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There has been a lot of talk about the IMS market – many conflicting messages, plus the usual techno hype. Critics are saying that one of the confusing elements of IMS is that it started off in the 3G environment. This environment is now threatened by wireless broadband and it looks as though IMS has become a band-aid solution to turn 3G networks into IP-based networks.
But IMS has moved beyond this and is rapidly becoming the de facto IP platform for the new NGNs. It started off in the mobile market, but the reality of 2005 is that it is being adopted in the fixed market, while implementation in the mobile market may still be a few years away.
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products to the markets. It is proving to be an excellent solution for connectivity across the various network domains, providing an excellent platform for the delivery of value-added services.
This, in its turn, fits nicely with the development new media centers, which are going to be the distribution platforms for the new converged services.
This has motivated companies such as BEA to develop new products to the IMS platform, such as SIP servers and network gatekeepers, which extend the reach of NGNs to external service providers, while the network control and management remains with of the network operator.
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At the heart of IMS is another widely supported standard – SIP (Session Initiating Protocol) – which provides real-time, peer-to-peer, multi-party and multimedia capabilities. There are already many SIP-enabled devices in the market.
Now solidly based on 3GPP, IMS is now the standard for the softswitches, and the industry is widely supporting this standard, with most manufacturers bringing IMS
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With most countries still considering the introduction of 3G, the industry is already developing 3¼G and beyond, with technologies such as HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access). Linking fixed and mobile together on IP Multimedia System (IMS) is another development, allowing for mobile TV and triple play models. Mobile will need to carve out its own unique markets next to wireless broadband. After that, it’s on to 4G!
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