sullivan@EDN-VAX.ARPA.UUCP (02/25/87)
Has anyone out there done any thinking about numbering plan strategies which would eventually reconcile different addressing schemes, such as voice (E.163), ISDN (E.164), data (1822, X.121, IP) and eventually lead to a uniform addressing standard? I'm coming at this from an ISDN perspective, since I am a participant in the DoD ISDN Technology and Standards Working Group. We are considering a proposed "goal" numbering plan which would migrate everything (voice and data subscribers) to E.164 (the 15 digit ISDN number) and use of the ISDN subaddress which (I am told) is compatible with the ISO addressing plan and would be conveyed transparently by ISDN's. "Goal" in this case means far in the future, but I can see some possible problems. Foremost would be the problem of vendor acceptance and support. I assume that vendor X.25 interfaces use X.121 addressing. ISDN 2B+D data services could take on a variety of forms, but in many if not most cases a mainframe subscriber would be using one of the 64kb B channels to access an "external" data network which might be based on X.121 addressing. Either the subscriber or the vendor will have to do some name server functions for a long time before the world turns E.164. I guess this is my real question: Isn't it really too early to be talking about a global numbering scheme for voice and data that would be imposed as a procurement specification? If not, why not? Thanks for all thoughts. Please reply directly to me as well as to the lists. Thanks, Pat Sullivan Defense Communications Engineering Center Reston, VA.