IP Multimedia Subsystem: ABI says 'Welcome to the Telecom Jet Engine

North America Europe Asia-Pacific

ABI Research: IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is about to revolutionize the telecom market. Every Tier 1 service provider in fixed and wireless networks will announce SIP-based services running over IMS in the next six to twelve months. Any who don't, will be like airlines that missed out on the jet engine. IMS began life as a wireless network architecture for adding IP-based services to existing circuit-switched voice. When Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) was introduced, IMS evolved to an open architecture: operators are not locked into a proprietary solution, nor are "point solutions" needed for each service. Soon fixed network providers began adapting it to IP networks. IMS allows a single device to use both fixed and wireless networks. IMS will allow many new services, including VoIP, to be offered simultaneously over SIP-enabled networks. Vendors can develop applications and equipment knowing they will be fully interoperable. Services can be tried quickly and discarded if unpopular. A single database holds all subscriber information, lowering operating costs for multiple services. IMS is not difficult or expensive compared with other approaches and that is why all or almost all Tier 1 carriers are testing it. When Tier 1s have finished and sorted out the bugs, the Tier 2s will also enter the market. There are regional differences, with North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific introducing it in that order. We expect Asia-Pacific to become the leading region for IMS, as Japan and Korea have led on both 3G and broadband deployment.Mobile Operator IMS Core Networks Publ 20050524 IMS?