will enable country tier gatekeepers to have redundant parents in the event of a network layer problem associated with their primary parent. A similar architecture will be created on the country level in the US in support of the Internet2 Commons. It is expected that other countries will adopt a similar architecture. This mesh neighboring will also include Cisco MCM and other non-RADVISION gatekeepers as contributed by NASM team members as they can be effectively integrated into the mesh.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carsten Schiefner []
> Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 12:59 PM
> Subject: ITU's H.350 and ENUM
>
>
> All,
>
> just having read an article on the final resolution on H.350, but
> currently not having the time to REALLY dig into the issue, I
> nonetheless wonder whether this would create another
> addressing scheme
> sort of in parallel to ENUM as H.350 is meant to be for video
> conferencing, but also for VoIP.
>
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/categories/internetNamesAndAddresses/2003/09/04.html#a174
Regards,
-C.