NGN IP Convergence is once again breaking out everywhere. We now have convergence of applications, content and services. Applications are downloaded onto user devices or service models are deployed where the user device only requires a browser. These processes place huge burdens on networks as many of us have seen with the introduction of the iPhone.

LTE may alleviate the problem but it is a Long-Term Evolution and the growth of smart devices is rapid. There is a need to know what performance is being delivered by networks and what extra capacity needs to be installed in order to provide a satisfactory user experience. We need to test and benchmark the performance and quality of experience of a vast array of applications over the new networks, so we can see where we are today and what remains to be done to ensure continued consumer enthusiasm for these exciting Apps.

Convergence moves the network infrastructure towards commodity equipment and lower cost network provisioning. IP is the way to converge wireless as well as wireline networks. IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks are playing a part in ensuring security and quality of service. IP Multimedia Subsystem enables Voice over IP, Instant Messaging and presence (a subscription / notification mechanism to provide information to a select group of users in real-time). IMS is also deployed to provide Rich Communications Services (RCS) to enable users to share contents, chat using audio and video, and to be notified if their contacts are available (presence).

So in addition to needing faster networks to pass more data rapidly, we also need tighter security mechanisms, more flexible billing management and protection against unauthorized network use. These enhanced mechanisms also require comprehensive testing. This article continues in more detailed in our Technical Working Group Update Section Below.

Many of these LTE and pre-LTE scenarios and more will be addressed at the upcoming NGN Forum Plugfest 9 to be held this Fall. The NGN Forum Plugfest 9 (www.NGNForum.org/Plugfest_9) is the leading event for testing and verifying interoperability today. This event will be attended by all the leading infrastructure vendors. We are currently working on the test plan for our next IMS and NGN Plugfests. interoperability test events, which will test out many of these business models along with others. Registration for this Plugfest and Working Groups is now open to any service providers, integrators, vendors, apps developers, utility companies and governmental agencies who would like to participate and provide their input into the final test plan (www.IMSforum.org/Plugfest_9). For additional information please contact Admin@NGNforum.org.

Regards,

Michael Khalilian
President
NGN Forum

==============================

Gartner Says Android to Become No. 2 Worldwide Mobile Operating System and Challenge Symbian for No. 1 Position by 2014

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1434613

The worldwide mobile operating system (OS) market will be dominated by Symbian and Android, as the two OSs will account for 59.8 percent of mobile OS sales by 2014, according to Gartner, Inc.

Symbian will remain at the top of Gartner's worldwide OS ranking due to Nokia's volume and the push into more mass market price points. However, by the end of the forecast period, the No. 1 spot will be contested with Android, which will be at a very similar share level.

"The worldwide mobile OS market is dominated by four players: Symbian, Android, Research In Motion and iOS," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Launches of updated operating systems . such as Apple iOS 4, BlackBerry OS 6, Symbian 3 and Symbian 4, and Windows Phone 7 . will help maintain strong growth in smartphones in 2011 and spur innovation. However, we believe that market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers and strong brand awareness with consumer and enterprise customers."

Forecast: Mobile Communications Device Open OS Sales to End Users by OS (Thousands of Units)

Source: Gartner

"CSPs and mobile device manufacturers alike will need to revisit their platform strategies and balance the need to pursue platforms with the highest current demand against the need to maintain differentiation with unique devices," Ms. Cozza said. "CSPs will likely reduce the number of platforms they offer, to reduce their support costs and clarify their propositions to market."

Gartner predicts that by 2014, open-source platforms will continue to dominate more than 60 percent of the market for smartphones. Single-source platforms, such as Apple's iOS and Research In Motion's OS, will increase in unit terms, but their growth rate will be below market average and not enough to sustain share increase. Windows Phone will be relegated to sixth place behind MeeGo in Gartner's worldwide OS ranking by 2014.

Additional information is available in the report "Forecast: Mobile Communications Devices by Open Operating System" which is available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1428830.

Q & A with Richard Jobson, President, Teraquant

Teraquant is a systems integrator, exclusively focused on test and monitoring solutions. We work with engineering-based test technology companies and bring those solutions to market. For IMS, we mostly develop business and solutions for IPTEGO GmbH.s Service Assurance software for operational VoIP and IMS network Service Assurance and for Nexus Telecom for IMS and wireless lab test systems.IPTEGO has an interesting history having been involved with the original SIP and IMS research from day one. The IPTEGO team was involved in developing the very popular SIP softswitch SER and they helped Tier1 telcos with their first SIP deployments with regard to scalability, high availability and accounting. Later when SIP had been deployed virtually in every operator's network and IMS became more and more popular we began to help our customers optimize their Return on Investment in both SIP and IMS. Leveraging our multi-year experience in SIP & SS7 networks, we present a unique real-time monitoring product that takes operators to the next level in delivering a great Customer Experience and in lowering Cost of Operations.

What IMS and NGN services and products does your company offer and what are some of the key differentiators for your company in this market?

Based on the Nexus telecom 8610 test platform, Teraquant provides high-end load test systems, capable of really stressing high-capacity SoftSwitch/CSCF/B/MGCF/MRFC  IMS infrastructure. From IPTEGO, we provide real-time Service Assurance for IMS operators. The most popular applications to date are Customer Experience Management and Network Operations and Customer Care. Fraud prevention in the recent past has also become an important application and we see it's importance for growth in the years to come. 

IPTEGO's solution is unique in terms of the actual End-To-End view it provides. It shows business relevant information at a glance. Even people in operations who have much more experience in TDM networks than they have in IMS are able to finish tasks in minutes with this solution which before took them literally hours to complete. The Product also makes it very simple for Customer Service Agents to solve problems independently without resorting to protocol specialists.

Teraquant's unique contribution is to seamlessly integrate a number of software solutions with hardware scaled for the job and to guarantee that it all works in your network. We work with customers on interoperability and implementation issues to ensure the test and monitoring solution makes visible all the information they need

How do the IMS Forum's Plugfests benefit your company and its customers?

When it comes to generating calls or sessions with the Nexus 8610 load tester, the IMS Plugfests are very useful in seeing how our test systems interoperate with the major infrastructure vendors out there. With regard to our monitoring systems, we.re not so involved in the exchange of messages across the network. We automatically highlight and make visible all interactions between the network equipment. In other words we assist with this very important role of the Plugfest by helping to isolate problems during the event.

How does a verification and certification process aid in the development of IMS interoperability/standards?

Verification gives confidence that standards are robust and workable. Verification of interoperability gives service providers confidence that they can deploy best in class solutions from multiple different vendors at a competitive price. IMS networks may be capable of setting up sessions and calls and providing new rich content-based services and applications. But only a Certification Program will prove that the network is actually authenticating users correctly. So a Certification program would have high-value in proving that IMS standards are being adhered to and that the security IMS promises is actually being delivered.

Who are some of your customers and what IMS services are they deploying?

Vodafone, T-Mobile and KPN are providing a variety of services based on IMS networks and their number of subscribers is continuously growing.

What are some areas of IMS where you have found challenges for operators?

Operations and Customer Care. What appears rather straight forward to operate often times turns out to be very complex and hard to handle in a production environment. The lack of standards for IPTV and VoD and the lack of value-added service beyond traditional voice calls is an issue for operators. It makes reasonable ROIs based on IMS platforms difficult to achieve.

Are there any other critical benchmarks that need to take place in this IMS NGN evolution?

There is no way to actually compare the level of quality provided by two networks of different operators or even from the same operator. Even when looking at a single network, it is hardly possible to tell the actual quality provided by the network to its subscribers. A number of KPIs have been defined, none of which actually tells a lot about the Customers' Experience. Often operators focus a lot on voice quality, underestimating the importance of the overall performance.

We are listening to the debate on "network neutrality" and trying not to get involved. But that debate does have an impact on the quality of the service provided to the end-user.

What are some of the key factors for NGN/IMS success in the industry?

Standards for basic services, particularly for IPTV and VoD are very important. New ideas for value added services over and above traditional TDM service offerings and the ability to assist service providers with their security issues are also key. Toll fraud is the most urgent of many security concerns today.

To have your company considered for a profile in the Q & A section of this newsletter send an email to pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN Forum IMS Forum Technical Working Groups Update

NGN Forum Calendar of Events

See the NGN/IMS Forum at the following 2011 events:

• June 6-8: FTTx and Next Generation Access, Berlin
• June 14-16: The Cable Show, Chicago, IL
• June 15-17, 2011: BOSS, Washington, DC
• Sept. 13-15, 2011: Internet Telephony Expo. 4GWE, Austin  
• October 2-5, 2011: Comptel, Orlando
• October 11-13, 2011: CTIA Enterprise & Applications, San Diego    
• October 24-27, 2011: 4G World, Chicago
• November 8-9, 2011: LTE World, Dallas
• November 8-10, 2011: Management World Americas 2011, Orlando
• Feb. 14-17, 2011: Mobile World Congress, Barcelona

Smart Grid Shows:

• June 15-16, 2011: West Coast Energy Management Conf., Long Beach
• Sept. 25-28, 2011: GRIDWEEK, Washington, DC
• November 8-10, 2011: Gridwise Global Forum, Washington, DC
• November 15-16, 2011: APPA Smart Grid Summit, Austin, TX
• November 30 . Dec. 2, 2011: Grid-Interop, Chicago
• December 12-15, 2011: POWER-GEN, Las Vegas, NV
• December 24-26, 2011: Utility Products Conference and Exposition, San Antonio, TX

Showcase Your Expertise and Leadership: Call for Speakers

The NGN Forum and IMS Forum invite members to join its exclusive Speakers’ Bureau. Member companies have an excellent opportunity to market their companies and senior executives while representing the Forum at future trade shows and conferences. Simply contact us with a copy of the proposed speaker’s bio and indicate any specific NGN and IMS-related speaking topics and expertise. Speaking topic abstracts of one or two paragraphs are especially helpful. Please send to: pr@ngnforum.org

1Q 2011 • info@IMSForum.org • www.NGNForum.org • www.IMSForum.org

Dear NGN IMS Forum Members and Colleagues,

The NGN IMS Forum recently launched its new Smart Energy & Smart Grid Forum, which focuses on two main areas: next-generation communications and NGN energy applications. The Forum.s Next Generation Communications group will continue to focus on the areas of IMS, SDP, 4G, VoIP, RCS/RMS, IP video, IP billing, IP security and interoperability/plugfests.

Our new Smart Energy Forum will focus on NGN energy applications and delivery systems such as smart grid, renewable energy, security, billing and integration for NGN revenue generating apps.

A number of major telecom operators and vendors are driving the initiative to expand into the growing energy management field and apps delivery.

Telecom & Smart Grid
Utilities traditionally have developed their own networks and communication systems. However, with the NGN smart energy products and systems required to integrate with smart grids, utility companies are looking toward telecommunications industry partnerships with apps, technology development and OSS/BSS as well as to manage consumer demand.

Smart grid technologies help improve power reliability through smart devices and applications that adapt in real-time to consumer demand and environmental conditions. Governments are promoting this sophisticated electricity network as a way to address energy independence, global warming, and emergency resilience issues.

Smart grids also will require a higher level of security because they link large and small utilities. In addition, utility companies are interested in securing their individual customer product data to include advanced IP addressing such as IPv6.

Where are the smart grid telecommunication opportunities (technology design, engineering and development)?

Home networking apps and management, which will be one of the forum.s focus areas, is one of the biggest markets for smart grid. Some chip makers already have started to install smart grid .smart chips. in products such as appliances globally.

Some immediate challenges around smart grid implementation strategies include developing interoperability standards and protocols.

Smart Grid Apps Market Outlook

According to Smart Grid News, the U.S. smart grid industry is valued at about $21.4 billion . by 2014, it is projected to exceed $42.8 billion. Given the success of the smart grids in the U.S., the world market is expected to grow at a faster rate, surging from $69.3 billion to $171.4 billion by 2014.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocate billions for energy projects, including $4.5 billion to modernize the electric grid. In addition, other major government initiatives that will increase telecom-related funding include $7.2 billion in broadband deployment grants administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utility Service.

