12 research outputs found
A Model for Emergency Service of VoIP through Certification and Labeling
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will transform many aspects of traditional telephony service, including the technology, the business models, and the regulatory constructs that govern such service. Perhaps not unexpectedly, this transformation is generating a host of technical, business, social, and policy problems. In attempting to respond to these problems, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could mandate obligations or specific solutions to VoIP policy issues; however, it is instead looking first to industry initiatives focused on the key functionality that users have come to expect of telecommunications services. High among this list of desired functionality is user access to emergency services for purposes of summoning fire, medical, and law enforcement agencies. Such services were traditionally required to be implemented (and subsequently were implemented) through state and federal regulations.
An emergency service capability is a critical social concern, making it particularly important for the industry to propose viable solutions for promoting VoIP emergency services before regulators are compelled to mandate a solution. Reproducing emergency services in the VoIP space has proven to be a considerable task, mainly due to the wide and diverse variety of VoIP implementations and implementers. While technical and business communities have, in fact, made considerable progress in this area, significant uncertainty and deployment problems still exist.
The question we ask is this: Can an industry-based certification and labeling process credibly address social and policy expectations regarding emergency services and VoIP, thus avoiding the need for government regulation at this critical time? We hypothesize that the answer is “yes.” In answering this question, we developed a model for VoIP emergency service compliance through industry certification and device labeling. This model is intended to support a wide range of emergency service implementations while providing users with sufficient verification that the service will operate as anticipated. To this end, we first examine possible technical implementations for VoIP emergency services. Next, we summarize the theory of certification as self-regulation and examine several relevant examples. Finally, we synthesize a specific model for certification of VoIP emergency services. We believe that the model we describe provides both short-term and long-term opportunities. In the short term, an industry-driven effort to solve the current problem of VoIP emergency services, if properly structured and overseen as we suggest, should be both effective and efficient. In the long term, such a process can serve as a self-regulatory model that can be applied to social policy goals in the telecommunications industry, making it an important tool to have as the industry becomes increasingly diverse and heterogeneous
A Model for Emergency Service of VoIP Through Certification and Labeling
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will transform many aspects of
traditional telephony service including technology, the business models
and the regulatory constructs that govern such service. This
transformation is generating a host of technical, business, social and
policy problems. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could
attempt to mandate obligations or specific solutions to the policy
issues around VoIP, but is instead looking first to industry initiatives
focused on key functionality that users have come to expect of
telecommunications services. High among these desired functionalities is
access to emergency services that allow a user to summon fire, medical
or law enforcement agencies. Such services were traditionally required
(and subsequently implemented) through state and federal regulations.
Reproducing emergency services in the VoIP space has proven to be a
considerable task, if for no other reason then the wide and diverse
variety of VoIP implementations and implementers. Regardless of this
difficulty, emergency service capability is a critical social concern,
making it is particularly important for the industry to propose viable
solutions for promoting VoIP emergency services before regulators are
compelled to mandate a solution, an outcome that often suffers
compromises both through demands on expertise that may be better
represented in industry and through the mechanisms of political
influence and regulatory capture. While technical and business
communities have, in fact, made considerable progress in this area,
significant uncertainty and deployment problems still exist. The
question we ask is: can an industry based certification and labeling
process credibly address social and policy expectations regarding
emergency services and VoIP, thus avoiding the need for government
regulation at this critical time?1 We hypothesize that it can. To
establish this, we developed just such a model for VoIP emergency
service compliance through industry certification and device labeling.
The intent of this model is to support a wide range of emergency service
implementations while providing the user some validation that the
service will operate as anticipated. To do this we first examine
possible technical implementations for emergency services for VoIP.
Next, we summarize the theory of certification as self-regulation and
examine several relevant examples. Finally, we synthesize a specific
model for certification of VoIP emergency services. We believe that the
model we describe provides both short term and long-term opportunities.
In the short term, an industry driven effort to solve the important
current problem of emergency services in VoIP, if properly structured
and overseen as we suggest, should be both effective and efficient. In
the long term, such a process can serve as a model for the application
of self-regulation to social policy goals in telecommunications, an
attractive tool to have as telecommunications becomes increasingly
diverse and heterogeneous
A Model for Emergency Service of VoIP Through Certification and Labeling
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will transform many aspects of traditional telephony service including technology, the business models and the regulatory constructs that govern such service. This transformation is generating a host of technical, business, social and policy problems. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could attempt to mandate obligations or specific solutions to the policy issues around VoIP, but is instead looking first to industry initiatives focused on key functionality that users have come to expect of telecommunications services. High among these desired functionalities is access to emergency services that allow a user to summon fire, medical or law enforcement agencies. Such services were traditionally required (and subsequently implemented) through state and federal regulations. Reproducing emergency services in the VoIP space has proven to be a considerable task, if for no other reason then the wide and diverse variety of VoIP implementations and implementers. Regardless of this difficulty, emergency service capability is a critical social concern, making it is particularly important for the industry to propose viable solutions for promoting VoIP emergency services before regulators are compelled to mandate a solution, an outcome that often suffers compromises both through demands on expertise that may be better represented in industry and through the mechanisms of political influence and regulatory capture. While technical and business communities have, in fact, made considerable progress in this area, significant uncertainty and deployment problems still exist. The question we ask is: can an industry based certification and labeling process credibly address social and policy expectations regarding emergency services and VoIP, thus avoiding the need for government regulation at this critical time?1 We hypothesize that it can. To establish this, we developed just such a model for VoIP emergency service compliance through industry certification and device labeling. The intent of this model is to support a wide range of emergency service implementations while providing the user some validation that the service will operate as anticipated. To do this we first examine possible technical implementations for emergency services for VoIP.2 Next, we summarize the theory of certification as self-regulation and examine several relevant examples. Finally, we synthesize a specific model for certification of VoIP emergency services. We believe that the model we describe provides both short term and long-term opportunities. In the short term, an industry driven effort to solve the important current problem of emergency services in VoIP, if properly structured and overseen as we suggest, should be both effective and efficient. In the long term, such a process can serve as a model for the application of self-regulation to social policy goals in telecommunications, an attractive tool to have as telecommunications becomes increasingly diverse and heterogeneous.
Digital Compression for Multimedia : Principles and Standards
X, 476 tr.; 24 cm
A Model for Emergency Service of VoIP Certification and Labeling
The diffusion of VoIP technology promises revolutionary changes to a century old model of voice telephony. Though these changes bring extraordinary opportunities, they also bring challenging policy implications for businesses and regulators. In this Article, the Authors examine the technical difficulties of providing the same quality and dependability of emergency services in VoIP based telephony as consumers have come to expect from PSTN-based telephone networks. Given the technical complexity and heterogeneity of VolP, the Authors propose industry self-regulation through an advanced certification framework as a more effective alternative to direct government regulation. After surveying a number of successful self-regulatory regimes, the Authors conclude that a multitier certification scheme will best meet regulator and consumer expectations of timely and highly intelligible emergency calls that provide the critical information necessary for effective emergency services