Join us September 10-12 in Los Angeles and experience our invaluable
conference sessions yourself!
If you think VoIP is powerful when you are sitting at your desk,
wait until you start using it in mobile locations such as WiFi hotspots.
Analysts say somewhere between 40-60% of all calls are made to check or leave
voicemail. When will the madness stop? When we have WiFi phones connected to our
PBXs that allow us to keep in touch with important callers as long as we are on our
corporate campus or just within a few hundred feet of the closest access point -- not
to mention Starbucks.If you think VoIP is powerful when you are sitting at your desk,
wait until you start using it in mobile locations such as WiFi hotspots. Analysts say
somewhere between 40-60% of all calls are made to check or leave voicemail.
When will the madness stop? When we have WiFi phones connected to our PBXs
that allow us to keep in touch with important callers as long as we are on our
corporate campus or just within a few hundred feet of the closest access point --
not to mention Starbucks.
Track: Mobile / Wireless IP (tp)
Fixed/Mobile Convergence Primer (FMC-01)
Monday - 09/10/07, 9:00-9:45am
One phone, one number that works anywhere and everywhere – that’s the main appeal of fixed mobile convergence (FMC). As the industry moves toward this trend, dual-mode phones are becoming a popular commodity. But looking beyond the benefits of FMC, companies face the challenge of adjusting business and IT support models to fit changing needs.
In this session, we’ll examine the technologies, implementations and impact of FMC and look at how the landscape will change in the coming years. Included will be a discussion of the factors now driving FMC, which technologies will continue to be important, which ones will fall by the wayside, and a look into the industry’s feelings and perceptions towards FMC.
Seamless Services Across Fixed & Mobile Networks (FMC-02)
Monday - 09/10/07, 10:00-10:45am
As Voice and Data services over IP start to dominate business and consumer communications, there is an accelerating demand to extend mobile services to IP devices such as PDAs, and PCs. Exciting — and “addictive” — applications that are available for mobile phones and portable PDAs are being extended to the PC and the desktop. To make the “Converged” experience truly seamless for the end-user, there must be appropriate user software, devices, and a high-bandwidth IP infrastructure to support these services. This session will identify the barriers that are being overcome to achieve seamless converged services and the likely market timeline over the next two years.
Presented by:
Matt Lukens Vice President and General Manager - Americas CIPC Comverse
WiFi/cellular convergence is set to deliver lucrative business opportunities to service providers in both developing and developed markets. New market entrants are arriving, competing against incumbent fixed-line and cable providers who in turn will challenge traditional mobile operators. Marketing innovation combined with the right business systems and tool-sets will enable service providers to quickly and efficiently deliver differentiated high-end service packages. To do this, service providers will need a convergent billing system. Incumbents and new entrants introducing fixed-mobile convergent services will require pricing and billing systems that offer inherent flexibility, reactivity, and the capabilities to rapidly tailor their new packages to keep ahead of the competition in this increasingly customer centric market. Attend this presentation to learn all about the benefits of selecting the right convergent billing system for fixed/mobile convergence.
We hear a lot about the advent of fixed/mobile convergence services from the enterprise or consumer side, specifically the benefits to the enterprise and how FMC stands to make enterprise communications more efficient for all. But what about the service providers? Where do they stand on this issue? And what steps are they taking to enable FMC services? Come to this session to learn all about what service providers think about offering FMC and how they think this will ultimately affect the market.
Presented by:
Rodrigue Ullens Co-Founder, CEO Voxbone
Michael Stanford (Moderator) Consultant Michael Stanford LLC
Clayton Foster Co-founder and VP of Product Management Sotto
The coexistence of fixed and mobile communications for residential and business users has created a new landscape for the next generation of VoIP and IP services. These new real-time services — voice, video, instant messaging (IM), multimedia conferencing and other presence-enabled business applications — must be deployed using a standard architecture, and the telecom industry is turning to IMS to define this architecture.
Both enterprises and remote users will benefit from an industry-wide transition to IMS because it enables the fully-secure deployment of real-time, converged services. However, this evolution to IMS cannot happen immediately. This session will explain how service providers are able to deliver advanced services such as FMC today while they intelligently evolve their infrastructures towards full IMS compliance and ready their networks for the future. Awareness of the phased approach to IMS will educate attendees on the key concepts that are driving the evolution of the industry.