Telecommunications operators and vendors are recognizing that the commercial potential for these new NGN and NGC apps will be a growing and lucrative market.

The NGN Forum will be launching the Smart Energy/Smart Grid apps group this quarter. We welcome the telecom and utility industries to become more involved in helping us move the bar for NGN IMS and smart energy services deployment. NGN

Regards,

Michael Khalilian
President
NGN Forum and IMS Forum

==============================

Market Research Corner

According to In-Stat report, The US Market for Over-the-Top Video Services:

• US broadband households that view OTT video will grow from 38 million in 2009 to 81 million by 2014. Revenue from OTT video will more than quadruple by 2014 as it approaches $20 billion (.15.9 billion)
• A primary success criteria for OTT video services is access to unique, first-run TV and movie content
• Over 1/3 of the 18.24 year old adult households stream full-length OTT video on a regular basis, compared to less than 10% of adult households in the over 45 year-old age brackets

In the U.S. alone, Pyramid Research estimates that revenue from mobile video services will reach $16 billion by 2014. However, much of the demand will come from Europe and Asia/Pacific. According to this recent report by Pyramid Research (See chart below):

• The number of global mobile video subscriptions will grow to 534 million in 2014, reaching a penetration rate of 8.5% of total mobile subscriptions, up from the current 2.5% level
• In the U.S. alone, Pyramid estimates that revenue from mobile video services will reach $16 billion by 2014. However, much of the demand will come from Europe and Asia/Pacific
• Asia-Pacific will be a crucial component of the mobile video opportunity - Already markets such as Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea lead in terms of mobile video subscriptions penetration, but important uptake in India in the next five years is also expected

According to ABI Research.s latest, Mobile Video Services Report:

• Revenue from mobile video services is expected to top $2 billion worldwide in 2013 for video telephony, video messaging, video sharing, video-on-demand, VoD downloads, and .other. video services
• Video services revenue only amounts to about $121 million this year but growth curve is very steep & will only continue to accelerate through the end of our forecast period in 2015.
• Video sharing will be a small portion of this revenue while video telephony, video messaging and video-on-demand will account for the lion.s share
• Consumers. appetite for mobile infotainment, sparked by the availability of 3G networks, is a main driver.

NGN Forum Q & A

Q & A with Ray Greenan, Global Marketing Manager, Telecommunications, Symantec

Please provide us with some brief background on your company

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help our customers from consumers and small businesses to the largest global organizations secure and manage their information against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently than any other company. Our Company's unique focus is to eliminate risks to information, technology and processes independent of the device, platform, interaction or location.

Symantec is committed to delivering global solutions that meet local needs. To do that, we have operations in more than 40 countries, including research and development facilities and 24x7 Security Operations Centers and Security Response Labs located around the world. Symantec has established some of the most comprehensive sources of Internet threat data in the world through the Symantec Global Intelligence Network. This network captures worldwide security intelligence data that gives Symantec analyst's unparalleled sources of data to identify and analyze, to deliver protection and provide informed commentary on emerging trends in attacks, malicious code activity, phishing, and spam.

What impending NGN related issues do you see for the carriers?

The growth of mobile data usage and device sophistication brings with it a threat of exploitation against network resources, operator revenue, and subscriber trust. By approaching mobile security as a business opportunity, mobile operators have the ability to reduce costs while building subscriber satisfaction.

A consistent policy-based view of user behavior across all services such as SMS, MMS, Email and Web allows mobile operators to identify new exploits whether these are mobile viruses, denial of service , spam or fraudulent phishing attacks; and respond to protect network assets, subscriber privacy and subscriber credit.

Similarly, parents and enterprises want to ensure correct and controlled mobile usage, with the capability to set and manage their own acceptable use policies. By offering this flexibility an operator can respond to different societal responses to age-sensitive content; allow parents to make their own decisions about a child's safe use of mobile phones, and provide enterprises with visibility and control across different employee roles.

What IMS and NGN solutions and products does Symantec offer and what are some of the key differentiators for your company in this market?

Symantec's Next Generation Network Protection allows operators to understand and respond to the specific interests of an individual subscriber in response to their dynamic behavior, across all bearers. This allows operators to grow messaging revenues, maximise advertising revenue, drive response rates and maintain the reputation of their brands.

Symantec Next Generation Network Benefits:

• Achieving legislative compliance for content delivery or preventing the imposition of new regulation
• Enabling new revenue generation through premium services
• Improving customer acqusition and retention through service profiling and content targeting
• Driving increased corporate usage and adoption of mobile data services
• Resisting the unsolicited message contamination of wholesale content services
• Protecting core network assets against service impacting security incidents
• Promoting child protection and safe mobile usage within the brand
• Avoiding damaging media publicity

How does NGN Forums leadership benefit your company and its customers

By having a broad based community of vendors, carriers and solution providers sharing industry insight and requirements we are able to bring solutions that communication service providers need to market more quickly. We are also able to lend our own unique insights about security and trusted communications to guide others. The end result is a more vibrant market overall for everyone while providing end usres of communication provider service a better over all experience

To have your company considered for a profile in the Q & A section of this newsletter send an email to pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN Forum IMS Forum Technical Working Groups Update

The NGN IMS Forum has just completed its Business Models for the Development of Applications Over Broadband IP Networks Working Group document in the fourth quarter of 2010. This paper will develop new business models and use cases for applications running over IMS, 3G and 4G networks.

With data still accounting for only a fraction of carriers' revenue, and standard voice minutes all but commoditized, carriers are looking for new sources of revenue (e.g. adding new voice features, and multimedia applications developed by 3^rd party developers). This paper looks at how to open up networks to support innovative business models (including IMS, 4G LTE, 4G Wimax, Security, Service Delivery Platform, Cloud and Smart Grid technologies) that can be integrated with the 'all-IP' business model.

Topics to be covered in this document include:

• Business Models for Operators
  • The Freemium Business Model
  • The two-sided telecoms business model
  • Over The Top (OTT) business model
  • Pay-as-you-go business model
  • Low-cost carrier business model
  • Razors and blades business model (Loss Leader)
• Challenges for operators
• Conclusions
• NGN Applications

We are now soliciting input on IMS Business Models and on applications Use Cases for this document. An example of the type of use case we are looking for is enclosed below:

Basic VoIP (Managed)

Over the top (OTT) voice services are un-managed. For example, Google or Skype VoIP services offer only a minimal email support, based on Q&A and user community self-support. While billing is present with the services, there is practically no mechanism to redress a billing error or to correct for a call dropped or a call of poor quality. In contrast a VoIP Managed service provides a number of distinctive characteristics:

• Voice quality is monitored. While not actively managed (i.e. there is no guaranty of service), voice quality information is available and stored by the operator for analysis and customer service purposes. For instance, based on a customer complain, an operator can provide a refund
• Voice quality can be preset by the user. In this case, the user can choose not to complete a call in case of known network congestion, or to get real-time feedback on the call quality. For example, calls can have a high quality audio path between the caller and the callee and low quality audio on the reverse. In that case, the caller can get feedback, such as beep tone, telling that the other party hears a low quality call.
• Voice quality can be guaranteed by the service provider. In that case, there is an underlining assumption that policy control is active in the operator network and as a result the call is actively managed by the service provider

NGN Applications to be covered include the following:

• Basic VoIP (Managed)
• HD VoIP
• Personal Voice with multimedia content
• Social Voice with multimedia (OTT provided services)
• Personal and Social Voice with multimedia (network provided services)
• Personal video with multimedia
• Social video with multimedia content
• Applications over wireless broadband networks
• Applications over High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA)
• Application Challenge: Unpredictable Success

Please email your questions and contributions to the PR@ngnforum.org. If accepted, they will be featured prominently in this document. Also, please indicate if you want to attribute the contribution to you personally, your company or if you want to make an anonymous contribution.

We encourage NGN telecom operators and vendors to become more involved in helping us move the bar for new IP applications. For additional information and to participate contact us at info@ngnforum.org or visit the IMS website at www.IMSForum.org

Our next IMS Plugfest. and NGN Plugfest. interoperability test event, which will focus on many of these topics and others, will be held in the first quarter of 2011 at the InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL) in Durham, NH. Registration for this Plugfest and Working Group is now open for any service providers, integrators and vendors who would like to participate (www.imsforum.org/Plugfest). For additional information please contact admin@ngnforum.org

NGN Forum Calendar of Events

See the NGN/IMS Forum at the following 2011 events:

• February 2-4: Internet Telephony Conpoference & Ex, Miami
• February 2-4: 4G Wireless Evolution, Miami
• February 14-17: Mobile World congress, Barcelona
• March 20-23: COMPTEL, Las Vegas
• March 22-24: CTIA Wireless Spring, Orlando, FL
• March 28-30: Mobile Broadband Asia, Singapore
• April 9-14: NAB Show, Las Vegas
• May 23-26: Management World 2011, Dublin, Ireland
• June 6-8: FTTx and Next Generation Access, Berlin
• June 14-16: The Cable Show, Chicago, IL

Showcase Your Expertise and Leadership: Call for Speakers

The NGN Forum and IMS Forum invite members to join its exclusive Speakers’ Bureau. Member companies have an excellent opportunity to market their companies and senior executives while representing the Forum at future trade shows and conferences. Simply contact us with a copy of the proposed speaker’s bio and indicate any specific NGN and IMS-related speaking topics and expertise. Speaking topic abstracts of one or two paragraphs are especially helpful. Please send to: pr@ngnforum.org

NGN/IMS Forum in the News

The following highlights some recent press coverage of the NGN/IMS Forum:

Recent NGN/IMS Forum Press Releases

Why Join the NGN Forum or IMS Forum?

The NGN/IMS Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of NGN and IMS applications and services, enabling enterprise and residential consumers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, Internet and mobile services over broadband via cable, mobile and fixed networks.

NGN/IMS applications and services comprise residential VoIP, entertainment including IPTV and gaming, IP Centrex / IP PBX and unified communications for business including fixed-mobile converged services, videoconferencing and web-collaboration. NGN and IMS networks include DSL, Cable, GSM, UMTS, Wi-Fi and WiMAX implementations.

The NGN/IMS Forum Plugfests, typically held every 3 to 4 months, bring together dozens of industry-leading NGN and IMS vendors from around the world, all of whom build real, full-featured, NGN and IMS networks during the test event.

If you are interested in joining the NGN/IMS Forum, Plugfests or in participating in any of the working groups or marketing programs, please contact the NGN/IMS Forum.

All are invited to participate in the industry's first open NGN/IMS Community where Forum members, those involved in various NGN and IMS working groups, the IMS Linkedin group, our industry and colleagues around the world can participate in active, mutually beneficial discussions. Take a moment to register now.

Our members are shaping the future of the NGN and IMS. Joining the NGN/IMS Forum enables members to:

• Verify and certify interoperability, reduce costs and accelerate time to market
• Participate in technical working groups focusing on service creation and applications for NGN/IMS architecture, framework and deployment issues
• Gain additional visibility through the NGN/IMS Forum's Speakers Bureau, public relations and marketing programs
• Showcase member companies at major telecom, cable, and wireless events in North America, Asia, and Europe
• Receive current market and technology information through newsletters, reports, white papers and conferences
• Gain access to an informed professional network of industry consultants and accredited experts

Have a request? We welcome your feedback on this newsletter.
Press Contact: pr@ngnforum.org

3Q 2010 • info@IMSForum.org • www.NGNForum.org • www.IMSForum.org

Dear NGN IMS Forum Members and Colleagues,

Apps. play a huge role in network evolution and IP transformation. A new generation of Apps has arrived thanks to the introduction of the iPhone and the increased demand for video applications on mobile networks.

