Europe UK : Increasing competition between fixed and mobile carriers in the European telecommunications market and the success of Internet telephony services such as Skype have increased the focus on Internet protocol (IP). In keeping with these trends and the need to address the requirements of end users, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) standards based on the third generation partnership project (3GPP) are gaining emphasis.

The deployment of IMS is likely to facilitate the offering of differentiated services and this will lead to a significant reduction in application costs and a surge in new opportunities, thereby increasing revenues. "IMS is a very exciting technology in the industry today, providing many different advantages and benefits", says Ms. Jennifer Fruehauf, Research Manager at Frost & Sullivan (
http://wireless.frost.com )

"At the same time, there are strong implications on carrier strategies, structures and market approaches, which must be taken into account when assessing the implementation of IMS technology."

Dividing the traditional core network infrastructure and separating the
application and transport layers makes the core network access-agnostic and offers interoperability to operators. IMS deployment also ensures the availability of session initiation protocol (SIP) stacks on a number of devices, particularly 3G devices. Additionally, IMS technology enables applications for general packet radio service (GPRS) devices. Hence, issues pertaining to device availability no longer pose an impediment to the introduction of new services in the telecommunications market.

IMS technology also provides an impressive platform and standard for implementing different IP-based applications such as push-to-talk (PTT), instant messaging and presence. Moreover, the high costs involved in developing new applications are reduced, as IMS deployment offers a single platform with complex interfaces and connections already present.

More application trials are expected to become viable as lower developmental costs significantly reduce the risk of failure. Furthermore, applications are likely to be developed for more specific end-user segments. Therefore operators will do well to enter into partnerships to better address the specific needs of these segments.

Despite the ease of developing new applications, which enable faster
time-to-market, operator structures must provide flexibility in aspects such as marketing and sales, to exploit the improved time-to-market advantage. Evaluating new access technologies such as worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) in its various forms and digital video broadcasting (DVB-H) or broadcasting for mobile handsets will provide additional opportunities to deliver services.

"While IMS technology contributes to application development and promises to move away from a 'siloed' approach, in the short term, it will require an additional silo that must be managed and supported", remarks Ms. Fruehauf. "Moreover, the need to work with the existing circuit-switched infrastructure will also lead to additional expenses and hence, the degree of cost efficiency of the IMS technology cannot be accurately ascertained."

PTT services drive voice usage and can be suitable to vertical markets such as construction, education and healthcare. Clearly, IMS is the only PTT industry standard and European operators are likely to leverage IMS architecture to launch PTT services.

On the other hand, some operators have launched PTT services on proprietary technologies from the likes of Nokia and Kodiak, in a bid to overcome the present uncertainty that is associated with IMS technology. In the short term, non-IMS PTT implementations will succeed in attracting early adopters as IMS PTT services are still pending. However, since IMS PTT will be a standardised service, many suppliers of the push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) infrastructure have developed migration paths to enable interoperability with IMS infrastructure and devices.

IMS technology will also enable the application of presence, which essentially shows the availability of contacts in one's address book. Providing combinational services where various simultaneous sessions may be initiated using different media can enhance the value of sessions and create opportunities for higher revenues from subscribers. "However, voice is and will continue to remain the major telecommunications application in the foreseeable future", affirms Ms. Fruehauf.

Undoubtedly, the deployment of IMS will have fundamental implications at the financial, strategic, technical and marketing levels. Within Europe and beyond, operators are engaged in trials of IMS technology. Despite some issues about the future of this technology, IMS deployment will be widespread, as an in-house solution by medium and large operators or as a managed solution by smaller operators.