Presented by:
Pete Russo Director of US Convergence Programs BT Americas
Ian Dent Vice President of Business Development Reef Point Systems
David H. Yedwab (Moderator) Partner Market Strategy & Analytics Partners
Andy Huckridge Director, NGN Solution Marketing Spirent Communications
Jose Acosta Vice President, Business Development Covergence
Richard Watson Director of Product Management DiVitas Networks
Guanglu Wang Director - Int'l mSwitch Product Management - Core Switching UTStarcom Inc.
It would be difficult to point to something that has generated as much hype as IMS. To uncover what is fact and what is fiction, certain questions must be raised — What is IMS really, what are the goals, what can you do with it and most importantly — where are the deployments? Changing over to IMS is not a simple task, neither when transitioning legacy networks nor when trying to transition an existing product line to function as if it has always been IMS-ready.
The reality is achieving IMS is not simply done just by adding an interface, component or anything else. IMS is also not achieved through the appearance of compliance. Rather, IMS is fundamental; the architecture must be open and distributed to begin with. Come to this session for a refresher of what IMS is, where we stand with regard to IMS and where we’re heading.
Presented by:
Ronan McLaughlin Director of IMS Portfolio Management Ericsson North America
Jay Jayasimha Chief Technical Officer Veraz Networks
Rick Hull Bell Labs Fellow and Director of Network Data and Services Research at Bell Labs Alcatel-Lucent
Michael Khalilian (Moderator) Chairman & President IMS Forum, NGN Forum
The technologists have spoken, and they have decided that now is the time to begin the migration to IMS. But what about the folks who hold the purse strings? Are they convinced? Is there a business case for IMS? Should IMS be viewed as strategic? Or tactical? Our expert speakers will be able to spell out the business case for IMS and attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of the business issues surrounding this explosive segment of communications.
Presented by:
Vijay Bhagavath Senior Strategist in the Office of the CTO Siemens Communications, Inc.
Ronald F. Gruia Principal Analyst, Emerging Telecom Frost & Sullivan
Ray Adensamer Senior Manager, Product Marketing RadiSys
IMS defines an IP–based service-centric creation and control framework that supports the rapid development of new multimedia services that are access agnostic. Web 2.0 has garnered significant interest and usage among users and developers. Leveraging some of the successful experiences of Web 2.0 can further enhance the adoption of IMS services.
This presentation will discuss how operators and developers can use Web 2.0 strategies and best practices to promote the development of rich converged IMS services that encompass messaging, media and mobility. Using examples from application domains such as unified communications, video portals and enhanced messaging, the discussion will reference IMS architectural functions such as SIP AS, SCIM, GUP Server and interfaces as well as supporting industry client frameworks.
Fixed Mobile Connectivity: Securing Today’s Wireless and Wireline Networks for a Converging World (IMS-04)
Tuesday - 09/11/07, 3:30-4:15pm
True IMS Fixed Mobile convergence (FMC) is becoming a reality, but the industry is still stretching to meet public expectations of anytime/anywhere services delivered with predictable quality of service. Supporting an exploding number of multimedia sessions, while also protecting the network core, assuring revenue, and guarding against theft of services – is the challenge operators grapple with today. Alternative access technologies are still in preliminary phases, and the obstacles are both financial and technological as companies explore methods to reduce complexity in their networks and capex/opex management. Mobile devices add new security requirements because opening the network core to an IP network exposes subscribers and mobile infrastructures to all of the standard IP world threats including viruses, DOS attacks and bandwidth hijacking.
The conflict over the most secure network setup boils down to division of labor: on one side – several devices at strategic locations within the network, and on the other side – a single, easily managed device at the network’s edge. This divide evolved into a rift between Session Border Controllers (SBCs) and Convergence Gateways, and both have advantages and disadvantages regarding scalability, security and reliability.
Is it possible to get the best of both worlds? This session will discuss the possibility of incorporating the functional elements of a security gateway, traffic shaper, session border controller, and mobile proxy server to optimize session routing, QoS, security and multimedia applications. It will discuss the best way to address the emerging challenges of Fixed Mobile connectivity that will be required as FMC applications develop along with more sophisticated and powerful handsets of the future.
