DENIC at Work on Detailed Transition from Trial to Practice

The ENUM trial phase is moving towards its conclusion. "ENUM is now sufficiently mature for us to go ahead with a regular operation on a commercial basis" – to quote an announcement by Sabine Dolderer, a member of the Executive Board of DENIC eG. The Frankfurt-based domain registry has been in charge of an ENUM trial operation since September 2002, and numerous providers and other interested businesses and institutions have played their part in it. Trial participants had an excellent opportunity to receive a complete update on the status of the project on Tuesday, 1 March 2005, by attending DENIC's fourth ENUM conference. ENUM is a new technology which bridges the gap between telecommunications and the Internet. With ENUM and the ENUM services, users have access to the whole communications universe through ordinary telephone numbers.

ENUM has been advancing in leaps and bounds during recent months, and many experts now believe that it is mature enough for everyday practical use. Even during the trial phase, potential users already had the choice between more than fifty providers. Over the last six months, the number of ENUM domains registered with DENIC has almost doubled and now stands at just under 1700. This figure might appear like peanuts compared with the 8.5 million .de domains. It should be remembered, however, that just one ENUM domain can provide a gateway for a complete telephone installation with thousands (or even tens of thousands) of extensions, so that the number of actual ENUM users is many times higher than the number of registered domains.

ENUM experience in Austria would also militate in favour of rapid commercial introduction. Robert Schischka, general manager of the Austrian registry, enum.at, which launched its market service in December 2004, is convinced that "an excessively long trial phase acts like a brake; the providers' commitment begins to wane; then you find it's impossible to get anything moving". DENIC in Germany is intent on following the Austrian example as soon as it possibly can.