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IMS Feature Article
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IMS Shows Us the Money

By Daphna Steinmetz

IMS Magazine

The telecoms industry has long sought the holy grail of converged services over multiple networks (fixed and mobile, broadband and narrow band) with multiple terminals. Operators’ plans to increase revenues from new opportunities, drives a need for an environment with personalized, rightly-sized services to every individual, to create a new comprehensive lifestyle using VAS in all aspects of life. IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS) is an architecture that will take operators to the edge of convergence in coming years, increasing the type and quantity of services and multimedia applications available to consumers. Carriers need to embrace the IMS reference architecture. It’s all about meeting subscriber demand for new, advanced multimedia services, and generating increased revenue.

A lot of technologies over the years have promised but failed to deliver huge returns on investment. Can IMS show us the money?

While the industry may be more cautious when it comes to investing in new technology than it used to, emerging technologies and fierce competition in the telecom marketplace are changing the playing field. Success or failure increasingly depends on how quickly a service provider can adjust its business model to take advantage of new opportunities to deliver them to customers.

There is no longer a single killer application that will justify an operator’s investment in a technology like IMS… there are thousands.

IMS in a Nutshell
Although the IMS standards initiative has been around for years, IMS has just recently become one of the hottest buzz words in the industry.
IMS provides a flexible IP network architecture that enables the delivery and execution of real-time voice, video, and multimedia services across all types of networks and terminals. IMS empowers the network so that users can communicate with whomever they want, whenever they want, using the services they want, without concern for what device or network they or their contacts are using.
With IMS, all network services — from call control, voice, data, and video — are done over IP, enabling operators to provide, deploy, and maintain an enhanced array of services, quickly and cost-effectively.

IMS Drives Value Added Services Success
Over the service execution environment facilitated by IMS, value added services will open the door to an infinite number of compelling revenue generating applications. Its framework nature and standard interfaces allow for deployment of services in a shorter time to market and with less effort. Because IMS connects different networks (PLMN, PSTN, DSL, WiFi ( News - Alert), Cable, etc.), operators can provide services that operate over multiple networks and terminals in a seamless manner to better serve users based on their preferences and circumstances.

For example, IMS will be able to manage calls coming in to a wireline or IP phone from their mobile handset. The ubiquitous access to services enabled by IMS allows subscribers to use their selected service on their mobile phone, their TV, Skype ( News - Alert) terminal, or other preferred access device. Likewise, subscribers can use their “push to show” video service on their mobile phone, over WiFi on a PDA, over TV, or a PC.


IMS networks support powerful service enablers such as presence, location, community, and rich media. These enhance the communication experience in many ways. For example, subscribers may check the presence status of colleagues and then decide the best way to make contact. Not only does IMS enable new types of real-time personalized communication services, network capabilities enable operators to provide information, entertainment, shopping, education, and other services, satisfying more of their subscribers’ needs.

IMS architecture generates a horizontal services architecture, sharing of network resources, and providing more efficient resources usage and maintenance. The standards-based and open interface of IMS also greatly reduces operating costs and shortens time to market, while potentially reducing deployment costs through standards-based components procurement. IMS enables network owners to obtain additional network value, one that simultaneously supports multiple services.

With an IMS network the potential exists to offer new and exciting services to users, dramatically increasing average revenue per user IMS will revolutionize the world of value-added services by providing a wide range of applications that match the needs of all subscriber segments, encompass all aspects of their day-to-day lives, and enrich their quality of life.(ARPU). A range of new multimedia services will be available to users, yet the key is to not simply provide new services but to use personalization (e.g., using presence, location, and user profile data) to provide subscribers with right-sized services that match user needs and the context of each communication situation.

Right-sized communication can better meet subscribers’ social, entertainment, and information needs, enriching their quality of life. For example, presence information improves the socializing potential for a subscriber who looks for company when away from home. The subscriber can look at their mobile phone and see which friends or colleagues are available, and know whether it is best to contact them using silent text communication or if it is acceptable to call the individual and talk. Location information can also help meet subscribers’ socializing needs. For example, a subscriber who is downtown on business can see if any of their friends are in the area and set up an appointment to meet for dinner after a meeting.

