2. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California VoIP 9-1-1 Myth Busters Jim Shepard Executive Vice President HBF Group, Inc. / 9-1-1 Services

3. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California What are we going to cover? To gain insights into the current status of VoIP and its’ impact on 9-1-1 and public safety and to dispel myths and misinformation standing in the way of VoIP Service Providers (VSPs) making informed and accurate decisions regarding VoIP.

4. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California HBF i-911™ ALI / LIS Emergency Routing DB VoIP Positioning Center Pre-Call i-911 Address Validation Safety Response Center ALI ESGW PSAP Pre-Call: Subscriber location is validated utilizing a web services interface to HBF’s i-911™ Solution. VSP Soft Switch Subscriber calls 9-1-1VSP’s soft switch routes the call to HBF’s session border controller. ONE STEP and you’re done. HBF takes the 9-1-1 call from here, determines call routing (PSAP or PSAP/ESN) and assigns appropriate ESRN and ESQK. HBF’s i-911 delivers the call to the Emergency Services Gateway (ESGW). ESGW delivers the call to the correct selective router. 9-1-1 Selective Router Selective Router delivers the call to the correct PSAP.PSAP queries their ALI using the HBF assigned ESQK for the call.ALI steers a query to i-911’s VPC to retrieve location information.The dynamic ALI information is delivered back to the ALI over HBF’s ALI/VPC connections and then back to the PSAP. A Quick Overview of VoIP 9-1-1

5. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #1: FCC Regulation fixed VoIP 911 The May 2005 FCC Order for E9-1-1 VoIP puts VoIP on par with wireline 9-1-1. –Address accuracy is not addressed. –PSAP funding is specifically bypassed. –PSAP vs. ESN routing, pANI administration, and other barriers to E9-1-1 deployment are not addressed. –To date, there is been little/no FCC enforcement. MYTH

6. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #2: NENA to the rescue The NENA i2 “standard” will standardize VoIP 9-1-1. –NENA is not a standards development organization, thus “i2” is a design specification, not a “standard”. –Each of the three VPCs has implemented different flavors of i2. Hopefully this has minimal impact on PSAPs and VSPs. –It does provide a common ground so it is better than no “standard” at all. MYTH

7. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #3: An interim solution NENA i2 is an “interim” solution. –Depends on your definition of interim. Traditional ALI and i2 will likely co-exist for 6-10 years –Migration to i3 will require LOTS of money. However, imagine the possibilities of an IP enabled PSAP. The network becomes responsible for location. –Be prepared for a mixed environment with three modes of 9-1-1 (“traditional”, “i2”, and “i3”). MYTHREALITY

8. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #4: Subscriber locations are valid VoIP “registered addresses” are MSAG valid. –There is no FCC requirement for MSAG validation…yet. Some PSAPs are requirement MSAG validation. –Access to MSAG data is not universal. Some ILECs charge for it; others won’t give it up at all. –At a minimum, all three VPC solutions perform postal validation. –There is a huge need for consolidated Validation Data Bases (VDBs) and ESZ Routing Data Bases (ERDBs) to facilitate validation by “non-carriers”. MYTH

9. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #5: VoIP = Nationwide E9-1-1 VoIP E9-1-1 will have a nationwide footprint. –There is current nationwide delivery capability, just not “enhanced”. Enhanced = Delivery over 911 network with valid location and call back number Basic = Delivery over 911 network with NO valid location and NO call back number –VoIP E9-1-1 will likely never happen due to technical limitations outside of VoIP (Selective Router access, ALI steering, PSAP limitations, etc.) –Do we need to provide for VoIP E9-1-1 if there is no broadband? MYTH

10. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #6: 9-1-1 Service Fees Collection and disbursement of VoIP Fees at is inevitable. –Without funding, the public safety community be broke(r). –PSAP funding is specifically bypassed in FCC 05- 116. –PSAP vs. ESN routing, pANI administration, and other barriers to E9-1-1 deployment are not addressed. To date, there is been little/no FCC enforcement. REALITY

11. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #6:(continued) 9-1-1 Service Fees Assess 9-1-1 surcharge on broadband connections. –Many telephone lines will never be used to place a 9-1-1 call (fax machines, modems, remote telemetry devices, etc) but surcharge is assessed because capability must be maintained. Same logic applies to broadband Internet access connections. PSAP authorities must take steps (and spend money) to establish and maintain 9-1-1 capability.

12. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #6:(continued) 9-1-1 Service Fees Most broadband access is provided by telephone companies (DSL) and CATV companies (cable modem). Most CATV also operate as CLECs. These entities already collect 9-1-1 surcharges. It should not be a hardship to expand collections to broadband access connections.

13. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #7: Notification = Education FCC required “Customer Notification” solves the consumer education issue. –No amount of education will get the average consumer to understand the nuances of 9-1-1. –Providers need to help educate their customers, and consumers will need to take responsibility to stay educated. MYTH

14. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #8: They don’t know where they are Subscriber-provided “registered address” location information is the Achilles heel of VoIP E9-1-1. –In the past, customer’s never had to worry about updating their location before making a 9-1-1 call. Even with wireless, the network (not the caller) provides a majority of the location data. –Most commercially available VoIP solutions rely on the accuracy and timeliness of customer supplied location information. REALITY

15. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #9: VPCs only needed for nomadic A service provider only needs to use a VPC if you are offering nomadic service –You need a VPC is you are offering “foreign” NPA- Nxx numbers (e.g., a NYC “212” TN in Texas) –You need a VPC is you are supporting remote users / locations Telecommuters Multiple branches from a single IP-PBX MYTH

16. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Myth #10: All solutions are the same All VPCs are the same –Differences in address provisioning Demand real time address validation Demand SOAP-based web service –Differences in network requirements Reject any solution that requires multiple dedicated circuits –Difference in call handling Do you really want to be responsible for call monitoring and contingency routing? –Difference in business execution Don’t be “guilty by association” with a VPC that agitates the public safety community with “war dial” testing. MYTH

17. www.itexpo.com October 10-13, 2006 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego California Want To Learn More? HBF / 9-1-1 Services is located at Booth #226 www.hbfgroup.com jshepard@hbfgroup.com 512-481-0911