At the CTIA show in March the NGN/IMS Forum™ announced its new Technical Working Group for Applications running on fixed and mobile broadband networks (e.g. 3G/4G/LTE, wireline and cable networks). This Technical Working Group (TWG) will help accelerate the availability of IMS-based applications by providing additional tools and resources to foster the ecosystem of application developers, content creators, network operators, and telecommunications vendors (i.e. network equipment, handset, ICT, and original equipment manufacturers). This working group will play an integral role in our next Plugfest.

Mobile handsets are becoming the platform on which a wide variety of applications can be run. Today’s mobile handsets are not only used for web browsing and email but, increasingly, are becoming sophisticated computing devices that run a wide variety of data applications such as social networking applications, applications to share user-generated content, multi-user games, and music and video streaming. Traditionally, each of these capabilities has been provided by siloed platforms. As mobile networks migrate to 4G/LTE, additional applications will be possible and end users will be looking for a common experience between their fixed and mobile broadband networks.

As carriers deploy IMS networks, applications can be enhanced to create new end user experiences by simultaneously blending voice, data, video and multimedia. This new generation of applications will be able to take advantage of elements of the IMS network, such as QoS and Voice-over LTE (VoLTE), to deliver end-user experiences (e.g. Multi-play: Triple Play, Quadruple Play, M-Play) that are consistent across both fixed and mobile networks.

Because of the explosion of applications, this Working Group and our upcoming Plugfest 9 will concentrate its efforts on application developers to help them better internetwork web 2.0 applications with IMS networks and BSS/OSS systems (including billing, charging and security). These efforts will bring the same level of interoperability enabled by our Plugfests from the realm of protocols, network architectures, hardware and devices to the software and applications space by including Application Programmable Interfaces (APIs) that expose network capabilities such as VoIP, group management, presence and instant messaging.

Our next IMS Plugfest™ and NGN Plugfest™ interoperability test event, which will focus on many of these topics and others, will be held in the fourth quarter of 2010 at the InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL) in Durham, NH. Registration for this Plugfest and Working Group is now open for any service providers, integrators and vendors who would like to participate (www.imsforum.org/Plugfest). For additional information please contact admin@ngnforum.org

Regards,

Michael Khalilian
President
NGN Forum and IMS Forum

Market Research Corner

New Estimate Sees Mobile App Revenue Reaching $11 Billion in 2014

Smartphone users are downloading increasing numbers of apps, and more of the apps they download come at a price. The result is a supercharged mobile app gold rush that's shattering Yankee Group's previous revenue estimates and reaching a whopping $11 billion by 2014.

In their report, "The Mobile App Gold Rush Speeds Up," Yankee Group sees several factors--increased smartphone shipments, more app stores and more expensive apps--combining to nearly double forecasted mobile app revenue, from $537 million to $1.6 billion in 2010 alone.

While most app developers and store owners will garner a share of the riches, users of Apple's iPhone and AT&T's network download the most apps and generate the most revenue. "Apple's innovative one-click technology and AT&T's exclusive deal for the iPhone put them ahead for now," says Carl Howe, director at Yankee Group and author of the report. "But strong results from T-Mobile suggest that Android will be the next breakout smartphone app platform."

Key findings of the report include:

• Paid apps are on the rise. Nearly a third of all apps downloaded today are purchased, compared with just 18 percent a year ago.
• Average price per app is up. The overall average paid app costs $2.85, up from $1.99 a year ago.
• AT&T and iPhone users download the most. Apple iPhone users download 60 apps per year, three times the average, while AT&T users download 27 apps annually, or 42 percent more than average.
• T-Mobile and Android are a close second. T-Mobile, the closest thing to an Android pure play, comes in second for all carriers, with its users downloading more than 18 apps per year on average.
• Verizon has the most paid apps. Two-thirds of apps downloaded by Verizon users are paid, the most of any carrier.

New Announcements in the Marketplace
           
BT offers IP telephony service in U.S.
Network World, 7/6/10
On the same day Verizon announced it was planning to launch a hosted unified communications and collaboration service based on Cisco's solution, BT also announced plans to extend its hosted IP telephony service to business customers in the United States. The BT service, initially launched in the UK in December 2009, also allows businesses to bring converged services to the desktop using BT and Cisco's cloud computing-based technologies.

Cisco to pay up to $112 million in Power-over-Ethernet patent case

Foundry, Extreme, Enterasys, 3Com also settle with patent acquirer in PoE case
By Jim Duffy, Network World
July 19, 2010 03:30 PM ET
Network-1 Security Solutions, an acquirer and licensor of intellectual property, says it has settled its Power-over-Ethernet    patent infringement case against Cisco and five other companies. The litigation was initiated in February 2008 by Network-1 against Cisco and its Linksys division, Foundry Networks (now Brocade), Extreme Networks, Enterasys, 3Com (now HP), Adtran and Netgear. At issue was alleged infringement of Network-1's Remote Power Patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,218,930. Read More.

Mu Studio enables customers to quickly automate testing of any IMS deployment scenario, no matter how complex, even at scale.
Mu Dynamics held a complimentary webinar on July 29th at 10am PDT.

Each IMS deployment scenario is unique; service offerings are highly personalized, the number of protocols involved is huge, with many proprietary extensions, and the number of end user devices continues to expand. As providers aim to deliver value-added applications on their IMS infrastructures such as revenue-critical services (like voice), carriers are faced with a challenging test situation. Today’s test tools tend to be based on specifications, but all the interesting services are highly customized. Test tools based on standards are less relevant over time, and waiting for test equipment vendors to deliver test content means delays in rolling out new services. As a result, testing for interoperability, resilience and scale in an IMS deployment is a labor-intensive, expensive and, above all, time-consuming process – time that carriers and their vendors do not have if they want to compete in today’s fast-paced market.

Mu’s unique approach to testing replicates complete service functionality by accurately emulating new devices and flows based on real network traffic. Mu Studio uses actual service interactions to test IMS services, using its patent-pending Active Service Replication (ASR) technology. It automatically transforms complex multi-host, multi-layer service interactions, taken from live traffic captures, into test scenarios. This approach is ideal for testing complex deployment scenarios such as those within IMS.

Mu Studio has built-in protocol intelligence for key IMS protocols like H.248, HTTP, SIP and Diameter, as well as the ability to model multi-protocol and multi-host scenarios. For the first time, your tests can intelligently interact with applications exactly as an actual system would, providing unprecedented depth and breadth of coverage.

Mu hosted this complimentary webinar on July 29th at 10:00am (PDT). Please listen to this webinar to learn why Mu Studio is the only solution to accurately test your complex services for interoperability, resilience and scalability.

Click here to register to view the recorded version of this webniar: http://www.mudynamics.com/forms/scale-webinar.html

NGN Forum Q & A

Q & A with Suresh Bhandarkar, Tech Mahindra

Please provide us with some background on your company?

Established in 1986, Tech Mahindra is a global solutions provider and systems integration (SI) company focused on servicing the converged communications industry. We leverage our SI thought leadership, global experience, vendor partnerships and repository of industry best practices to accelerate the rollout of NGN applications and M-Play NGN services to enable service providers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, internet and mobile services over broadband via wireless, cable and fixed networks. Our business transformation services covering IT (B/OSS and applications), IT Operations, Networks, Security and BPM help service providers generate growth, enhance operational and cost efficiencies, increase customer retention and improve new service innovation.

What IMS services and products does your company offer?

For product companies, Tech Mahindra develops applications (session control, presence and seamless mobility), SDK/API (OSA/Parlay-X), orchestration logic, IVR, Media Servers, CTI, AAA (RADIUS, DIAMETER), and IMS clients. We also offer services like, interoperability testing and migration from HLR to HSS.

For service providers, we offer services like, E2E interoperability testing, Service Design, IP Network Design, IMS ITT vendor evaluation, NIT model design, NIT for Business VoIP, Design validation, Test specs for inter-CS (SIP/SIP-I), H.248 test specs for CS-MGW / MSAN, Signalling interworking test design, CPE interoperability testing, MVCT, Model build and E2E BB Test execution (NIT).

How can the IMS Forum’s Plugfest benefit Tech Mahindra and your customers?

The primary goal of the Plugfests is to ensure that products are compliant with the standards and can interoperate. These quarterly test events bring together leading IMS vendors from around the globe who exchange ideas to promote the adoption of IMS. Here, competing vendors collaborate to build real, full-featured, IMS networks.

For product vendors, these events save product and service development time through access to multi-vendor interoperability test beds, leading test equipment, IMS cores and applications, and multi-protocol engineering expertise; reduce time-to-market and acceptance testing cycles by pinpointing bugs and conformance issues, and validate services and products in a respected third-party lab.

For systems integrators like us, these events help gain early access to, judge the maturity of, and understand the ease with which products and technologies can be integrated into our customers’ networks.

For our service provider customers, these events provide proof-points about the interoperability among different product vendors. The “IMS Report Card” resulting from these events addresses myths that have held back the widespread adoption of standards-compliant IMS solutions. The Report Card recounts several commonly held myths in the industry and provides proof-points based on the experience of the companies participating in the Plugfests that disprove these myths.

How does a verification and certification process aid the development of IMS interoperability/standards?

Enforcing conformance to standards is a great way to march towards interoperability.  But in reality, standards are not always clear about what they meant to say. It is also necessary to understand the importance of what the standards do not say. Multiple interpretations of standards result in multiple implementations. Even similar interpretations of standards often result in multiple implementations. Verification and certification via Interoperability testing is therefore required to verify both the standard and its implementation.

Plugfest events can be leveraged by the participants to share their views on standards and industry best practices and to identify shortcomings, areas that need clarity, areas that need additional coverage and areas that do not need any coverage.

What has your membership in the IMS Forum accomplished for your company?

Our goal is to provide our customers with solutions by integrating products that are compliant with industry standards. Membership in the IMS Forum has helped us validate that these products are compliant with the standards and that the products from different vendors interoperate at network-level, signalling and control-level, applications-level and B/OSS-level. Participation in regular meetings of the forum has exposed us to multiple players in this space and their views and insights on IMS standards and technologies. This forum has provided us an excellent platform to get industry exposure and it has also provided us an opportunity to demonstrate our solutions and services. This is a great place to learn and share knowledge and best practices.

Who are some of Tech Mahindra customers and what IMS services are they deploying?

Our customers are global service providers (fixed line, wireless and cable operators), telecom equipment vendors and telecom software vendors. Most of our service provider customers are deploying IMS to be able to offer converged IP services, including VoIP, IPTV and FMC. Our cable customers are upgrading their networks using PacketCable2.0/IMS architecture. Some of our wireless customers are deploying IMS in preparation for rolling out LTE networks.

What are some areas of IMS where you have found challenges for operators?

Operator challenges can be classified into 3 categories: Business, Technical and Operational.

On the business front, it’s a challenge to introduce a paradigm shift by way of creating a new architecture that flattens the legacy network architecture and defines a common service control layer across all types of networks, supporting all types of services.

On the technical front, continuously evolving standards, SCP/AS integration issues and security issues remain a concern.

On the operational front, operators are concerned about operations and management related to integration of OSS, BSS and NMS systems with IMS.

Are there any other critical benchmarks that need to take place in this IMS evolution?

Whether deployed for next-generation services, or as a replacement for legacy network technologies, IMS works across network equipment from different vendors and supports a growing number of real-time applications, including VoIP, video, interactive conferencing, and other mission-critical data applications.

All these varied services come with a very high degree of expectation from the user community in terms of user experience and accompanying service-level agreements. To meet these expectations, service providers need end-to-end network performance management and visibility, which helps them to ensure high-quality, reliable services to their customers, independent of the composition of the underlying network infrastructure. In order to do performance management, critical benchmarks are required to be executed to collect measurements such as fail rate, response times or round-trip delays within an IMS network. Additionally, they can be used to identify scalability or usability problems of the IMS network under heavy load conditions. Benchmarks should be defined for both IMS as a whole as well as its various subsystems and should include metrics that are related to interoperability and metrics that are related to end-to-end quality of service. QoS should take into account factors such as multiple services, multiple technologies and real-time admission control.

