Texas A&M University Develops Demo to Show VoIP-based Lawful Intercept Capability

A live demonstration of a lawful intercept solution at a recent conference showed how institutions can simply and effectively comply with federal requirements mandating interception of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications.

The lawful intercept (LI) demonstration, developed at the VoIP research facility at Texas A&M University, proved that LI could be accomplished without expensive changes to a network's existing switch infrastructure. A demo of the technology was shown by Texas A&M at the ESCC/Internet2 Joint Techs Workshop hosted this February by the University of Minnesota.

"The university community is concerned that complying with federal LI requirements will be difficult and expensive," said Dr. Walt Magnussen, Texas A&M University's director of telecommunications. "Minimizing this difficulty and expense will require innovative work with the best available tools. With a few weeks work, we were able to build a solution that meets the compliance standard for voice intercept. We are still looking into the data collection requirements."

The LI demo was performed in front of a conference audience using two cell phones and the same collection function equipment that law enforcement uses. The remainder of the equipment operated remotely from a Texas A&M lab. The demonstration included technology from SS8 Networks, Acme Packet and Pen-Link and accurately reflected real-world intercept activity, with targets and associates using the network on the move, law enforcement remotely receiving information in their offices and the network elements performing the intercept within the network.

Since the Texas A&M lab is a research facility, each company donated their respective equipment, including SS8's Xcipio intercept platform, Acme Packet's Net-Net session border controller and Pen-Link's Pen-Link8 reporting and analysis software, to make this lab a reality.

"This demonstration makes a powerful statement that lawful intercept compliance is not beyond reach for universities and smaller carriers," said Stephen Gleave, SS8 vice president of marketing. "SS8 and our partner companies believe that meeting federal lawful intercept requirements is more than a legal requirement; it's a societal obligation to assist law enforcement agencies with the business of public safety."

A recent ruling by the FCC under the Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) declared that VoIP service providers must provide lawful intercept access to law enforcement agencies. The FCC ruling notes that any VoIP service provider connected to the public phone network and enabling calls to and from it must be CALEA compliant by May 14, 2007.