User Identification Solutions in Converging Networks

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User Identification Solutions in Converging
Networks
Mike PlukeCastle Consulting Ltd.
Leader of
ETSI Specialist Task Force STF 157
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ETSI STF 157

• The Human Factors group within the European
  Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is
  leading this work.
• The Specialist Task Force comprises 3 people
  funded to study User Identification Solutions in
  Converging Networksand produce an ETSI Guide
  document on the topic.

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The Terms of Reference

• Discover real user requirements for user
  identification
• Develop an implementation-free expression of
  these requirements
• Identify potential solution options
• Create an implementation Roadmap for solutions
• Solutions must work in a competitive environment

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So What Is The User Identification Issue

• The number of communications systems is
  increasing
• Each system has its own identification system
• Telephone Numbers mean very little
• Contacting people isnt necessarily getting
  easier
• Identification-system developments are
  uncoordinated

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A Typical Case
A person can have

• A fixed telephone on their office desk
• A mobile telephone
• A fixed (shared) telephone at home
• An email address used for work purposes
• A personal email address used at home

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Which of these is Mike Miles?
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Communicating Today
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Whats Wrong?

• The caller has to guess the most successful way
  to communicate
• Most callers dont know all the user identifiers
• Terminals linked to communication type
• User identifier schemes linked to communication
  type
• Some user identifiers linked to terminals
• Some user identifiers portable telephony
• Some user identifiers linked to provider email
• Terminals/user identifiers linked to users roles

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Solution Attempts

• Supplementary services can match people to
  locationse.g. Call Diversion
• Mobility solutions can map people to rolese.g.
  UPT solutions can locate the called party on one
  of a group of terminals
• BUT frequently these systems give the wrong
  results

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Problems With Current Solutions

• Many solutions lock users to 1 provider
• Proprietary solutions are incompatible
• Most solutions rely on fixes applied to legacy
  systems
• Most solutions are unfriendly to the caller
  and/or called party
• There is probably no fully comprehensive global
  solution

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Human Communication Needs
Modern communications systems can create new
communication needs
BUT
Basic communication needs have changed very
little since the dawn of man
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Historic Communications Needs
People have always needed to contact
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Tomorrow
People will still need to contact
Individuals, roles, groups and places
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People Not Terminals
People are outsiders in the current
communications revolution. Computer hosts, pager
terminals and telephones are addressable entities
throughout the Internet and telephony
systems. Extract from The Mobile People
Architecture from Stanford University
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High-level User Requirements

• A unified way of setting up a communication
• Reduce the complexity for the calling party
• Make it easy for the called party to manage their
  communications
• Give more options to the called and calling
  parties

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Whats Needed?

• One user identifier per individual or role
• An integrated user identifier search mechanism
• Recognise that Martin Böcker Martin Boecker
• Protect privacy of personal data
• Protect location privacy
• Automatic capture of user identifiers
• Intelligent agents to manage complexity for the
  calling and called parties

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The User Identifier In Use

• This format is not a proposal
• The User Identifier must be unique
• The format should be user friendly

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How It Might Be?
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What next?

• ETSI STF 157 will continue to work on refining
  the user requirements for User Identification
  solutions
• At the same time potential solutions will be
  investigated to validate the practicability of
  the requirements
• A draft ETSI Guide will be available in August
  2000
• Publication is likely in October 2000

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What next?

• ETSI STF 157 is very keen to liaise with all
  groups with an interest in this area
• We are also very happy to receive ideas from
  individuals within these groups
• My email (as STF Leader) is
• Mike.Pluke_at_castle-consult.com
• ETSI HF Chairman is Knut Nordby
• knut.nordby_at_telenor.com