What are some of the key factors for IMS success in the industry?

IMS holds great promise to be the technology of choice for offering multimedia services over 3G networks. But it is too complex and costly.  Efforts are needed to simplify it and reduce its cost. Costs will go down if there are key drivers that will result in a strong market growth. Move towards convergence between fixed and mobile networks is a big driver for adopting IMS. Another big driver lurking on the horizon is the migration towards LTE as the technology of choice for 4G networks. Voice over LTE networks using IMS will result in greater adoption of IMS. Thus, IMS success is closely associated with the uptake of LTE network deployments worldwide.

To have your company considered for a profile in the Q & A section of this newsletter send an email to pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN Forum IMS Forum Technical Working Groups Update

B/OSS
In addition to founding the new Applications over Broadband Working Group, we have finalized three new Working Group Papers, which are summarized below:

• Interoperability Challenges in Diameter Implementations, and
• IMS AAA Architecture: The Diameter Advantage
• BSS/OSS & Security for Services in NGN/IMS Paradigm Guidelines for Implementation

Interoperability Challenges in Diameter Implementations                
The main purpose of the first white paper is to explain the advantages of this protocol and the reasons why this protocol fits with AAA functionalities. What are the main concepts that are involved by the Diameter protocol? Where is this protocol used inside the IMS architecture? The answer to this latter question will demonstrate the importance of the protocol in next generation communication infrastructures. As Diameter is designed as an improvement of the RADIUS protocol, a lot of advantages of this protocol are based on the design of the protocol itself.

IMS AAA Architecture: The Diameter Advantage
Diameter is an AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) protocol for applications such as network access or IP mobility. It has been embraced by 3GPP and ETSI standard bodies as the foundation for AAA functionalities in the Next Generation Networks based on IP Multimedia Subsystem, thereby designing a multitude of applications and interfaces on it. With the advent of Wimax and LTE Diameter is becoming the obvious choice of the network providers to implement in these architectures.  However, different interpretations and implementations of new standards may lead to incompatibilities between vendors. Also, evolving standards may require altering implementations to keep up with specification changes.
This white paper focuses on the interoperability issues and challenges observed in diameter implementations in NGN networks. It encompasses the various practices and concerns related to diameter usages and interworking such as, cross-release issues, contradictions and ambiguity in the specifications thereby leading to different implementations, inconsistent rules and guidelines for defining new diameter applications, backwards incompatibility, version handling, etc. in the deployment and realization of any diameter based interface/applications in IMS/NGN architecture. It also delves into examples of diameter parameter interpretations and handling in various features and the current and best practices followed for the same.

BSS/OSS & Security for Services in NGN/IMS Paradigm Guidelines for Implementation

BSS/OSS solutions for a next generation landscape must work as one with the network while unifying critical business functions to better manage and effectively monetize NGN services and the next generation subscriber experience.   This will call for solutions that are open and keep the customer experience at heart while adhering to industry standards and providing the much needed flexibility to accommodate new requirements.  The BSS/OSS reality for most operators today is one of multiple, discrete systems that each have their own ways of looking at and managing data requiring both timely and costly integration while hindering marketing agility and the customer experience.  

Innovation in this next generation world will need to be driven not only by network advancements but also via an open and flexible BSS/OSS infrastructure that will allow CSPs to realize operational efficiencies in terms of new service introduction and customer management.  Thus the BSS/OSS strategy will need to be aligned with the network strategy.  This Working Group Paper provides guidelines for implementation of BSS/OSS and Security Services in an NGN IMS Architecture. It also suggests best practices in the following areas:

• Security and Reliability          
• BSS/OSS Unification
• Migration to IP Networks       
• Deploying an IP Multimedia Subsystem network     

• IMS/NGN Rating & Charging Impacts          
• Online vs. Offline Rating/Charging    

           
To receive a copy of these Working Group documents please contact: admin@ngnforum.org.

NGN Forum Calendar of Events

See the NGN/IMS Forum at the following 2010 events:

• September 12-15: COMPTEL, Dallas
• October 4-6: Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, Los Angeles, CA, Board/Working Group Meeting
• October 4-6:    4G Wireless Evolution
• October 6-8: CTIA Wireless Fall, San Francisco
• Oct. 14-15: Fraunhofer FOKUS, Berlin**
• October 19-21: 4G World, Chicago; Board/Working Group Meeting
• October 22, 2010: IIT VoIP Conference, Chicago, speaker
• November 4-5: IIR IMS World Forum, Brussels
• November 9-11: Management Forum Americas, Orlando
• February 14 – 17: Mobile World congress, Barcelona

Payam Maveddat, Vice President - Next Gen Wireless Switching Solutions, Mavenir Systems and Michael Khalilian, Chairman and President, NGN IMS Forum at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2010.

** This year Fraunhofer FOKUS has set up a unique program giving newcomers and experts from all over the world an overview and update on the state of the art and recent developments in the challenging field of converging telecommunications, Internet and entertainment. The theme for the upcoming International FOKUS conference is Business and Technical Challenges of Seamless Service Provision in Converging Next Generation Fixed and Mobile Networks. Please note that the number of seats is limited to 290-300 people in order to preserve the "family atmosphere" that makes this event stand out from others.

Showcase Your Expertise and Leadership: Call for Speakers

The NGN Forum and IMS Forum invite members to join its exclusive Speakers’ Bureau. Member companies have an excellent opportunity to market their companies and senior executives while representing the Forum at future trade shows and conferences. Simply contact us with a copy of the proposed speaker’s bio and indicate any specific NGN and IMS-related speaking topics and expertise. Speaking topic abstracts of one or two paragraphs are especially helpful. Please send to: pr@ngnforum.org

NGN/IMS Forum in the News

The following highlights some recent press coverage of the NGN/IMS Forum:

Recent NGN/IMS Forum Press Releases

Why Join the NGN Forum or IMS Forum?

The NGN/IMS Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of NGN and IMS applications and services, enabling enterprise and residential consumers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, Internet and mobile services over broadband via cable, mobile and fixed networks.

NGN/IMS applications and services comprise residential VoIP, entertainment including IPTV and gaming, IP Centrex / IP PBX and unified communications for business including fixed-mobile converged services, videoconferencing and web-collaboration. NGN and IMS networks include DSL, Cable, GSM, UMTS, Wi-Fi and WiMAX implementations.

The NGN/IMS Forum Plugfests, typically held every 3 to 4 months, bring together dozens of industry-leading NGN and IMS vendors from around the world, all of whom build real, full-featured, NGN and IMS networks during the test event.

If you are interested in joining the NGN/IMS Forum, Plugfests or in participating in any of the working groups or marketing programs, please contact the NGN/IMS Forum.

All are invited to participate in the industry's first open NGN/IMS Community where Forum members, those involved in various NGN and IMS working groups, the IMS Linkedin group, our industry and colleagues around the world can participate in active, mutually beneficial discussions. Take a moment to register now.

Our members are shaping the future of the NGN and IMS. Joining the NGN/IMS Forum enables members to:

• Verify and certify interoperability, reduce costs and accelerate time to market
• Participate in technical working groups focusing on service creation and applications for NGN/IMS architecture, framework and deployment issues
• Gain additional visibility through the NGN/IMS Forum's Speakers Bureau, public relations and marketing programs
• Showcase member companies at major telecom, cable, and wireless events in North America, Asia, and Europe
• Receive current market and technology information through newsletters, reports, white papers and conferences
• Gain access to an informed professional network of industry consultants and accredited experts

Have a request? We welcome your feedback on this newsletter.
Press Contact: pr@ngnforum.org

1Q 2010 • info@IMSForum.org • www.NGNForum.org • www.IMSForum.org

NGN/IMS Plugfest 9 Launch and New Technical Working Groups in 2010

Dear NGN Forum / IMS Forum members and colleagues,

Happy holidays to all and looking forward to a successful 2010 year for all.

The NGN and IMS Forums' Plugfests are the industry's premier interoperability events covering NGN services over wireless 3G, 4G, LTE, WiMAX, wireline xDSL, cable, fiber optics broadband and IMS architectures.

We are pleased to announce that the Diameter and Control plane TWG and interoperability group successfully completed their initial guideline documents and testing/IOT activities at Plugfest 8 in October, 2009. The forum technical and business group is now progressing to the next stage of releasing all the test documentation and planning for the next Plugfest event. Our next IMS Plugfest™ and NGN Plugfest™ interoperability test event, Plugfest 9, will take place in the first week of June 2010 at the InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL) in Durham, NH.

The NGN Forum & IMS Forum themes for this Plugfest are NGN Network and IMS Rich Applications deployment. Topics under consideration will include:

• IMS core, CSCF, AS, HSS, Policy
• Inter and intra network testing area of key interest, billing services interdomain scenarios, roaming users, visited networks scenarios, applications presence, voice, video, user agents
• SDP / Rich Communications Services (RCS) / Voice Features and IMS Applications
• VoIP / SIP / QoS
• Security and Reliability
• Billing - off-line charging and on-line charging
• Control Plane and Diameter
• Voice over LTE/4G
• IP Video (IPTV)
• Wireless and Smart Grids
• Messaging, IP traffic, presence, IM and termination, integration
• Implementation of Convergence: integrating legacy to NGN
• Transition 3G to 4G LTE and WiMAX
• Metrics for standard sets of SIP call flows in IMS and NGN
• IPv6, and
• others

We will define network topologies based on the participants’ requirements for these tests. We are also excited about the soon to be released IP BSS/OSS and security architecture guidelines to be released in January 2010.

Planning is well underway at the NGN Forum technical working groups (TWG), which have been holding regular joint sessions for the planning of Plugfest 9.

The latest addition under review to the technical working groups plan for 2010 is going to be in areas of EPC (includes Packet Core, AAA, Policy, DPI etc.), VoIP/LTE, Service Delivery Platform (SDP), IP Video/IPTv, IMS BSS, NGN Security and 4G Technical and Business Marketing Working Groups. The groups launch will be announced early 2010. Companies interested in TWG participation and demo / interoperability PF9 testing should contact Admin@NGNForum.org.

Starting 2010, the working groups are meeting every other week to define TWG objectives and Plugfest/IOT planning.

The NGN Forum and IMS Forum are the only industry associations dedicated to interoperability and certification of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Next Generation (NGN) applications and services for fixed, mobile and cable networks. Participation in NGN IMS Plugfests and Technical working Groups is open to all companies. We look forward to your participation in our 2010 Working Groups and in Plugfests. For more information please contact Info@NGNForum.org or visit www.NGNForum.org, www.IMSForum.org.

Regards,
Michael Khalilian
NGN Forum, IMS Forum, ISC, IPCC, VoIP Forums, IP Multimedia Forums

Market Research Corner

According to a November 4 Wireless Week article, “Operator Heavyweights Throw Support Behind IMS”, several industry big wigs including AT&T, Orange, Vodafone and Ericsson have voiced their support for IMS to handle voice and SMS traffic on LTE networks. IMS is the protocol of choice by the 3GPP standards body but proponents of alternate protocols argue that an interim technology is needed to handle voice and data over LTE before IMS is adopted. One of these interim technologies, voice over LTE via generic access (VoLGA), has pushed the industry to adopt VoLGA as an interim measure. So far, that effort has only attracted one operator: Germany's T-Mobile.

Infonetics Research: VoIP services bring in $21 billion for service providers in 1H09; strong demand continues Market research firm Infonetics Research recently released its biannual VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers report, which tracks business and residential/SOHO voice over IP services and includes a North America Business VoIP Services Leadership Matrix that analyzes and ranks the top service providers in the VoIP business services market.

