SPIDER Registry: The ICANN of VoIP?

It may not be the ultimate solution for the industry, but the launch of the SPIDER registry by Arbinet-thexchange Inc. is a significant milestone in the maturation of IP communication.

This pure database service for Internet communication could be the basis of interconnection for all IP service providers globally, much in the way ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) functions for the World Wide Web. Having an independent authority for routing information would simplify the deployment of services by providing reliable, readily available interconnect information.

“The SPIDER registry is based on ICANN with the same structure and contracts,” said Steve Heap, CTO at Arbinet. “ICANN provides registrars and a core DNS (Domain Name System) structure.”

SPIDER (an acronym composed of Service Provider ID E.164 Record) is a database and associated tools -- created using the ENUM protocol – to manage interconnect address information, such as matching phone numbers to IP addresses for VoIP. This is essential data for routing IP communication sessions to the correct endpoints.

SPIDER has been created as a “not-for-profit” organization managed by a board of directors, though only two have been named: Heap and Douglas Ranalli, founder of NetNumber Inc., whose TITAN server is the database technology for the service. Service providers, such as VoIP peering services, will be named “registrars” for SPIDER, somewhat on the model of the registrars for domain names on the Internet.

Registrars will upload their customers’ routing information and will resell data from the SPIDER database, likely on a per-call basis. Registrars likely will be oriented to local markets, doing business in local currency and languages. At this point, the plan is for SPIDER to charge registrars $0.00015 per successful database query, and registrars are free to resell the information at whatever prices they choose. The service will provide only this data, not any interconnection or peering services.

Arbinet, a clearinghouse service for both TDM and IP voice minutes, says it decided to develop the SPIDER service in response to requests by its service-provider customers. “There are no global databases that link a number to a VoIP service provider,” said Heap.

Heap said the specific service SPIDER will provide was determined by service provider wishes. “They want to remain in control of routing, so they can peer with their own partners, partly to maintain their termination fee revenue,” Heap said. “And they generally want to query their own ENUM or routing servers in their own network rather than a remote database.”

Another motivation for launching SPIDER was a fear that one peering provider could accumulate enough members to get a monopoly on ENUM information. “No service provider wants to be locked in” to a particular registrar, said Heap. Internet communication requires “this function of sharing numbers and routing information, and no government does this. So they have to go to a commercial provider. If there is a monopoly, then they have no choice where to go.”

Heap says some companies are trying to get into that position. “Six months ago Arbinet was trying to do the same thing, but we realized that was not a solution that made sense to service providers. So we came up with idea to do a non-stock non-profit company.”

For a service such as SPIDER to work, it will have to win the confidence of service providers as well as VoIP peering providers that might be registrars. So far, there has been some early, if cautious, expression of support.

Eli Katz, CEO of XConnect Global Networks Ltd., a VoIP peering provider based in London, said, “We see federated peering as the optimal way to interconnect voice-over-broadband operators and welcome initiatives that speed the adoption of such an approach.” He added that XConnect might “leverage SPIDER” as part of its peering service.

Many service providers will hold off becoming involved until they see who will be the remaining members of the board, and how the company will structure itself and its services. “We look [forward to] working with SPIDER to ensure that – though it is early days for SPIDER – the corporate structure evolves in the correct way as an open standards-based environment and that the requirement from our members for trust, security and integrity are met through the SPIDER organization,” said Katz. “Then when those are met, it is possible we will join as a registrar.”

Asked whether it would be logical for ICANN eventually to take over responsibility for the SPIDER database, Heap said that might be possible, “but we felt, in the short term to get an organization up and running, this was the best way to go. We are still following principles they (ICANN) have set up.”

Arbinet also announced its own VoIP peering service, PeeringSolutions, with initial customers including Broadview Networks Inc. and nexVortex Inc.

Arbinet-thexchange Inc. www.arbinet.com
Broadview Networks Inc. www.broadviewnet.com
ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names & Numbers) www.icann.org
NetNumber Inc. www.netnumber.com
nexVortex Inc. www.nexvortex.com
XConnect Global Networks Ltd. www.xconnect.com

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