IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): The Commercial Rollout of Applications

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) has moved from the realms of R&D labs and commercial trials into a limited number of commercial deployments. Skepticism pervades much of the industry regarding IMS. Without a doubt, there are tremendous challenges, both technical and business, in deploying the IMS technology commercially. However, with each real-world commercial rollout, there is evidence that the promise of IMS will be realized and the business case of IMS is solid.

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): The Commercial Rollout of Applications evaluates a variety of IMS based applications. IMS applications are evaluated on a world-wide basis with a case study perspective providing analysis and conclusions for each application deployed by network operators. Each application is defined and described, and real world commercial deployments are analyzed. Each application is categorized as follows:

• Tier 1 IMS Applications: These applications have strong drivers for initial IMS deployments
• Tier 2 IMS Applications: Appropriate for later stage IMS deployments or a supporting application - a support role for other IMS applications

Commercial deployments of the following IMS applications are cited:

• Fixed Mobile Convergence
• Presence
• Rich Calls (also known as Video Share)
• Push to X (also known as Push to Talk, POC, P2T)
• IPTV Interactions
• Consumer and Business VoIP

Target Audience

Network Operators: Network operators that are deploying IMS, considering IMS, or have made the decision to deploy an IMS network

Service Providers: Service providers that are making plans to utilize IMS core network to provide services to subscribers

Vendors: Hardware, software, and solution vendors for IMS and related technologies such as Service Delivery Platforms (SDP)

Industry Analysts: Analysts covering the telecom and/or convergence industries

Consultants: Consultants providing an advisory role to service providers, network operators or vendors

Key Findings

• The benefits of IMS in terms of speed and flexibility in deploying innovative new services, as well as controlling operational costs, are important to operators, especially in relation to the increasing competition from “over the top” and unbundled service providers. IMS will be the technology that can blend multiple network services for subscribers.
• Many of the technical challenges of deploying IMS, however numerous and onerous, are solvable problems over time. The “Walled Garden” problem of IMS threatens to limit the value of IMS in the long term, but is not a problem for the short term. It is a problem that the industry must address.
• Certain IMS applications will act as leading services drivers justifying deployment of IMS while others provide merely an important supporting role
• While initially practical, alternative deployment architectures will be succumbed by IMS