Presented by:
Ian Dent Vice President of Business Development Reef Point Systems
IMS is an important emerging network architecture blueprint for service providers, but what value does IMS offer in the enterprise? What dynamics can lead an enterprise to embrace the IMS framework? This session will examine the benefits of IMS for an enterprise and explore the benefits that IMS can deliver to an enterprise, including the convergence of communications and IT business processes over a common infrastructure. It will explore how an IMS-architected platform for real-time conferencing and collaboration can dramatically simplify deployment and management, enabling customers to save IT resources and to achieve productivity and increased functionality, while also driving greater use through on-demand end-user services that easy to use. It will also cover how an IMS-architected conferencing and collaboration platform can lead to tighter integration and expanded flexibility for using these productivity-enhancing tools as part of a company’s core unified communications platform.
Presented by:
Ronald F. Gruia Principal Analyst, Emerging Telecom Frost & Sullivan
Joan Vandermate Vice President of Marketing, Network Systems Division Polycom
James Brennan Director of Product Management, Network Systems Division Polycom
The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a next generation networking architecture for telecom operators, which includes (among other components) a media gateway, a media resource function processor (MRFP), and a session border controller (SBC). Now, instead of using three different boxes to fulfill each of these requirements, developers can use building blocks and components to handle all three functions, enabling TEMs (Telecom Equipment Manufacturers) to build a single box to fulfill all of these IMS functions. The goal here is to lower the total cost of ownership and increase operators’ and service providers’ revenue by providing more services and functions that they in turn can offer their customers. The session will focus on development strategies to optimize IMS components and address integration opportunities with emerging platforms.
Presented by:
Ilan Weizman Product Marketing Manager Surf Communication Solutions
The proliferation of voice, video, data and wireless products on the market today speaks to an equally wide range of consumer desires. What defines a “killer app” varies from individual t individual. Thus, it can be said that the entire premise of the killer app is rooted in the personal. In that case, it makes sense to accept that the term “killer app” should be used in an all-encompassing manner, describing a platform that spawns personalized, killer apps for each individual rather than single applications that may or may not enjoy wide appeal. Or does it? Is it possible that there is a killer app in IMS? Come hear what the experts have to say on this subject and decide for yourself.
Presented by:
Rick Hull Bell Labs Fellow and Director of Network Data and Services Research at Bell Labs Alcatel-Lucent
The promise of IMS is that it offers a standard platform for the delivery of multiple services, which may require separate networks for fixed, mobile and data services. Some IMS-based applications, FMC for example, appear to be sure winners, with consumers signaling that the cost savings and productivity enhancements of FMC are significant enough to generate 100 million users within five years.
This raises the question of whether providers should build out a fully compliant IMS architecture before launching any new services, or whether they should take an incremental approach by deploying FMC first, and evolving to a full IMS deployment as the market proves ready and the business case becomes more clear. So it’s the perfect chicken and egg scenario. Come to this session to learn what the fuss is all about and find out what comes first: IMS or FMC?
Presented by:
Stephen J. Susina Senior Product Manager, Core Switching Products UTStarcom
Ray Adensamer Senior Manager, Product Marketing RadiSys
Designed originally to enable the rapid development and introduction of multi-media services by mobile operators, the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) standard has sparked a large amount of operator, vendor, and media interest. Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) is an access-layer technology that works within the 3GPP IMS framework to enable mobile handsets to leverage alternative IP-based access networks to reach core network services. In addition to service access, UMA manages the handover of active sessions between access networks, using the same proven mobility mechanisms used to manage handovers between cell towers in the macro network. That means UMA provides access not only to emerging IMS services, but also to all existing circuit- and packet-based services, which currently comprise the vast majority of mobile operator revenues.
This session will explore how UMA complements IMS in more depth. Topics of interest include:
• How the service/control layer, access layer, and device layers of IMS interwork
• How UMA enables access to and mobility of all mobile services
• The I-WLAN standard for mobile handsets and its relationship to UMA
• The evolution of UMA in IMS frameworks
Presented by:
Steve Shaw Associate Vice president of Marketing Kineto Wireless
IMS is a promising IP based architecture for the delivery of multimedia applications and the building block for fixed/mobile convergence services. But, operators and service providers are cautiously and slowly embracing IMS, due to the number of network elements needed to adhere perfectly to the IMS model, and the associated investment in new equipment. Most carriers are looking to leverage the value of their existing equipment and minimize CAPEX and OPEX. But, what can they do today? Fortunately, IMS is also designed to overlay existing TDM networks, with enough flexibility to accommodate equipment that doesn’t perfectly match the model. Right now, service providers can implement a SIP-based, IMS-like architecture using some IMS-compliant equipment yet still offer new services at lower cost and lower risk. The key is SIP-based services.
