I recently learned of an internet technology that I’m shocked isn’t getting more press. It’s called ENUM, and it is coming on hard.

What is it, you ask? Essentially, ENUM is the term to cover mapping telephone numbers to web addresses. The point of this, to most observers, it to facilitate VoIP, however there are other possibilities as well. The main one that I see is the ability to use telephones as devices to access internet services. If phone numbers are equivalent to web addresses, then any phone could theoretically function as an internet input device. The possibilities for new applications with cell phones are pretty enormous.

From poking around google, it appears that ENUM was pretty big news around 2001, but then it faded off the radar screen. However, several trials are currently underway around the world to test out the possibilites and an industry conference is planned for this June. I have heard estimates that ENUM could be live as soon as mid-2006.

The usual suspects have some concerns with this endeavour, particularly the requirement for a database of contact numbers and the increased ability of marketers (read spammers) to conact people. While I share these concerns, I am interested to see how this all plays out. As a fan of VoIP, this seems particularly interesting, and when coupled with text-to-speech software, I foresee a wholly new way to surf using your phone - by actually talking with the Internet.