IMS and NGN Forum™ Moving Forward on Interoperability and Certification

By Michael Khalilian
The IMS Forum™ has expanded to include NGN Services, Service Delivery Platforms (SDP) and Rich Communications. We also launched our M-Play™ initiative aiming at accelerating the interoperability and rollout of IMS networks and NGN services. We are getting ready to announce the addition of the IMS/NGN Service Providers Advisory Board, a group of executives from wireline, wireless and cable industries working together with the forum to drive technical requirements for interoperability. Specifically, the Service Providers Advisory Board will provide direction, strategic advising and technical guidance that promote the universal adoption of open, interoperable IMS and NGN architectures benefiting developers, equipment manufacturers, system integrators and service providers.

The service provider advisory board works to accelerate IMS deployment by providing customer focus and by defining a common set of requirements for interoperability and certification including vendor compliance, pre-IMS architecture transitioning and OSS/BSS integration. They will also advise forum members on consumer and enterprise trends and disruptors that may affect the future adoption and maturity of IMS deployment.

Recently the IMS/NGN Forum launched two global study groups using professional networking provided by LinkedIn™ to connect over 1,500 professionals and executives working on IMS projects. Participants include developers, system engineers, strategic and business planners, marketing and sales professionals, consultants, analysts and CxOs from service providers, equipment vendors, and system integrators.

The IMS/NGN Forum has a number of events at NXTcomm08, including presenting Plugfest 5 results at the Forum Theater on the show floor Wednesday, June 18, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. and Technical Working Group meetings from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. at S208 and demos at the IMS booth, SL6521. For questions or membership info contact info@imsforum.org.

About the IMS/NGN Forum.™ The IMS/NGN Forum is a global telecommunications industry association devoted to M-Play, the interoperable IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Next Generation Network (NGN) service delivery architecture and solutions. The Forum’s mission is to accelerate the interoperability of IMS and NGN services and to enable enterprise and residential consumers to benefit fully from the delivery of multimedia mobile and fixed services over broadband cable, wireless, wireline, and fiber networks. The Forum is the creator and organizer of the IMS Plugfest™ and NGN Plugfest™ the industry’s only events focused on verification and certification of IMS and NGN service interoperability through the IMS Certified™ and NGN Certified™ programs. (www.NGNForum.org)

Michael Khalilian is Chairman and President of the IMS/NGN Forum (www.IMSForum.org, www.NGNForum.org, info@IMSForum.org).

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