WASHINGTON- ATIS today announced that it has demonstrated fully authenticated enterprise SIP calls using distributed ledger technology (DLT) in support of the SHAKEN protocol – a major success in helping service providers overcome caller attestation issues that may prevent enterprise calls from reaching their intended recipients and instead be branded as illegal robocalls.

ATIS’ DLT Focus Group is proving how DLT can address the real world issues of the telecom industry as originally noted in its 2019 report, Enterprise Identity on Distributed Ledger for Authenticated Caller Use Cases. The recent proof of concept was demonstrated to industry experts from the ATIS/SIP Forum IP-NNI Task Force, which developed the SHAKEN protocol. ATIS member First Orion was a significant contributor to the DLT Focus Group and the proof of concept providing architecture implementation with SHAKEN to prove attestation.

The SHAKEN protocol helps an originating service provider (OSP) trust that a call leaving its network is from a business entity who 1.) is who they claim to be, and 2.) has the right to legally place a call with the calling party number they are using. Only then can the OSP “sign” the call heading toward a terminating service provider.

The industry has been analyzing a number of technical solutions to advance the SHAKEN framework so that enterprise businesses are able to authenticate their identity and verify their “Telephone Number Right to Use” to the OSP.

“With this recent proof of concept, ATIS members successfully demonstrated that the DLT solution is not only viable but is an effective means for authenticating enterprise SIP calls to support SHAKEN,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “This is an important step in ensuring that enterprises can continue relying on the phone call as a primary way of communicating with their customers.”

“First Orion is pleased to have been a part of the ATIS DLT proof of concept together with other members of this focus group, and contribute our cloud signaling infrastructure and software engineering expertise to support this effort,” said First Orion CTO Mark Himelfarb. “DLT has transformational potential and realizing this potential has been a huge milestone for the telecommunications industry, ATIS, and First Orion. In demonstrating this approach, DLT has proven to be a viable solution for even the most nascent enterprise STIR/SHAKEN use-cases. We look forward to continuing to work together with ATIS to advance the future of the digital calling experience.”