As competition heats up, service providers need to leverage as much efficiency as possible from their existing network as they continue the migration from voice-only TDM based services to multimedia VoIP services.
Presented by:
Jose Acosta Vice President, Business Development Covergence
TBA
Steve Northridge Chief Technology and Product Strategist Ulticom
As we move to a more standardized IMS environment, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that standardization will decrease the requirement to test. The thinking goes that once the standard is set, one would only need to conduct product testing to see if the equipment meets the standard. However, a standardized IMS environment will actually increase the testing imperative.
An IMS network is a distributed multi-vendor environment that will be delivering a converged, media-rich service offering. The need to conduct regular and continued interoperability testing will be paramount to ensuring both the successful deployment and support of the network, as well as the quality of experience (QoE) for the end users of the services that are being delivered. Come to this session to find out more.
Presented by:
Keith Cobler Marketing Manager, Network Management Tektronix
Will Brouwer IP Business Development Manager Agilent
Michael Khalilian (Moderator) Chairman & President IMS Forum, NGN Forum
With increasing cost and time to market demands on handset manufacturers, the promise of Linux for mobile VoIP is attractive. This talk will uncover the advantages and challenges of working with Linux compared to other alternatives. In addition, the session will look at the entire software stack relative to VoIP and offer case studies of companies who have successfully created pure VoIP or dual mode VoIP devices. The session will also discuss the paradigm shift VoIP introduces to the traditional wireless carrier. How can the industry adapt to capitalize on larger bandwidth and offer compelling applications that the end user will actually use? Or, is this a case of a ‘Giffen Good’ where a reduced cost to the end user for mobile services results in a lesser demand for those services?
Presented by:
David Rivas Chief Technology Officer a la Mobile, Inc.
Unified and Good to Go.. A Look at Mobility (UC-06)
Monday - 09/10/07, 2:30-3:15pm
Mobile Unified Communications (UC) extends the functionality of enterprise IP PBXs and related services such as Presence, IM, Corporate Directory and Conferencing to a variety of smart phones and dual-mode devices over WiFi/Cellular networks. This “enterprise communications everywhere” approach gives users the ability to tailor, control and manage calls, messages, and information from any location at any time. For enterprises and IP professionals, mobile UC optimizes business communication, saves money and increases productivity.
Increasingly, mobility means access to a wide range of applications that go beyond communications, to deliver insight and awareness into a business’ daily operations. Mobility means delivering the best business experience possible anytime, anywhere, across any network. This presentation will discuss the next-generation of mobility applications such as UC, asset tracking and logistics, supply chain management, sales force automation and point of sale/care, etc… and how they are helping organizations to improve productivity, increase revenue and provide an enhanced customer experience.
Presented by:
David Hattey President & CEO FirstHand Technologies
Wireless LANs have become pervasive amongst enterprises. The increasing availability of wireless voice clients and the emergence of dual-mode (wireless and cellular) smart phones, coupled with the improved productivity realized by enabling a mobile workforce, are moving WAN usage from convenience to mission-critical. Enterprises are beginning to recognize the many benefits of adding important applications like voice to their existing WLANs. However, they must first ensure that their wireless LAN infrastructure is truly ready to handle a mix of data and voice applications and their IT managers must understand the deployment challenges and the capabilities necessary solve them. This presentation will discuss the key requirements for delivering voice over an enterprise’s Wireless LAN and will help IT managers better understand and face the challenges involved in building and managing the next generation of converged wireless infrastructure.
Overcoming Broadband Wireless VoIP Challenges (WM-02)
Monday - 09/10/07, 10:00-10:45am
More than ever before broadband is getting unwired. From mesh networks, to hotspots and advances in 3G – more consumers are surfing, talking and staying connected over the air. WiFi networks in public, enterprise and home locations are growing at an unprecedented rate, opening a new and untapped delivery platform for VoIP. Broadband wireless presents a new opportunity for wireless VoIP that not only reduces telecommunications costs but also increases mobility. The speakers will address some of the challenges, such as QoS, scalability, and security as well as take a look at emerging strategies to create broadband wireless networks that are not only capable of supporting converged data services, but that can delivery secure, high-fidelity voice and multimedia data.