The IMS operator can provide subscribers with more personalized and timely information, thus the provided services become an important factor in the user’s daily routine. For example, perhaps the network tracks that a subscriber enjoys sushi and the user is roaming in a different country, the user can receive notifications about nearby sushi restaurants. The real-time and personalized capabilities of IMS will also support new marketing channels, such as a subscriber that frequents a shoe store can receive a mobile coupon when within a specified radius of a local branch. By providing real-time promotions and marketing information, this opens up a new opportunity for carriers to extend partnerships with brands looking to reach a specific consumer demographic.
The operator is able to address more areas of the subscribers’ lifestyle with timely, relevant, right-sized services. The highly personalized services enable the operator to build relationships with each subscriber, increasing the subscriber’s dependence on — and loyalty to — the network. For subscribers, IMS provides increased convenience and usability, positively influencing their quality of life.

Implications for Rating, Charging, Billing
While network owners and end users may quickly understand the value of implementing an IMS platform, in order to gain a significant ROI, efficient billing processes must be in place. While end users will likely want to leverage new services supported by IMS, carriers must now consider how to bill for new real-time applications in order to generate the greatest amount of revenue.
IMS includes both on-line and off-line charging methods and mechanisms to give operators the greatest flexibility for their future billing needs. On-line billing enables services to be billed in real-time and can affect the services that are provided. With off-line billing, services are not affected by the charging information.

Not only does IMS allow operators to charge differently for different types of media (e.g., voice, text, pictures, video…), it also allows them to charge differently for the same type of media in different services. For example, video content in a Video on Demand service will cost more than video content in a message. Operators can also charge according to Quality of Service, or charge more for a video stream in a Push to Show session, than a video stream in a game.

While most billing models today include buckets of minutes or service baskets for flat monthly fees, IMS opens the door for usage-based billing and other competitive billing plans.

The standards for charging are still being further developed. IMS Rel-6 introduces common charging architecture, interfaces, and applications for all 3GPP charging. With all the IMS players’ interests at heart, the charging standards will surely evolve to support operator interests.

Operator Deployment Strategies
Most operators are investigating the IMS framework and dozens if not hundreds are running pilots, conducting lab trials, and benchmark testing. However operators are varying their approaches to deploying IMS. The main approaches include:

First to Market: These operators firmly believe in IMS and want to be first to offer new services and benefit from the cost-savings of IMS. Operators who have announced IMS purchases, plans, and customer trials include mmO2, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), Telia Sonera, France Telecom, Telefonica, Oi in Brazil, and Sprint. Services being deployed first include fixed-mobile convergence, video sharing, and PoC (push-to-talk over cellular).

Gradual Starts: These operators realize that IMS is the way of the future, but they are waiting for interoperability testing and standards to become more mature before starting to deploy. Operators that fall in this category include Vodafone Japan who announced they would begin deploying IMS in 2006.

Fence Sitters: Many operators are investigating IMS networks, but have set no time frame for deployment. They will wait for solutions that address all their concerns. Nevertheless, even these operators are showing interest and running lab tests.

A Step Towards the Future
IMS has clearly captivated the telecom world as a result of its ability to facilitate an expanded variety of powerful, ubiquitous, and cost-effective services.

IMS will revolutionize the world of value-added services by providing a wide range of applications that match the needs of all subscriber segments, encompass all aspects of their day-to-day lives, and enrich their quality of life.
For operators, IMS will provide an environment for fast and efficient service launches and enable increased revenues from services beyond communication and increased subscriber loyalty, as subscribers become progressively more dependent on their provider for personalized “right-sized” services.

To shorten return on investment it is crucial that operators begin planning IMS service deployments and IMS service enablers from the day they start planning their IMS network.

While there are still details and challenges remaining to be worked out and overcome, the IMS revolution seems to be well underway.

Daphna Steinmetz is associate vice president, Comverse Innovation Labs, in the Office of the CTO. For more information, please visit the company online at www.comverse.com.


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