HiQ to develop a system for the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority to enable a new communication service

The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (Ficora) has chosen HiQ to develop a system for administrating ENUM, a service that converts telephone numbers into Internet domain names. The system is set to be operational by October 2006.

“The contract for the system project was sought by several notable system providers and we have evaluated each offer according to our official criteria. We chose HiQ as our partner because their offer best matched these criteria and because we trust HiQ to have the right competence and capability to deliver the system we require,” says Juhani Juselius, manager of Ficora's Internet Domain Names unit. The ENUM service converts regular telephone numbers, such as land line or mobile telephone numbers, into Internet domain names. The technology enables the use of Internet-based communication channels, when only the receiver's telephone number is known, or only a telephone handset is available. The system that HiQ is developing will administer the creation of ENUM domain names in a similar way as a domain name server. The Finnish system represents a significant step towards the commercial use of the ENUM technology. “Projects piloting the combination of the Internet and traditional telephone networks have been going on around the world since 1999, but only Poland has so far adopted the technology for commercial use,” says Timo Lehtimäki, head of Internet and Information Security at Ficora. “The technology offers telecom operators a cost-efficient method of routing telephone calls. ENUM will have a key role in routing telephone traffic both within a single operator's network and between different networks. In other words we expect the ENUM technology to have major economic and communications-related implications,” Timo Lehtimäki predicts. “ENUM also provides private and corporate users with more opportunities to economise and manage communications more flexibly,” Lehtimäki adds. According to Markku Sani, Sales Director at HiQ in Finland, the new system must meet stringent demands for reliability and scalability. ”Once online, the ENUM system will face the same threats as the traditional Internet system. In addition, it is clear that the number of users will grow as more services are developed. The system that we deliver must be able to cope with increasing user volumes,” says Sani. For further information please contact: Lars Stugemo, President and CEO, HiQ International, tel.: +46 8 588 90 000 Pekka Neva, Managing Director, HiQ Softplan Ltd, tel. +358-9-4355 8634 Juhani Juselius, Manager, Internet Domain Names unit, Ficora, tel. +358-9-6966 743 Annika Billberg, Head of Corporate Communications, HiQ International, tel.: +46 8 588 90 015