Aswath Rao is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and has almost 25 years of experience in the telecommunications field, having worked for leading R&D firms in the telecommunications field. His proposal for Inter Connect Function has been incorporated in the TIPHON architecture and currently it is known as Session Border Controller. He has developed ways to offer PSTN subscribers many of the features available to VoIP subscribers.



Aswath’s knowledge in telephony, the technical understanding, his ability to explain the highly technical things in simple language for the common non-geek to understand is second to none. He has his own opinions on emerging technologies in telephony, especially IP Telephony and the business related to it.



He graciously agreed to give me an interview. Here is Shri Aswath Rao for you.



Hello Aswath, great to have you here. Tell us something about yourself, your journey from Madurai to New Jersey now.



It was a sheer accident that I ended in telecom field. I was focused on academia (with a Ph.D. in Probability theory, what else can one do), but it was not to be. But then Bell Labs offered me a job. It so happened that the first assignment involved protocol development. This allowed me to contribute, even though I didn’t have academic training in the telecom area.



I know your proposal for Inter Connect Function has been incorporated in the TIPHON architecture, now known as Session Border Controller. Tell us about more about your contribution towards it.



I developed the initial proposal in 1999. I was interested in developing H.323 infrastructure from a Class 5 switch. You see, the Class 5 switch has two components - control software and switching fabric. H.323 gatekeeper/SIP Proxy can be built from the control software of a Class 5 switch; but the switching fabric is an integral part of the call control logic. So it was natural to introduce an element that will replicate the switching fabric. The next step was to observe that a layer 3 device would be sufficient. After that, it became obvious that this function could be used to do many other functions/services that are of interest - NAT/FW traversal, wiretapping point, peering point, QoS enforcement. I developed the functional specification of the box. Interestingly, the proposal met with stiff internal opposition, even though a few took it to TIPHON. Of course, subsequently, more than a dozen startups were developing SBC.



What do you think of telephony today and how do you think it is going to shape up in the future?



In my opinion there is no difference between PSTN and many of the VoIP providers. The user experience is no different; they still interact with a standard 12-button phone. I will say that revolution has arrived only when the user experience is enhanced. I do not anticipate basic telephony to be affected because of Wi-Fi, which affords ambulation, but not mobility. I am of the opinion that focusing on wholesale change is counterproductive. After all, nobody talked about exchanging postal system with email, even though postal system was derogatively called snail mail.



How do you think VoIP can be best utilized?



I strongly believe that when sophisticated user interface is utilized, then migrating to VoIP is justified. Also, when the market takes a VoIP service provider to task when it tries to lock-in a customer, I will say that the market has become sophisticated.



Recently, you put a question in your blog asking if voice is special enough to be paid a premium for. Should there be no business peddling voice?



No more than if it were peddling a data service. If email is not worth paying extra for, why should voice be any more special? The end users need two functions for end-to-end IP Communications - directory service and NAT/FW traversal. We do not require anything more or less; this is true whether the application is voice, video or file transfer.



What do you think about the future of big VoIP companies like Vonage and Skype? With so many VoIP players in the market, do you think there are moneymaking opportunities in VoIP still left?



Short answer is no. See the answer to the previous question. I do not know what the future holds for these companies, but I can imagine a network where such companies have marginal value.



What do you think on VoIP’s role will be as community builder? E.g., MyVillage.com taking to VoIP and the other day Barablu launched free mobile-to-mobile VoIP calls.



The importance of community has been exaggerated. The Internet is the only community that is needed. All others are artificial and we should work towards eliminating them. By the way, I am not sure that Barablu offers free mobile-to-mobile calls. In my understanding they have clients for wifi devices and that is what they are referring to even though the common understanding is that this involves cell phones. It is disappointing that these days many companies routinely make ambiguous claims just for PR purposes.



Is there any chance that we can see the evolution of ‘walled gardens’ with VoIP operators charging a premium for interoperability?



I hope the market does not allow this to happen. Currently bundled services have economical value because they are providing PSTN interconnectivity. But PhoneGnome allows that service to be provided by anybody. I hope the market encourages that model more than the bundled service model.



Recently, you told me that multiple ENUM databases would reduce the usefulness and there are no revenue opportunities. Don’t you think it would be better to have multiple databases than only a few controlling it?



The raison d’etre for ENUM is PSTN interworking. I don’t think the market will dump PSTN altogether. In other words, I envision widespread use of PhoneGnome like devices and end users realizing their own PSTN interworking.



As I said, the main reason for ENUM is to handle PSTN calls. If there are multiple ENUMs, which one will the PSTN gateway consult to locate the destination in the IP network? On the other hand, if there is only one ENUM, then the sole owner is going to extract premium from its users. This will invariably lead to one or more splinter groups.



What are your suggestions for emerging economies like India and China on adoption of VoIP?



I have no problem with the current regulatory regime in India. I think TRAI’s position paper is well reasoned.



Tell us about your future plans. Any project in your mind now?



It is not difficult to generate ideas; it is not so easy to realize them. My job is to convince my management on the merits of my views, so that they get realized in our products.



Finally, tell us what you think of VoIP Central.



I think VoIP Central is providing a valuable service to the community in that it is distilling varied news items and at the same time providing sufficient editorial opinions.



Thank you very much from VoIP Central and Instablogs Network. It was a great pleasure indeed to have your interview here.



Aswath Rao blogs too. Here is Aswath Rao’s Weblog.