Demand for residential and business VoIP services continues to grow even as spending in other communication areas tightens. For the first half of 2009, the worldwide VoIP services market grew to $20.7 billion. Residential VoIP services remain healthy, comprising the majority of worldwide VoIP services revenue, and subscribers are up 14% from the end of 2008. On the business VoIP side, while managed IP PBX revenue growth has slowed in line with IP PBX shipments, Infonetics is expecting IP Centrex and hosted UC service revenue to grow 26% year-over-year in 2009.

Key findings of the report include:

• IP connectivity services currently make up about a third of total VoIP business service revenue, growing to 40% of the total by 2013 (managed IP PBX services and hosted VoIP and UC services make up the balance)
• The current sweet spot of the North American IP Centrex market is small business (those with fewer than 100 employees)
• Roughly two-thirds of all IP Centrex seats sold in the first half of 2009 went to small businesses
• While the largest VoIP services opportunities are in North America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), demand for VoIP services is growing fast in Asia Pacific and Central and Latin America. For the first half of 2009, Japan's NTT, France Telecom, and Comcast in North America retain their leadership as the world's largest residential VoIP service providers, together holding nearly 20% of the world's VoIP subscribers
• The number of residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers is forecast to top 225 million by 2013

Infonetics' VoIP and UC services report provides worldwide and regional market size, forecasts, and analysis of residential VoIP services, business VoIP and UC services, and residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers. Business voice services tracked include managed IP PBX services, hosted VoIP and unified communication services (IP Centrex by business size, UC applications, UC telephony), and IP connectivity services (VoIP VPN/IP access, SIP trunking, IP integrated access). For more information visit: http://www.infonetics.com/login.

NGN Forum Q & A

Q & A with Alice Bartram, AVP Marketing, Billing & Active Customer Management, Comverse

Please provide us with some brief background on your company?

Comverse is the world’s leading provider of software and systems enabling value-added services for voice, messaging, mobile Internet and mobile advertising; converged billing and active customer management; and IP communications. Comverse’s extensive customer base spans more than 130 countries and covers over 500 communication service providers serving more than two billion subscribers. The company’s innovative product portfolio enables communication service providers to unleash the value of the network for their customers by making their networks smarter. Comverse’s solutions support flexible deployment models, including in-network, hosted and managed services, and can run on circuit-switched, IP, IMS or converged network environments. Comverse is a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. (CMVT.PK).

What IMS and NGN services and products does your company offer today and what are some of the key differentiators for your company in this market? What are your future product plans?

Comverse is one of the only vendors to provide the entire services value chain: network elements, rich communication services and converged ordering, provisioning, billing and customer management, providing a one-stop shop while ensuring maximum interoperability. Our objective is to make operators’ networks smarter by creating a Communication Environment which features solutions for BSS, value added services, and IP communications based on a holistic platform, truly enabling the network and billing to effectively work as ONE.

Just as IMS promises to converge and unify networks under a common platform operators’ BSS/OSS environments need to be comprehensive enough to support any network, any service and any payment type, ensuring that next generation services and bundles can be accurately provisioned, ordered, rated, charged and billed. BSS/OSS capabilities – from marketing, sales and customer management through to charging and billing – need to be provided as a unified whole. This means a single code base, with all functionality built around a single data model, supported by a single product catalog and with a single operations, maintenance and security approach across the whole solution. This approach to BSS must also sit firmly in the network – to the level of call/session control.

The Comverse ONE Billing & Active Customer Management solution is the only converged BSS solution to unify marketing, sales, ordering, customer management and billing around a single data model and product catalog. The solution supports next generation charging interfaces such as Diameter and SIP and can support next generation business models with an ability to support any network, any service, and any payment type. Built on a strong market proven heritage of both in-network engineering as well as IT based financial systems Comverse ONE supports BSS needs today and more importantly in a next generation world by providing:

• One complete real-time subscriber view.
• Multi-dimensional policy management (beyond network & service allocation, addresses authorization, rating, charging, identity management (enterprise v. personal) and financial liability management).
• Financial control.
• Marketing agility.

Comverse also is continuing investments in IMS and Telco 2.0 to enable Telcos to open their networks to develop 3rd party applications via APIs.

How do the NGN and IMS Forum’s Plugfests benefit your company and its customers?

The Plugfest(s) benefit Comverse by enabling us to validate our solutions – demonstrating to operators that our products are interoperable with other vendor solutions, especially with regards to Diameter. Our customers benefit from being assured that they have bought into products that can work well in a multi-vendor environment. Additionally it enables us to prove that Comverse ONE is a future-proof solution truly capable of handling any network and service.

How does a verification and certification process aid in the development of NGN and IMS interoperability/standards?

The verification and certification processes provide a framework to our potential customers for evaluating interoperability claims. It also gives an indication of our overall strategy regarding interoperability and of our willingness to reach out to potential partners. Ultimately the process uncovers issues which can be fed back into the standardization bodies, while establishing best practices and common terminology.

Who are some of your customers and what NGN and IMS services are they deploying?

Over twenty of our customers are utilizing UMTS networks. UMTS is 3G; however it is the underlying technology being developed into 4G. Some of our customers that utilize UMTS networks and the advanced services they are offering are detailed below:

• Play (Poland) offers video, video calling and media content
• MTEL (Montenegro) video calling, call completion and roaming services
• GTEL (Vietnam) offers ringback tones, GPRS, Messaging, call back and USSD menu browsing
• Smart Communications (Phillipines) offers video calling, video mail, high-speed mobile internet access, GPRS and call completion

What are some areas of NGN and IMS where you have found challenges for operators?

Communication Service Providers (CSPs) continue to focus mainly on applications and enabling networks with little thought or strategy formulated around the provisioning, rating, charging, ordering, fulfillment and customer care aspects associated with NGN services and the NGN customer experience. The main challenges from a BSS perspective are charging flexibility, quality of service control and bundling flexibility across multiple services.

One of the fundamental requirements behind any IMS and NGN services strategy should be whether the BSS environment can effectively monetize such investments, while also ensuring end-to-end quality of service to maximize the subscriber experience meaning that in-network capabilities and a real-time, holistic view of the subscriber are essential.

So while a fast, effective and up-to-date network certainly plays its part in providing the subscriber with a “next generation” experience, converged billing and interactive customer management are vitally important factors which will ultimately determine how effectively operators will monetize network investments and NGN services. Carriers need to understand in real-time who is using which services and applications - across product families and devices - to personalize real-time offers based on profiles and consumption levels, in order to tailor pricing, or even monitor usage to limit financial exposure.

Today, operators’ eco-systems remain a patchwork of discrete, service-specific systems – all having their own way of interpreting and managing data, creating inefficient business processes, duplication, and both causing and preserving capability gaps while keeping long term cost of ownership high. This approach does not allow effective bundling nor does it allow accurate charging thus most CSPs are relegated to proceed with the flat-rate business model, which does not allow them to fully extract service value.

Are there any other critical benchmarks that need to take place in this IMS NGN evolution?

Critical benchmarks include: wide spread interoperability, end-to-end quality of service control– if you commit a certain QoS to a subscriber, the operator will need to ensure that the QoS is followed through the entire network – and seamless service transitions across networks and devices. This of course will need to be supported by a comprehensive BSS solution – with an ability to support multiple dimensions of convergence – that is network facing and can blend customer information such as profile, usage and status, with network knowledge. So when a customer is accessing multiple services within a single session, the BSS infrastructure would be updated and know how to charge accordingly. Or if a subscriber is in a low bandwidth area and is trying to download a video, the BSS would know and offer alternatives to prevent the subscriber from having a poor service experience.

What are some of the key factors for NGN and IMS success in the industry?

Operators need to build a business case centered on the customer experience when planning NGN and IMS strategies. CSPs need to ask themselves:

• Is my existing BSS environment capable of supporting a holistic customer experience across all of my services? Across all touch points: Web, IVR, call center, device?
• Can I support personalized real-time marketing?
• Can I offer spending control and payment flexibility?
• Does my BSS environment effectively support seamless service transitions across networks, devices and payment types?
• Can my BSS environment support real-time policy management, rating and charging for all or some targeted services?

Without a holistic view of the customer, and the ability to quickly provision and accurately rate, charge and bill any service across any network or device, the success of IMS and NGN investments is weakened. To ensure a high-quality and seamless user experience, BSS/OSS capabilities – from marketing, sales and customer management through to charging and billing – need to be provided as a unified whole. Only this approach enables Active Customer Management: the ability to manage all customers consistently in a real-time interactive manner regardless of how the customer chooses to pay for services or interacts with the operator. Delivered through a set of unified applications that support an operator’s sales, marketing, fulfillment and customer management and self-service needs, this new paradigm provides data consistency ensuring one complete view, accessible by both the operator and the end-user, regardless of customer touch point.

To have your company considered for a profile in the Q & A section of this newsletter send an email to pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN Forum IMS Forum Technical Working Groups Update

The NGN Forum would like to thank Plugfest 8 participants, contributors, advisors, sponsors and the test management of the following companies for a successful test event in October 2008:

Comverse • HP • MU Dynamics • Marben Products/NE Technologies • NTT-AT • RADVISION • Tekelec • NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan) • US Government Communications Groups (NCS/DHS) • Sonus Networks • Tektronix • Testing Technologies GmbH • Alcatel-Lucent • Acision • Aricent • IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) • UNH-IOL • T-Mobile • Intel • T-Mobile • Intel • Billing & OSS World • CTIA • GSMA • Informa • NGN Magazine (TMC) • Supercomm • TMF and Trendsmedia.

The IMS / NGN Diameter and Control plane interoperability group successfully completed their testing and IOT activities at Plugfest 8. The group is now progressing to the next stage of releasing all the test documentation and planning for the next Plugfest event. The group was formed in 2008 and chaired by Bruno Deslandes (Marben-Products). Some of the member participants included Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Aricent, HP, Mu Dynamics, Radvision, Sonus, Testing Technologies, Wipro, Data Connection Ltd (DCL).

Technology and business marketing working groups completed the draft release of IP BSS/Security documents, Plugfest 8 test plan and are launching the Plugfest 9 IOT group in January 2010. Also, the new working groups will be launched by February 2010. Any company who is interested in partnerships, research or interoperability testing is welcome to contact the Forum for more information. Starting January, the working groups will meet every other week to define objectives and Plugfest planning. The following Working Group meetings were held since Plugfest 8 in October 2009:

• Plugfest 9 initial planning meeting at PF8 event, Presentation is available, send request to (admin@ngnforum.org)
• Plugfest 8 event (test report plan for Jan 2010)
• IP BSS/OSS & Security (on-going, initial document plan for Jan 2010)
• Control plane/Diameter (completed the initial testing and documents)
• Supercomm09 technology board meetings (Oct 2009)
• IIT VoIP (Oct 2009)
• Tele-management OSS meetings (Dec 2009)

NGN Forum Calendar of Events

In addition to moderating panels at the Internet Telephony and 4G shows this fall The NGN IMS Forum also participated in:

· Oct. 21, 2009: Supercomm, Chicago, IL, Special Session#1: IMS Forum Presents: Results from Plugfest 8 - Interoperability for IP Applications & B/OSS and Charging in Converged IMS & NGN networks

· Oct. 22, 2009: Supercomm, Chicago, IL, Telecom Goes Hollywood - Networks for the Digital Age

· Oct. 23, 2009: Supercomm, Chicago, IL, Panel Session: No Strings Attached - Wireless Networking Growth & Challenges

· Oct. 29, 2009: VoIP Conference & Expo at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, NGN Networks - Transitions and operations and VoIP and NGN Networks Mini-conference

· Dec. 8-10, 2009: TMF, Orlando, FL

Calendar of upcoming conferences:

· Jan. 20-22, 2010: Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, Miami, FL

· Jan. 20-22, 2010: ITExpo/4GWE, Los Angeles, CA

· Jan. 27-28, 2010: TMF, Singapore

· Feb. 15-18, 2010: Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain

· March 14-17, 2010: CompTel, Nashville, TN

· March 23-25, 2010: CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2010, San Diego, CA

· April 10-15, 2010: NAB, Las Vegas, NV

· May 11-13, 2010: NCTA, Los Angels, CA

· June 9-11, 2010: Billing & OSS World 2010, Washington, DC

· June 9-11, 2010: VON Conference & Expo 2010, South Beach, FL

· June 15-18, 2010: CommunicAsia 2010, Singapore

Showcase Your Expertise and Leadership: Call for Speakers

The NGN Forum and IMS Forum invites members to join its exclusive Speakers' Bureau. Member companies have an excellent opportunity to market their companies and senior executives while representing the Forum at future trade shows and conferences. Simply contact us with a copy of the proposed speaker's bio and indicate any specific NGN and IMS-related speaking topics and expertise. Speaking topic abstracts of one or two paragraphs are especially helpful. Please send to: pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN/IMS Forum in the News

The following highlights some recent press coverage of the NGN/IMS Forum:

Recent NGN/IMS Forum Press Releases

Why Join the NGN Forum or IMS Forum?

