IMS NGN Plugfest 5 Services Interoperability and IMS Social and Professional Networks Launch

By Manuel Vexler
In preparation for the fifth Plugfest, the IMS/NGN Forum™ launched its technical and product professional network to accelerate IMS/NGN services interoperability and 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 includes developers, system engineers, strategic and business planners, marketing and sales professionals, consultants, analysts and CxOs from service providers, equipment vendors, and system integrators.

The groups are participating in identifying the most critical topics in the specification, implementation and value proposition of NGN services over IMS framework and networks. As expected there is a broad range of topics discussed and solutions proposed. Samples of the threads covered by the groups include:

• Migration drivers from AIN to IMS and from IPv4 to IPv6.
• Top 5 drivers and inhibitors to moving to IMS networks.
• The status of the User Equipment and interworking with fixed mobile and cable networks.
• IMS/NGN and other broadband technologies (e.g. WiMAX, Ethernet).
• Charging and OSS/BSS support.
• The ‘killer app’.

Given group’s size, there are a number of interesting trends emerging from both the group composition and the topics discussed. Some of these trends are not reported yet in the media. For example, IMS development is in full force worldwide, with development centers in Europe, U.S. and the Far East. IMS/NGN has a very strong presence and base in developing countries with significant representation from service providers in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Far East Asia, and Latin America. Overall, there is a good balance between tier one and smaller service providers and equipment vendors in the development of IMS/NGN.

In parallel to the activities of the IMS/NGN global study groups, the forum is completing the test plan and results for the fifth IMS Plugfest™. The event completed the beginning of June at the IMS/NGN IOL. The latest Plugfest will mark the start of developing the certification process for the SIP interface between user equipment (UE) and the IMS/NGN network. The interface, designated as the ‘gm’ interface, is critical to the IMS/NGN market, as it carries the signaling traffic between the mobile or fix multimedia device and the next generation network. For example, through the gm interface the mobile device is capable of registering, authenticating, requesting the services and receiving confirmation for each service’s activation. As the mobile industry is moving rapidly toward a new generation of devices, as highlighted by recent announcements of the Android (a Google open source Java-based mobile device), the RIM’s WiFi interface for Blackberry PDAs, and Intel’s ATOM silicon family, signaling the beginning of a new market for NGN mobile multimedia, it is clear that the NGN services need to evolve quickly to meet the demands of the sophisticated mobile user.

In addition to the gm interface, the IMS/NGN Plugfest 5 will cover a number of other major functions of the network, including policy enforcement and load balancing for the Call Session Control Functions (CSCF), charging and billing operations as well as continuing to validate the underling SIP and DIAMETER protocols and test and measurement equipment. A multi-vendor core IMS/NGN network offers the backbone of all our test activities and it will continue to provide the necessary support for Plugfest 5. Equally important, the interoperability events allow the forum members to develop and use the fastest testing and interoperability methodology in the industry, a core competency allowing the IMS/NGN Forum to organize 3-4 Plugfests a year.

The IMS/NGN Forum also recently launched a new initiative for innovation in IMS/NGN. Under the name M-Play, interoperable services for fixed, mobile and cable networks are tested for the first time at the Plugfest events. The technical working group hosted the first of a series of innovation events on June 5th at the IMS/NGN InterOperability Lab at the UNH, in Durham, NH. The one day event, named “From Innovation to Interop , a Summit on the Next Generation of Internet Services,” is bringing together service providers and a critical demographic and professional groups in IMS/NGN. The panels had engineering students discussing practical implementations for revenue generating services for next generation networks.

Manuel Vexler is Chair of the Technical Working Group, IMS Forum, NGN Forum (www.IMSForum.org,
www.NGNForum.org). Contact him directly by email at [email protected].

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