The IMS/NGN Forum, an industry association dedicated to interoperability and certification of IP Multimedia Susbsystem (IMS) and Next Generation Network (NGN) applications and services, announced the completion of its fifth IMS Plugfest.

 

The Plugfests are the industry’s only comprehensive interoperability events covering IMS architectures and NGN services over wireless, wireline and cable broadband.

 

“We continue to evolve the Plugfests in response to emerging IMS technologies and industry advancements,” said Michael Khalilian, chairman and president of the IMS and NGN Forums. “Plugfest 5 introduced interoperability and certification of the user-to-network ‘Gm interface,’ the vital link between end-users and service providers.”

 

The Plugfest was held June 2-6 at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab in Durham. Plugfest 5 results will be announced and discussed by executives of the participating companies at two presentations to be held 10-11am and 11am-noon on Wed., June 18 at the NXTComm 2008 conference in the Las Vegas convention center at the Forum Theater.

 

In addition, IMS/NGN Forum Technical and Marketing working group meetings are planned for Wed., June 18, from 2-4 p.m. at the S208 conference room. The meeting is open to NXTcomm attendees who register via: [email protected]. IMS Forum speakers include member executives from Acision, Aricent, HP, Intel, IPgallery, Ixia (News - Alert), Mu Dynamics, NextPoint Networks, RADVISION, Tekelec, and Wipro Technologies.

 

Plugfest 5 extended the success of previous interoperability events to test policy decision function, load balancing/sharing, user authorization credentials, service profiles creation, multimedia messaging and charging/billing.

 

“Presenting IMS and NGN interoperability and certification event results at NXTcomm is one more way for the communications industry to accelerate innovation,” NXTcomm Executive Director Wayne Crawford said. “We’re honored to have a role in the fifth IMS Plugfest and look forward to seeing the end results of these efforts in the years to come.”

 

The IMS/NGN Forum will be providing IMS technology and marketing updates at NXTComm booth # SL6521; participants include Aricent, HP, Intel (News - Alert) and the IMS Plugfest team. The following IMS and NGN leading companies participated in Plugfest 5: Acision, Aricent, HP, Ixia, RADVISION, Radware, Sonus Networks, Starent Networks, Tekelec and Wipro Technologies. Event sponsors included Intel, Ixia, Informa (News - Alert), NXTcomm 2008 and IMS Magazine.

 

“Interoperable highly-reliable solutions are keys to the success of Wipro’s service provider, telco and other customers,” said Jinu Koshy, general manager, telecom service provider business, Wipro Technologies. “IMS Forum (News - Alert) Plugfests have been excellent venues for us to realize our key solution objectives. We are pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the Plugfest 5 – this time to test our IMS application frameworks targeted at IMS service delivery platforms.”

 

“IMS Forum Plugfest 5 provided Radware (News - Alert) the unprecedented opportunity to test the interoperability of our SIP Service Delivery Controller in a multi-vendor IMS-core ecosystem. Additionally, we met the Forum’s objective to evaluate a dynamic load balancing and high-availability solution,” stated Yossi Vardi, vice-president global business development, Radware.

 

The IMS/NGN Forum has launched two professional telecom online communities: the IMS/NGN Forum Technical Working Groups. The groups, open to the industry-at-large, comprise more than 1,800 members and are expanding rapidly to include leading service providers, network architects, developers, application and services innovation experts, system engineers, marketing, business development executives and representatives of standards and government organizations. For online registration or for more information, contact IMS Forum at [email protected].

 

The IMS/NGN Forum is a global telecommunications industry association devoted to M-Play, the interoperable IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Next Generation Network (NGN) service delivery architecture and solutions. The Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of IMS and NGN services and to enable enterprise and residential consumers to benefit fully from the delivery of multimedia mobile and fixed services over broadband cable, wireless, wireline, and fiber networks. Through organized Plugfests, technical working groups, and other activities, forum members are able to develop cost-effective technical frameworks for converged IP services over wireline, cable, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, femtocell and long-term evolution (LTE) broadband networks.