The NGN/IMS Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of NGN and IMS applications and services, enabling enterprise and residential consumers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, Internet and mobile services over broadband via cable, mobile and fixed networks.

NGN/IMS applications and services comprise residential VoIP, entertainment including IPTV and gaming, IP Centrex / IP PBX and unified communications for business including fixed-mobile converged services, videoconferencing and web-collaboration. NGN and IMS networks include DSL, Cable, GSM, UMTS, Wi-Fi and WiMAX implementations.

The NGN/IMS Forum Plugfests, typically held every 3 to 4 months, bring together dozens of industry-leading NGN and IMS vendors from around the world, all of whom build real, full-featured, NGN and IMS networks during the test event.

If you are interested in joining the NGN/IMS Forum, Plugfests or in participating in any of the working groups or marketing programs, please contact the NGN/IMS Forum.

All are invited to participate in the industry's first open NGN/IMS Community where Forum members, those involved in various NGN and IMS working groups, the IMS Linkedin group, our industry and colleagues around the world can participate in active, mutually beneficial discussions. Take a moment to register now.

Our members are shaping the future of the NGN and IMS. Joining the NGN/IMS Forum enables members to:

• Verify and certify interoperability, reduce costs and accelerate time to market
• Participate in technical working groups focusing on service creation and applications for NGN/IMS architecture, framework and deployment issues
• Gain additional visibility through the NGN/IMS Forum's Speakers Bureau, public relations and marketing programs
• Showcase member companies at major telecom, cable, and wireless events in North America, Asia, and Europe
• Receive current market and technology information through newsletters, reports, white papers and conferences
• Gain access to an informed professional network of industry consultants and accredited experts

Have a request? We welcome your feedback on this newsletter.
Press Contact: pr@ngnforum.org

3Q 2009 • info@IMSForum.org • www.NGNForum.org • www.IMSForum.org

Dear NGN Forum Members and Colleagues,

Preparations are well under way for our eighth NGN and IMS Plugfest™ which will be held next week, October 5 thru October 9, 2009 at the InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL) in Durham, NH. Plugfest 8 participants and contributors will include: Comverse, HP, Mu Dynamics, NTT-AT, Radvision, Sonus, Tekelec, Tektronix, Testing Technology, US Government Communications Groups, Japan NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology). Sponsors of Plugfest 8 include T-Mobile, Intel and Radvision. Media Sponsors include CTIA, GSMA, Informa, Supercomm 2009, TMC/NGN Magazine, and Virgo Publishing.

We will announce the results from our Plugfest 8 at Supercomm in a panel session on Wed, Oct. 21 4:15pm-5:00 pm, entitled: Exploration Theater Special Session#1: IMS Forum Presents: Results from Plugfest 8 - Interoperability for IP Applications & B/OSS and Charging in Converged IMS & NGN networks. Panelists will include senior executives from the IMS Forum Plugfest 8 participants. Please contact us if you are a registered Plugfest 8 participant and you would like to be on this panel.

The NGN and IMS Forum's Plugfests are the industry's only interoperability events covering NGN services over wireless 3G, 4G, LTE, WiMAX, wireline xDSL, cable, fiber optics broadband and IMS architectures. The IMS/NGN Forum Plugfest™ is the most frequent interoperability event in the industry. Plugfest 8 will mark another important milestone - setting the testing for interoperability testing for roaming and visiting subscribers.

Plugfest 8 will focus on Interoperability for voice and multimedia applications, IP BSS/OSS and Security inter and intra networks including the following:

• End-to-end interoperability testing for IMS and NGN applications and services
• Interoperability of the Control Plane and the Diameter Protocol
• Charging functions impacts on BSS

Examples of test topics for Plugfest 8 include:

• Application and Feature Testing across the Control Plane
• Online & offline charging (Billing) scenarios for IMS events and sessions
• Interface Compliance testing; The 3GPP standard interfaces that use Diameter
• Topology hiding scenarios; IMS/NGN Control Plane interoperability including border controllers, legacy network gateways, service location function, and policy control elements
• Multi-domain scenarios covering user-to-network and network-to-network IMS interoperability
• Further study of IPsec on the Gm interface
• Inclusion of IPv6 within the core network
• Reliability and Availability Network Security

The list of IMS/NGN services to be tested ALSO include: VoIP (RCS, MMTel and Centrex), IPTv (ATIS and ETSI), presence services, security, billing and OSS/BSS support. Test plans for Diameter and control plane are also offered.

Participation in NGN IMS Plugfests and Technical working Groups is open to all companies. We look forward to your participation in our Working Groups and in Plugfests. For more information please contact info@ngnforum.org or visit www.NGNForum.org, www.IMSForum.org.

Regards,

Michael Khalilian
Chairman and President
NGN Forum and IMS Forum

Market Research Corner

LTE's Five-Year Global Forecast: Poised to Grow Faster than 3G

The number of Long Term Evolution (LTE) subscriptions worldwide will grow at a Compound Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 404 percent from 2010 to 2014, a pace faster than any previous mobile standard including 3G, according to the latest report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com), a telecom research subsidiary of the Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com).

LTE's Five-Year Global Forecast: Poised to Grow Faster than 3G identifies the main technical and business drivers, as well as the challenges for the LTE platform, and analyzes its market opportunity in comparison with earlier mobile technologies in their first few years of commercialization. The 19-page report provides Pyramid Research's five-year outlook on LTE adoption, highlighting the largest LTE markets, and comparing adoption rates in emerging and developed markets. It also examines the LTE-related products, demos, and announcements of six of the largest vendors worldwide, including an analysis of how they compare with one another in terms of time to market and customer wins.

For the first time, most of the major players, operators, and vendors alike, are behind the same mobile standard, notes Daniel Locke, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report. "By using LTE's more efficient and cost-effective flat IP architecture, mobile operators can transfer the savings to end users in the form of lower prices for access, faster data rates, and higher traffic allowances for a wider adoption of mobile data services," he says. "To date, 27 mobile operators worldwide have publicly committed to deploying LTE, with 12 of them expected to roll out commercial services in 2010 and the remainder during 2011 and 2012," he adds.

Pyramid expects LTE to grow more rapidly than preceding mobile standards in terms of subscriptions. "While it took nearly six years for UMTS/HSPA to reach 100 million subscriptions, Pyramid predicts that LTE will take just over four years to reach the same milestone," explains Locke. "The number of LTE subscriptions worldwide will grow at a CAGR of 404 percent from 2010 to 2014 and reach 136 million by year-end 2014," he says.

"The majority of LTE subscriptions in the early stage will come in developed markets, where most of the first LTE deployments will occur – with the US and Japan leading," Locke says. "However, LTE will grow 30 percent faster in emerging markets than developed ones; subscriptions in emerging markets will account for 43 percent of the LTE total in 2014, up from 5 percent in 2010," he adds. Fueled by vendor support of TDD-mode, growth in emerging markets will be driven largely by China with 36.1 million subscriptions in 2014.

For more information about Pyramid Research's products and services, please visit www.pyr.com.

NGN Forum Q & A

Q & A with Dave Kresse, CEO, Mu Dynamics

Please provide us with some brief background on your company?

Mu Dynamics’ testing solution boosts the effectiveness of testing IP services 10x with better time to market, lower cost and higher quality. The award-winning Mu Test Suite is deployed at more than 100 locations, primarily at leading global service providers, government agencies, and product vendors. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, more information on Mu’s products, customers and solutions are online at http://www.mudynamics.com.

What IMS and NGN services and products does your company offer today and what are some of the key differentiators for your company in this market? What are your future product plans?

Mu’s Test Suite provides the only adaptive testing solution on the market today. Both operators and vendors test their IP service development and deployments with the highest degree of quality and confidence. Key points of IMS/LTE/4G differentiation:

• Accurately reflecting the logic of complex, changing services
  
  • A single LTE service component is a complex system of protocol interactions, devices, sequences, etc.
  • To date, testing approaches for NGN deployments have gone after individual elements of a service, and not looked at the system-level requirements for testing the service.
  • Mu uniquely creates stateful testing of LTE-based services (e.g. location-based applications) and simulates real usage and unexpected requests on application data sets.

• Quickly drive multiple types of data through the service
  
  • Every NGN service is unique, custom and often changing based upon user and service parameters.
  • To date, testing solutions have used only vendor supplied content – nothing unique and custom that accurately reflects the NGN service offering.
  • Mu offers operators and vendors a test case choice of using Mu content, customer specific content, and third party content to provide the most accurate representation of the different variations of how a service is used.

• Leverage a single testing solution to enable multiple aspects of testing (functional, interoperability, security, resilience)
  
  • The NGN service needs to be tested along multiple dimensions.
  • To date, testing approaches often limited to transaction volume or load have used disparate tools to test a single testing aspect, which means lots of time, money spent with a disjointed results.
  • Mu allows customers to rapidly create a best fit test process once and leverage that across multiple testing types (e.g. vendors can create an IMS test suite to pass along to operator customers as a baseline for LTE service deployments).

How do the NGN and IMS Forum's Plugfests benefit your company and its customers?

Mu has participated in nearly every NGN/IMS Forum Plugfest and gained invaluable knowledge on the creation and deployment of real-time LTE and 4G planned service offerings. The Plugfest format offers Mu a real-world view on capturing actual service-level traffic on which to base our own content development efforts. As a result, both operator and vendor customers have access to LTE/4G pre-compiled test suites as well as the new ability to create their own test cases using the newest release of the Mu Test Suite.

How does a verification and certification process aid in the development of NGN and IMS interoperability/standards?

With the complexity of real-time 3G and IMS-based service offerings, operators and their vendors need to be assured that provisioned services perform as planned. The time to market requirements of products for the LTE/4G ecosystem necessitate that vendors produce solutions that work the first time in operator environments. Mu has actively worked in the verification and certification process with adaptive testing solutions that ensure reliable and secure products for operator customers.

Who are some of your customers and what NGN and IMS services are they deploying?

Publicly-referencable Mu Dynamics' customers include Cox, Juniper Networks, Starent, F5, Motorola, Ericsson-Redback, Veraz and Verizon. Mu is uniquely positioned to help our mix of 100 customers develop and deploy adaptive testing solutions for their NGN/IMS development and service deployment needs. Our customers are building some of the world's largest LTE and 4G service deployments. In fact, Mu customers represent the vast majority of North America's IP service development and service deployment offerings including many operators with bundled service offerings on the newest customer devices. The complex interactions between building and deploying IP services is a natural fit for Mu's testing solution.

What are some areas of NGN and IMS where you have found challenges for operators?

Every operator's deployment of NGN and IMS is unique, with most containing custom pieces. Because of this, Mu operator customers find it challenging to ensure that the services they are deploying will be of the highest quality with the best functionality, interoperability, reliability and security - taken together to ensure high service quality. The reality is that vendors are not delivering solutions that have been tested for the specific operator's specifications. Nor are they testing for all of their functionality, interoperability, resilience, and security needs.

Are there any other critical benchmarks that need to take place in this IMS NGN evolution?

