* VoIP challenges and solutions expressed by Lucent
We continue our report from last week’s Next Generation Conference panel discussion on VoIP’s next challenges. Today we highlight comments offered by Chris Miller distinguished member of consulting staff for Lucent Worldwide Services.
Miller outlined five challenges and provided some solutions to those. First, he noted that E-911 in a mobile VoIP (nomadic) world is similar to the issues cellular mobile services faced five years ago. He said that the cellular world has developed E-911 capabilities built into updates from the TDMA network and suggested the industry look to these solutions as an alternative to solve the VoIP E-911 problems.
Next, he highlighted the need for support against malware, viruses, and other similar threats. One solution he mentioned uses the eight security dimensions offered by the ITU X.805 model, including basic elements for intrusion detection sensors, firewalls, and active monitoring of both firewalls and IDS.
Third, he believed that public access to VoIP addresses is a concern. He suggested that address information be shared only when required and that the information should be treated like today’s phone numbers (including non-published numbers) with access to address servers being protected.
Fourth, he suggested a general hardening of the IP network using specific steps including infrastructure discovery, data network traffic collection, data network traffic analysis, infrastructure hardening, and data network hardening for QoS and encryption where needed.
Finally, he identified VoIP spam as a potential (and present) issue, citing one example of an internal “spammer” who was able to create “fuzz” on the IP phone system. Of particular concern was the opportunity for more spam as phones offer more touch screens and Web capabilities. To solve this issue he suggested we use what we’ve learned from data spam mitigation and apply those lessons to VoIP, including designing smarter phones that can manage spam.
If you’d like to agree or disagree with Miller, please feel free to e-mail us with your comments. Next week, we’ll see what NGN panelist Larry O’Pella director of strategic solutions at Alcatel, had to say about VoIP’s challenges.
