VoIP server standards overseer appointed

A new technology which should allow VoIP servers to seamlessly talk to one another is to be overseen by the UK domain name registry Nominet, it has been announced.

The not-for-profit company will help manage the implementation of a new internet protocol called Enum which allows web networks to convert a phone number into a web page address, making it compatible with a number of VoIP services.

This will allow net users to make phone calls over the net without having to rely on third-party applications such as Skype, which attracted criticism earlier this year after its services went offline for three days without warning.

Nominet's IT director Jay Daley, speaking at Nominet registrar conference this week said Enum would be "like internet before and after the world wide web - things will never be the same once convergence hits in its biggest form".

The UK will not be the first to implement the new protocol, however, as the US and Germany have already begun to upgrade their infrastructures.