Yes, vendors developing products for this fast growing market need to ensure their products are functionally sound, fully interoperable, and resilient in changing operator networks and secure against unexpected access. Since operator deployments of bundled LTE services are starting to roll out, the quality of the IP service to end customers will now increasingly be publicly tested. Ultimately users will vote with their wallets and average revenue per user (ARPU) will become a critical operator benchmark that trickles down to their vendor suppliers with new contracts.

What are some of the key factors for NGN and IMS success in the industry?

Mass adoption will only occur when end users are confident that the IP service they are accessing is functionally sound, interoperable, resilient, and secure. Whenever a new type of service is introduced by their operator, the initial focus is always on features/functionality. However, quality and user experience follow close behind and it is only when these two latter obstacles are addressed that mainstream LTE or 4G adoption occurs. When NGN and IMS operators and vendors embrace IP service testing as a critical aspect of their business to speed quality products and services to market, this adoption will occur.

To have your company considered for a profile in the Q & A section of this newsletter send an email to pr@ngnforum.org.

SUPERCOMM provides a foundation for the communications industry to explore the technological transformation created by Broadband innovation. By creating a world-class platform where global brands showcase the entire broadband continuum, large and small service providers, and enterprise and institutional communications buyers have the ability to identify the solutions designed to enhance their networks and monetize their investment in Broadband. From enabling technologies to content delivery and next generation applications, SUPERCOMM is the forum where the vision of broadband technology comes to life. SUPERCOMM 2009. October 21-23, 2009. Chicago, Illinois. For more information or to register visit http://www.supercomm2009.com/ims1

NGN Forum Working Groups Update

Planning is well underway at the IMS Forum technical working groups, which have been holding regular joint sessions for the planning of Plugfest 8. The participants in the Diameter and Control plane Working Group together with the OSS/BSS and the Interoperability and Test Working Groups are meeting now every week with the participation of the three groups and the UNH IOL lab management.

The Diameter and Control plane interoperability group recently achieved an important milestone -the release of the complete test matrix and plan. The group was formed late last year and chaired by Bruno Deslandes (Marben-Products). Participants included Prof. Carol Davids at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and participants from companies such as Aricent, HP, Mu Dynamics, Radvision, Testing Tech, Wipro, and Data Connection Ltd.

The importance of Plugfest 8 cannot be underestimated. Together we will address some of the most challenging issues facing the progress of IMS in service provider networks: network-to-network interoperability, exercising the control plane along the Diameter interfaces and verifying that OSS/BSS with focus on billing and charging functions. That's a lot to do even for a forum with a track record of having the most frequent IMS/NGN interoperability events in the industry.

NGN Forum Calendar of Events

The NGN IMS Forum spoke and moderated panels at the following shows this Fall:

· Sept. 1-3: Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, Los Angeles, CA

· Sept. 1-3: ITExpo/4GWE, Los Angeles,.CA

· Sept. 15-18: 4G World, Chicago

· Sept. 21-23: VON Conference & Expo 2009, South Beach, FL

See the NGN/IMS Forum at the following events:

· October 5-9: IMS/NGN Plugfest 8, UNH-IOL, Durham, NH

· October 6-9: CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009, San Diego, CA

· October 11-14: CompTel, Orlando, FL

· October 21 at 4:14 PM: Supercomm 2009, Chicago, IL - Exploration Theater Special Session#1: IMS Forum Presents: Results from Plugfest 8 - Interoperability for IP Applications & B/OSS and Charging in Converged IMS & NGN networks. Panel of Plugfest 8 participants.

· October 28-29: VoIP Conference & Expo, Illinois Institute of Technology, Wheaton, IL, IMS Forum President and Forum member executives to speak and review state of NGN telecom industry.

· October 25-30: Cable Connection, Denver, CO

Showcase Your Expertise and Leadership: Call for Speakers

The NGN Forum and IMS Forum invites members to join its exclusive Speakers' Bureau. Member companies have an excellent opportunity to market their companies and senior executives while representing the Forum at future trade shows and conferences. Simply contact us with a copy of the proposed speaker's bio and indicate any specific NGN and IMS-related speaking topics and expertise. Speaking topic abstracts of one or two paragraphs are especially helpful. Please send to: pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN/IMS Forum in the News

VoIP Conference & Expo at IIT

October 27-29, 2009

Join us for 2-3 days of VoIP at the Fifth Annual VoIP Conference and Expo at Illinois Institute of Technology on October 27-29, 2009, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Visit http://www.cpd.iit.edu/voipconference09 for details.

Recent NGN/IMS Forum Press Releases

Why Join the IMS Forum

The NGN/IMS Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of NGN and IMS applications and services, enabling enterprise and residential consumers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, Internet and mobile services over broadband via cable, mobile and fixed networks.

NGN/IMS applications and services comprise residential VoIP, entertainment including IPTV and gaming, IP Centrex / IP PBX and unified communications for business including fixed-mobile converged services, videoconferencing and web-collaboration. NGN and IMS networks include DSL, Cable, GSM, UMTS, Wi-Fi and WiMAX implementations.

The NGN/IMS Forum Plugfests, typically held every 3 to 4 months, bring together dozens of industry-leading NGN and IMS vendors from around the world, all of whom build real, full-featured, NGN and IMS networks during the test event.

If you are interested in joining the NGN/IMS Forum, Plugfests or in participating in any of the working groups or marketing programs, please contact the NGN/IMS Forum.

All are invited to participate in the industry's first open NGN/IMS Community where Forum members, those involved in various NGN and IMS working groups, the IMS Linkedin group, our industry and colleagues around the world can participate in active, mutually beneficial discussions. Take a moment to register now.

Our members are shaping the future of the NGN and IMS. Joining the NGN/IMS Forum enables members to:

• Verify and certify interoperability, reduce costs and accelerate time to market
• Participate in technical working groups focusing on service creation and applications for NGN/IMS architecture, framework and deployment issues
• Gain additional visibility through the NGN/IMS Forum's Speakers Bureau, public relations and marketing programs
• Showcase member companies at major telecom, cable, and wireless events in North America, Asia, and Europe
• Receive current market and technology information through newsletters, reports, white papers and conferences
• Gain access to an informed professional network of industry consultants and accredited experts

Have a request? We welcome your feedback on this newsletter.
NGN/IMS Forum Press & Newsletter Contact: pr@imsforum.org

2Q 2009 • info@IMSForum.org • www.NGNForum.org • www.IMSForum.org

Dear NGN Forum Members and Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that our eighth NGN and IMS PlugfestTM will be held October 5 thru October 9th, 2009 at the InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL) in Durham, NH. The NGN and IMS Forums' Plugfests are the industry's only interoperability events covering NGN services over 3G, LTE, WiMAX, wireline, cable broadband and IMS architectures. Plugfest 8 will focus on Interoperability for IP Applications & IP BSS/OSS & Security in IMS Meshed networks in the following areas:

• End-to-end interoperability testing for interconnected NGN and IMS networks, applications and services
• Control Plane and Diameter Protocol
• OSS and BSS Management and Charging Plane

Plugfest 8 is a cooperative effort between a number of our most important working groups, including the Diameter and Control Plane, InterOperability and Test, and BSS/OSS and Security Working Groups. It will showcase the great progress that these groups have made in advancing NGN and IMS architectures. The Plugfest 7 Diameter and Control Plane test plan will be incorporated into the first part of Plugfest 8. More detail on plans for this Plugfest is provided under the Plugfest 8 Test Plan update Section of this newsletter.

Participation in NGN IMS Plugfest 8 is open to all companies. For online registration and info contact the forum at: info@ngnforum.org or visit www.NGNforum.org.

We are excited about the creation of the BSS/OSS & Security Technical Working Group which was announced at the Billing & OSS World Conference & Expo in April. This working group will help guide industry momentum for an integrated BSS/OSS framework to enable cost-effective transition to IMS/NGN environments. It will focus on the billing and charging, policy control and security functions required by service providers to capture the value promised by NGN networks. HP will chair the working group with support from vice-chairs, Comverse and Mu Dynamics.

We also recently did a joint announcement with member company, Aricent, announcing the launch of www.TestNGN.org. The www.TestNGN.org site hosts an industry-wide collaborative platform of comprehensive test cases for the validation of IMS and NGN equipment and services, the first collaborative repository for next generation equipment and service testing. More information on the BSS/OSS & Security Technical Working Group and the Aricent announcement is available in the Technical Working Group section of this newsletter.

We look forward to your participation in our Working Groups and in Plugfest 8. For more information please contact info@ngnforum.org.

Regards,

Michael Khalilian
Chairman and President
NGN Forum and IMS Forum

The International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009 Convention October 7-9, 2009 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA

No matter what your business is - healthcare, entertainment, fleet management or financial planning - wireless can transform how you do business and International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment brings this possibility to life. This is the event where attendees and exhibitors converge to generate dialogue, share ideas and debate the economics of mobile business. Register Now! www.ctiashow.com

Market Research Corner

AT&T, Verizon Looking at IMS in a Bad Economy
Several Economic Macro-Trends Are Making the Case to Invest in IMS
By Tara Seals, senior editor, xchange, VON and PHONE+

The economy is in a tailspin, but that might be good news for IMS and the converged, all-IP, anywhere/anytime, revenue-generating applications it can enable. For instance, the IMS/NGN Forum told VON that there are definite "rumbles in the industry" about AT&T deploying more IMS in order to leverage its U-verse network for efficient content porting across its wired and wireline networks, while Verizon Communications is internalizing IMS as part of its roadmap for the same reason.

For its part, Verizon has been deploying IMS in a building-block fashion, and now specifically wants to address complexity concerns in the integration of fixed and mobile services, especially IPTV. The carrier is looking at release 8 and 9 of the standard to bring in the functionality it needs to justify more deployment, it has divulged.

Perhaps most tellingly for the IMS ecosystem, the two American heavyweights aren't alone in taking a look at extending their IMS plans. While IMS right now lives almost exclusively in core networks, with the access side and carrier interconnection pieces largely absent, economic-related macro-trends are emerging that are affecting carriers' network transformation priorities across the board. For instance, CDMA-based mobile carriers moving to LTE (like Verizon Wireless, incidentally) will have a tough time without IMS stitching their disparate, non-standardized legacy equipment together with the new IP-based standard network to provide the same user experience to all subscribers.

"Frankly, carriers don't have a choice but to continue with IMS," said Manuel Vexler when asked about this. Vexler, CMO, Huawei, and chairman of the IMS Technical Working Group for the Forum, has been hard at work testing the blueprint for abstracting applications over a common IP network topology, most recently during the Forum's Plugfest 6 in January.

"They're continuing to roll out LTE for wireless and DOCSIS 3.0 for cable, and there is a clear push towards IP access otherwise," he explained. "Those technologies are more efficient, and they can deliver services at a lower cost per bit, which is critical. If you want to leverage broadband, then you move to VoIP. For video and multimedia to take off, which is the future, you need an all-IP architecture end-to-end and the ability to bridge legacy and new networks, and not just IMS in the core."

It's also a question of considering specific services. "They are in fact moving beyond thinking of this as a core technology because there are relevant end user products and services that you need IMS for in order to deliver a great user experience and interface," said Nicolas Appert, CEO at software platform developer Inexbee.

For instance, Vexler noted that the trend towards cloud services, managed offerings and Web applications makes a case for leveraging the cross-network traffic prioritization and QoS that IMS enables. With more and more businesses willing to leverage these cost- and IT resource-saving apps in the face of a down economy, carriers have a big opportunity in enabling their delivery. "It's increasingly necessary for service provides to go from best efforts to offering some form of quality of service, and it absolutely has to happen if you're providing a mix of services from the cloud," Vexler said. "We have always-on connections now, but that doesn't mean the network understands your service issues, and Web 2.0 without QoS means moments of lapses and freezing-not good for business uptake."

