Applications & the Next Generation Network

By Michael Khalilian

Apps play a huge role in network evolution and IP transformation. A new generation of apps has arrived thanks to the introduction of the iPhone and the increased demand for video applications on mobile networks.

At the CTIA show in March the NGN/IMS Forum announced its new Technical Working Group for Applications running on fixed and mobile broadband networks (e.g. 3G/4G/LTE, wireline and cable networks). This group will help accelerate the availability of IMS-based applications by providing additional tools and resources to foster the ecosystem of application developers, content creators, network operators, and telecommunications vendors (i.e. network equipment, handset, ICT, and original equipment manufacturers). This working group will play an integral role in our next plugfest.

Mobile handsets are becoming the platform on which a wide variety of applications can be run. Today’s mobile handsets are not only used for Web browsing and e-mail but, increasingly, are becoming sophisticated computing devices that run a wide variety of data applications such as social networking applications, applications to share user-generated content, multi-user games, and music and video streaming. Traditionally, each of these capabilities has been provided by siloed platforms. As mobile networks migrate to 4G/LTE, additional applications will be possible and end users will be looking for a common experience between their fixed and mobile broadband networks.

As carriers deploy IMS networks, applications can be enhanced to create new end user experiences by simultaneously blending voice, data, video and multimedia. This new generation of applications will be able to take advantage of elements of the IMS network, such as QoS and voice over LTE, to deliver end user experiences (e.g. multi-play: triple play, quadruple play, m-play) that are consistent across both fixed and mobile networks.

Because of the explosion of applications, this working group and our upcoming Plugfest 9 will concentrate efforts on application developers to help them better internetwork Web 2.0 applications with IMS networks and BSS/OSS systems (including billing, charging and security). These efforts will bring the same level of interoperability enabled by our plugfests from the realm of protocols, network architectures, hardware and devices to the software and applications space by including application programmable interfaces that expose network capabilities such as VoIP, group management, presence and instant messaging.

Our next IMS Plugfest and NGN Plugfest interoperability test event, which will focus on many of these topics as well as others, will be held in the fourth quarter of 2010 at the InterOperability Lab in Durham, N.H. Registration for this plugfest and working group is now open to any service providers, integrators and vendors that would like to participate (www.imsforum.org/Plugfest). For additional information please contact [email protected]

Michael Khalilian is chairman and president of the NGN Forum & IMS Forum (www.NGNForum.org / www.IMSForum.org).

NGN Magazine Table of Contents