IMS Cometh To India

Not many are aware of IP multimedia system (IMS), including yours truly. This
is why an invite to attend the IMS India 2008 conference in Mumbai was
intriguing to say the least. More so, because the few solution providers I spoke
to were as clueless about this technology as I was. So I decided to decode this
mystery and see what it bode for our readers.

IMS is a multi-service, multi-protocol, multi-access, IP-based network. At
the IMS India Conference 2008, Shyam Mardikar, VP-Network Services, Bharti
Airtel called it secure, reliable and trusted. The multi-services are delivered
by a common quality of service (QoS) enabled core network.

Why consider it?

One reason why solution providers should learn more about IMS is because it
provides end-to-end delivery of services from service provider to the customer.
Today, there is a vertical system of delivery of services that increases the
load on the entire system. These verticals increase the cost load. IMS promises
to remove all inefficiency of the present system. The relevance of IMS will be
in the community domain.

TV Sriram, VP-Technology, Bharti Airtel said, “IMS is a framework. It is a
generic architecture offering multimedia services.” What is interesting is that
IMS is access agnostic, hence it is not just for UMTS or GPRS, but can also
support WLAN, fixed line, etc. It is an architecture to offer in the packet
domain.

The IMS architecture is divided into three planes-the access and transport
plane, call control plane and the application services plane. The transport or
access layer consists of wireless, mobile, WiMax, etc. The control layer is the
core layer.

(L-R) Shashidharan, MD, Bharat Exhibitions; Mallikarjun Rao, Head-Technology and Network Planning, Aircel; TV Sriram, VP-Technology, Bharti Airtel; Satyajit Sahay, GM-Telecom, Sun Microsystems; Sunil C Kand, Chief Technologist, Telecom Application and Solutions, Wipro Technologies

Benefits

The goals of IMS are-ubiquitous connectivity, seamless service availability,
any-to-any connecti­vity, network adapting to the user, and personalization.
This is ideal for an emerging enterprise, which has a mix of fixed and mobile
uses.

While the application services plane has multimedia services, SIP services,
billing, etc, Sriram said. “There is no dearth of application services. Your
imagination is the only limit,” he noted.

In response to a question of whether IMS is pertinent, Sandeep Keshkar, DGM-NSS,
MTNL said, “IMS is based on open standards. It is a standardized and reusable
platform and is future ready. No interconnection is required, which saves a lot
of time, no interconnection issues, reduced operating costs and simplified
operations and ease of service bundling. Finally, implementa­tion of IMS reduces
the CAPEX/OPEX.”

IMS is also capable of multimedia session negotiation and management. The
quality of service in case of IMS is high. Mobility management is possible using
IMS, which is critical for roaming.

Applications for its architecture There are various applications that can
make use of IMS. Some of them are 'push to talk', 'presence-enabled phonebook',
'call and share use case live video'. New services can be added on a single
session, synchronized services multiple sessions, and unrelated services
multiple sessions are possible using IMS.

Mallikarjun Rao, Head-Technology and Network Planning, Aircel said, “IMS
provides a common converged network infrastructure for seamless service
delivery.” A converged network works on a packet infrastructure, has common
control, and is application aware.

According to Keshkar, there are a whole lot of applications that can make use
of the IMS architecture. He said, “Some of the applications that can make use of
the IMS architecture are multimedia conferencing, unified messaging, single
virtual directory, click to conference, personal assistant, friends and family
tracking, virtual PBX, location-based profile matching, field force efficiency,
logistics/fleet tracking, single number/dual ringing, one-device, two-number,
inbound call screening, call completion, intelligent call-centre routing,
find-me-follow-me, multi-channel tele voting, and group hunt.”

Challenges

One of the main hindrances to the deployment of IMS is network readiness.
Broadband penetra­tion is still low in developing countries like India. Also
IPv6 is still in the trial stages.

The business case for first deployment as in the relevance of applications
and services is a major challenge. Service providers' interoperability is
another challenge to overcome. Overcoming existing IP challenges and the
regulatory environment are some other issues to be sorted out before IMS can
become mainstream.

So the telcos should begin planning out the whole network IP migration now.
Launching of small-scale IP trial projects is also of paramount importance.
Technological maturity is going to go a long way in proper implementation of IMS.

What's in it for operators?

Rao said, “IMS is a framework for operators that wish to deliver multimedia-rich
services.” It has standardized interfaces, platforms, development tools, etc.
IMS is standardized to include evolving technologies like WiMax, LTE, UMB etc.

Rao added, “IMS has received great interest in the past two years and the
standards are now maturing. Most operators are now in trials and early adopters
are deploying it.”

The building blocks of IMS are call session controller (CSCF) providing call
session control functionality, home subscriber service (HSS), which provides
federation to external profile system. Policy controller enables policy for
multiple access environments. Application servers provide value-added
applications on top of IMS/MMD.

The media gateway controller (MCG) includes implementation of traditional
PSTN/PLMN interfaces and services, on softswitch architecture.

Conclusion

There might be a paradigm shift from today to tomorrow's technology due to
IMS. Today we have the wireless and wireline to access, from mobility to
ubiquity, from network aware users to user aware network, and from broadcast to
unicast.

RAVISH KHAPRA

ravishk@cybermedia.co.in