[enum-wg] ENUM Adoption - Does a business case matter?

Hi All,

I'm new to the list, so this will be my first post... I'm making a
master thesis on ENUM and its adoption (or non adoption). My
background is 100% technical, so I'm "a believer" that ENUM is like a
swiss knife to handle all kind of addressing problems between E-164
numbering and the new Internet URI based services. It can solve many
other problems and can, even, be the base/enabler to new services.

But I wonder if this is the pragmatic view that we should have about
new things.

What if ENUM is getting "hard" to deploy because it can't provide a
business model to its "stake holders"?

Do users understand it and are willing to pay for it? Do companies
understand it and are willing to pay for it? Do operators want to
explain to their users what it is, while risking their benifits? Do
constructers will make R&D on products that users don't understand? Is
there a killer application other than VoIP for ENUM?

In other words: "does the business case mater for ENUM adoption?"

I'm aware that Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and others have
progressed to "final" deployment. I would like to exchange some mails
with some of you about the financial aspect of the ENUM "technology".
(fees, costs, ENUM registers per capita/phone number, service levels,
...)

Is ENUM a solution to gain money, or a solution to loose less money?

If it is to gain, who gains? Tier-1, Tier-2? (the user pays...)

If it is to loose less, who does? The operators, the users?

Many, many questions more... but only for you if you are interested.

Sorry about this "off-topic"/"non-technical" post, but didn't know
where to go to ask this.

Thank you all,

Rui Ribeiro
racribeiro at gmail.com