At the heart of any IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS) deployment a simple goal: enhancing services. Everything else about IMS has to do with delivering the call. Yet, IMS’ service application layer remains the one with the least definition.

 

Until the service application layer is fully defined, IMS can’t deliver on its promise, namely to make it possible for any service to be delivered to any subscriber. This critical need for definition is the topic of an upcoming session at Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO East (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jan. 23-26, 2007), titled “Service Brokering.”

 

Among the presenters of the session, scheduled for 2:30-3:15 p.m. on January 25, is Ken Osowski, vice president of product development and marketing at broadband telephony solutions company Pactolus.

 

The session will provide an overview of the problem with IMS as it stands now—a definition that explains how the control and transport layers speak to each other, but not how the services layer interacts with them, or whether and how multiple services will reach off network subscribers.

 

The benefits and drawbacks of standardizing on a single IMS Service Delivery Platform will be discussed by contrasting that path with the risks and benefits of implementing multiple SDPs for individual applications.

 

Also discussed will be the topic of service brokering, which has the potential to add unmanageable complexity to IMS. But service brokering also could capably and scalably string together now non-interchangeable components. These different scenarios will be explored, along with the minimum network elements required for an IMS service delivery platform to work.

 

More information about IMS and broadband telephony can be found on Pactolus’ TMCnet.com channel, Broadband Telephony.