One number for phone, fax, and 'net?

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: Up front: news, trends & analysis

The U.S. government recently announced its support for ENUM, an emerging standard that could simplify personal communications by providing a single point of contact for telephone and Internet communications.

The electronic-numbering system would allow consumers to specify a single identifier for telephone, fax, and mobile phone numbers, as well as e-mail and instant-messaging addresses. The Department of Commerce said it will work with the State Department and the Federal Communications Commission to help set up the ENUM network.

ENUM already has support from 13 other countries, and an international telecommunications body has been working to set global standards. The specific ENUM standard, known as E.164.arpa, translates telephone numbers into Internet addresses, and vice versa. For example, the phone number 202.555.1234 would be expressed as an Internet address as...