On October 2, the automated Freenum Automated Self-Service Tool (FASST) became available to all users of the Freenum system. This system provides each administrator with the ability to edit the metadata for their organization (number of users, directory URLs, etc.) and, just as importantly, edit their own DNS. As new ITADs are added or updated on the IANA ITAD list, the system will scrape changes and allow the Freenum admins to turn control over to each administrator quickly after a brief review for correctness of entries. Changes will then be pushed out to Packet Clearing House's global DNS mesh (every 30 minutes).
It is possible to use the FASST system immediately, by using the 'I FORGOT MY PASSWORD' link. Each administrator will also receive an email containing their password in the next several days. We hope that all administrators will take a few moments to update their metadata where possible, so that FASST can start to create a directory for use by other tools. Many of the metadata elements will be published in the DNS for what we hope will be an easy-to-code method of distributing organizational and directory data (and optionally possibly user data.)
To access the FASST, go to:
http://www.freenum.org/
and click on the "Sign In" link.
The number of Freenum/ISN participants is growing steadily (471 ITAD holders, and almost 200 reachable entities) and with the addition of the automated system (see below) we hope to see a large upswing in the number of actively participating members in the coming months. One of the impediments protmoting the Freenum/ISN system has been the fear that popularity would create an administrative bottleneck. Until now, additions and edits to the Freenum DNS system had to be done manually. This is no longer the case, which is a good thing - in roughly the last two weeks, there have been almost 30 new listings added to the IANA ITAD pages, and that pace will increase with some upcoming articles. ITADs have been registered by firms like Nortel, Nokia, Comcast, and Apple, as well as educational institutions like Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), University of Hull, and many others.
There is a distinct rise in the number of participants from nations other than the United States, which is very encouraging as a sign that the Freenum project is expanding outside of it's initial North American base. While first focused on the US-based Internet2 community, the Freenum/ISN project was conceived to be a trans-national network of participants. While cost savings are a "fallout" feature of the Freenum/ISN system and not a primary focus, that benefit clearly is significant for educational institutions and trans-national enterprises that need to communicate across national borders. With ISN, the world truly is flat. We would encourage all administrators to talk with their counterparts at other organizations which have significant communications loads between user bases. As soon as both entities are reachable on ISN, there may be a specific cost problem solved between those two networks even ignoring the larger user base of other Freenum/ISN endpoints which also would be opened up for connections.
For those systems that are not capable of scripted DNS lookups for Freenum/ISN style NAPTR searches, there is a quick way to provide this functionality. Sending an ISN-style SIP INVITE to the freenum.org SIP proxy will return a "302 Moved Temporarily" style reply. As an example: 613*262 is an ISN for extension 613 on ITAD 262 (Free World Dialup.) If your SIP proxy tried to reach "613*262@freenum.org", that INVITE will be re-written by the Freenum redirector to be "613@fwd.pulver.com" which in turn will lead to an echo test on the Free World Dialup system. Make sure your proxy/PBX understands and will accept "302" messages which are basically a call forwarding method.
If anyone has suggestions for publications in which discussion of the Freenum/ISN system would be well-received, please send your comments to the ISN discussion list (isn-discuss@freenum.org) or to the Freenum admins (admin@freenum.org) and we'll try to find someone who can write on the topic or be interviewed. More press is good press, and the only way for the network to grow is for there to become a general understanding of the concept and benefits, and this is typically done by media articles.
The Freenum/ISN system is 12-digit-keypad (telephone handset) friendly method of providing mapping between users. While the eventual use of email-style URI pointers is the eventual goal for communications identifiers, it is still the case that the majority of the world's telephony users are trapped using a 12-digit keypad for extended numeric entry, and it is for the purposes of these devices that the Freenum system and ISN dialing was designed as a "stopgap" which may last many years. Using ENUM-like methods and IETF standards but not using telephone numbers, the Freenum/ISN dialing system is designed to initially allow SIP-capable proxies and iPBX systems to connect to each other in a free, open, and protocol agnostic manner over the Internet. Initially focused on SIP voice communications, the platform is hoped to eventually extend to other communications methods as those protocols become more widespread.
Thanks!