Clearinghouse services provider NeuStar has extended its reach, announcing today that it has entered into agreements with the Hong Kong Internet Exchange and the Japan Internet Exchange to offer its SIP-IX suite of network peering services among IP networks.

NeuStar is currently trialing the new capabilities with its two new partners and also has announced that it has completed deployment with two previously announced partners, Equinix and Telehouse.

"Our intent was that NeuStar develop a global SIP interworking capability and as part of that service availability initiative, we were creating the relationship with ISPs to make this available worldwide," said NeuStar CTO Mark Foster. "We want to continue to acknowledge the global nature of the Internet and the global nature of any Internet service."

According to Foster, NeuStar now has five partners, covering "the busiest peering locations in Western Europe, North America including Manhattan, Japan and Hong Kong. We are quite a ways down the list of the partners we want."

NeuStar continues to provide neutral, third-party interoperability for a wide spectrum of IP players, including basic voice-over-IP providers up through more sophisticated service offerings, Foster said.

Its partners integrate SIP-IX into their IP peering infrastructures to create a service delivery platform that enables network operators to peer SIP-based traffic. Existing peering and collaboration services also enable service providers to use their existing network infrastructure.

NeuStar is providing the root domain name service for global GSM customers and handling largely wireless traffic outside of North America, Foster said.