The movement in terms of these drivers playing out is a mixed bag. "It's clearly not a one-size-fits-all proposition," said Vexler. "We're seeing a lot of discussion around all of this, with the first full-scale IMS deployments in greenfield situations, such as in Pakistan."

Besides AT&T and Verizon, other telco hotspots include Telecom Italia in Italy and Telefonica in Spain, which both have teams researching IMS. "They have Latin American networks as well, and both fixed and mobile arms," said Vexler. "I've seen no specific plans, but I'm speculating the interest is because they want to converge all of that."

British Telecom plc is another carrier to watch. "I think it embraced IMS for its 21C Network too early, so it had to go back to the vendors' interop issues," Vexler noted. "Since then they're really in real need of IMS because they put everything on IP and VoIP."

Michael Khalilian, president and chairman of the IMS Forum, does caution that for 2009 most of the interest will translate, much like Verizon's progression, into a building-block kind of approach. "We're seeing more and more service providers using elements and modules of IMS in their networks, service offerings and back office, even if they aren't in full deployment mode. We'll see much more of that this year."

Ultimately, deployment plans depend on where an individual carrier feels IMS can help it make money first. "We are seeing a number of opportunities shape up," said John Nye, vice president of corporate marketing at VoIP vendor Sonus Networks Inc. "For us, enterprise FMC seems to be a first mover. The general view that we're seeing is a gradual commitment to IMS on the part of operators, tied to real ROI. So they're deploying it at first to support specific business cases around specific bundles and services they know will be revenue generating right now."

It's a trend that while piecemeal, will make IMS more ubiquitous as time goes on, according to Vexler. "I think what we're seeing with IMS is a normal progression," he said. "People have been talking about it the same way PCs 20 years ago went through hype. PCs made the cover of Time with the prediction that soon everyone will have a PC on their desk. Then when it actually happened, there was no article saying hey, everyone has a PC on their desks. That's sort of the same thing I see happening now with IMS. One day you'll just realize that it's everywhere."

Commercializing IMS

Carriers might need IMS, but the architecture still has a way to go to fully prove out commercial support for critical tasks like intercarrier roaming. In January the IMS/NGN Forum went some distance to close the gap, demonstrating roaming of services on a multi-operator network for the first time, using commercial endpoints.

"One very important data point for me is the availability and involvement in the ecosystem of end user equipment, not just core infrastructure," said Manuel Vexler, chairman of the IMS Technical Working Group for the Forum. "You know something is real when you have end user devices."

Other priorities for the Forum in Plugfest 6 included addressing OSS and business concerns, like enabling real-time billing and proving federated identity security.

"It's so important that we're addressing real-world issues," said Vexler. "The federated identity support is a big thing because consumers don't like to log on again and again-with IMS the network automatically and securely awards them the right to use the services they subscribe to regardless of how they are accessing them."

Going forward in the two other Plugfests slated for this year, the Forum will test IPTV, and will wrap in access networks based on WiMAX and LTE, with other priorities to be determined by its members as time goes on.

Published with the permission of VON Magazine. Read the article at: http://www.billingworld.com/articles/att-verizon-looking-at-ims-in-a-bad-economy.html

Parks Associates forecasts over two billion 3G subscribers will motivate convergence in mobile and fixed-line services

A new report from Parks Associates finds worldwide growth in the number of 3G subscribers will motivate service providers, under pressure to maintain customer satisfaction and build revenues, to expand on traditional voice offerings to include converged fixed-mobile services.

The Report, Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Consumers and Business Models predicts that the number of 3G subscribers will exceed 2.5 billion worldwide by 2013, with over one billion in Asia alone. The tremendous expansion of this large service population will catalyze the development of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), creating new service options where users can access video, audio, and community offerings via mobile devices once limited to traditional voice applications.

"Service providers have to offer personalized services that fit individual needs, instead of uniform sets of services," said Jayant Dasari, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. "Consumers rely on their mobile phones for communications and for entertainment and social networking."

Demand for personalized services will expand mobile services from traditional voice to multimedia applications. Parks Associates predicts operators will rely on femtocells to realize FMC as these devices enable them to better monetize their 3G infrastructure.

"Fulfilling such needs used to be impossible because carriers' networks and business divisions operated separately," Dasari said. "By moving voice and data to a single IP-based network, service providers can now put together the required infrastructure and associated back-office frameworks to provide truly converged services."

Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Consumers and Business Models examines the current state of 3G deployments worldwide and the drivers for fixed-mobile convergence. For more information, visit www.parksassociates.com

NGN Forum Q & A

Q & A with Dan Bantukul, Director of Product Management, Tekelec

Please provide us with some brief background on your company.

Found at the heart of most global networks, Tekelec enables the secure and instant delivery of calls and text messages for more than one billion mobile and fixed-line subscribers. The company's session management solutions allow operators to manage diverse applications, devices, technologies and protocols, across existing and evolving networks, to meet the demands of today's consumer. Tekelec uniquely ensures that operators have a clear migration path to SIP-based IP networks, and whatever comes next, with the flexibility to deploy solutions at a pace dictated by their business needs.

What IMS and NGN services and products does your company offer today and what are some of the key differentiators for your company in this market? What are your future product plans?

Tekelec's family of EAGLE® signaling platforms provides a future-proof solution for operators migrating to NGN IP connectivity and deploying hybrid networks requiring interoperability between SIP- and SS7-based network elements. The EAGLE 5 performs key functions such as STP, signaling gateway, intelligent routing, screening services, number portability and integrated performance and service management. In February, Tekelec extended the EAGLE 5 capabilities with the EAGLE XG. The upgraded platform provides a cost-effective, scalable migration supporting IMS and LTE networks with several applications, including a SIP Signaling Router, Call Session Control Function, Service Broker and HLR Router. All of these applications leverage a converged database that will support up to one billion subscribers.

How do the NGN and IMS Forum's Plugfests benefit your company and its customers?

The Plugfests accelerate the interoperability testing of IMS technology and unite global technical expertise to bring the next level of network architecture to operators. The cumulative effort among members streamlines interoperability, educates both operators and technology providers, and addresses variants in technology standards. The collaborative effort eliminates potential issues in the design and development phase and gives operators more robust and proven solutions.

How does a verification and certification process aid in the development of NGN and IMS interoperability/standards?

Verification and certification processes help operators understand the level of standards compliance when investigating NGN or IMS equipment. The processes help establish solution testing requirements against a certain set of standards by recognized organizations. This does not, however, replace interoperability testing that suppliers and operators must perform. This is because equipment may have gone through certification testing against a generic set of test cases that may not match an operator's target deployment environment. Industry-supported interoperability testing provides a venue for verification of common interpretation of the standards documents. Final interoperability testing within an operator's environment may be required to verify the proper operation of the equipment against the target deployment environment.

Who are some of your customers and what NGN and IMS services are they deploying?

Tekelec's network signaling, mobile messaging and performance management customers include eight of the top 10 wireless operators and six of the top 10 wireline service providers. Our customers span 106 countries, and we added 37 new EAGLE customers in 2007 – 2008. The EAGLE XG HLR, SSR and Service Broker are used in Tier 1 operators.

What are some areas of NGN and IMS where you have found challenges for operators?

Interoperability and complexity are two of operators' biggest challenges. Network evolution shows that as technology advancements become available from suppliers for various network elements, operators have more devices, protocols and standards to support, while maintaining a reliable and seamless user experience.

Are there any other critical benchmarks that need to take place in this IMS NGN evolution?

One of the critical benchmarks to measure is the comparison between the same -level key performance indicators (KPIs). As an example, for IMS-based voice services, operators should setup a benchmarks system that measures various voice KPIs against TDM-based voice service. Another example is for data services, where the benchmarks should be measured against pre-IMS data service (e.g. non-IMS IP TV service).

What are some of the key factors for NGN and IMS success in the industry?

As more IP-enabled devices connect to the network, service providers will need new ways to efficiently handle and route their signaling traffic, cost-effectively maintain interoperability between SIP and SS7 network assets, and meet subscribers' demands for new services. Progression to NGN and IMS architectures requires that operators continue leveraging their existing assets to derive maximum value and determine the pace of their network evolution to new technology.

To have your company considered for a profile in the Q & A section of this newsletter send an email to pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN Forum Working Groups Update

Plugfest 8 Test Plan update

Plugfest 8 will focus on Interoperability for IP Applications, IP BSS/OSS & Security and NGN Interoperability in Meshed networks in the following areas:

• End-to-end interoperability testing for interconnected NGN and IMS networks, applications and services
• Control Plane and the Diameter Protocols
• OSS and BSS Management and Charging Plane

Examples of topics to be included in Plugfest 8 include:

• Application and Feature Testing: Applications that are able to interoperate across the interface; different implementations using different methods to meet the Control Plane and Diameter requirements On-line and off-line charging
• Basic Diameter Protocol Conformance: Connectivity and Peering, Routing and Relaying of messages and Redirect Agent providing routing instructions to peer nodes
• Interface Compliance testing: The 3GPP standard interfaces that use Diameter
• Expanded usage of fully qualified domain names within both the SIP and Diameter interfaces. Use of DNS to provide round-robin load balancing to multiple I-CSCF systems
• Extended use of NAPTR and SRV records by limiting the number of records
• Multi-domain scenarios
• Further study of IPsec on the Gm interface
• Inclusion of IPv6 within the core network
• Topology hiding scenarios: IMS/NGN Control Plane interoperability
• Topology hiding border controllers, legacy network gateways, service location function, and policy control elements

Participation in NGN/IMS Plugfest 8 is open to all companies. All interested parties are invited to join the group ASAP to help with the planning of this next test event. For online registration and info contact the forum at: info@ngnforum.org or visit www.NGNforum.org.

NGN Forum IMS Forum Technical Working Groups Update

The creation of the BSS/OSS & Security Technical Working was announced at the Billing & OSS World Conference & Expo in April. This working group will help guide industry momentum for an integrated BSS/OSS framework to enable cost-effective transition to IMS/NGN environments. It will focus on the billing and charging, policy control and security functions required by service providers to capture the value promised by NGN networks. HP is the chair of the working group and Comverse and Mu Dynamics are vice-chairs. Other industry leaders such as, Acision, Aricent, DSET, Marben Products, NE Technologies, Tech Mahindra, and Tekelec are also founding members.

The Working Group will develop guidelines on the business and technical aspects of BSS/OSS and security in IMS and NGN services and will define the architecture and requirements for network interoperability and reliable, real-time IP service application deployment. It will focus on the operational and management aspects of converged IMS/NGN applications and services delivered over wireless (3G, LTE), wireline (DSL, optical) and cable broadband. Working Group participation is open to all members. For more info. send an email to admin@ngnforum.org.

The Diameter/Control Plane working group is progressing to the last stages of work prior to Plugfest participation. The Diameter group started the year with working on the Test strategy document and having ratified it with all the members of the working group moved to developing detailed test plans for the Plugfest participation.

The group plans to have a detailed test plans on IMS Control plane functionality focused on the Diameter protocol. This test plan is targeted at ensuring IOT between the various nodes of the IMS architecture interacting through Diameter interfaces and will exercize these interfaces at protocol, application and service level. It fully complements IMS end to end testing already established by IMS Forum by ensuring a greater IMS control plane IOT coverage at IMS node interface level.The test plans will be ratified by the group members and approved in July 2009. The test plans will be executed in October 2009 at the IMS/NGN Plugfest 8 Lab.

For more information on the test plans or participating with the group in Plugfest 8, please contact Mansoor Basha, Technical Director, techdir@imsforum.org or Bruno Deslandes, Working Group Chair, dchair@imsforum.org.

Our other technical working groups were very busy since the beginning of the year with the "Next Generation Policy" white paper, and the planning for the 2009 technical events.

To start, we would like to introduce our readers to a seminal white paper by Kushanava Laha, Chief Systems Engineer at Aricent. The paper, available on our website, discusses revenue policy monetization and OpEx optimization. The White Paper addresses the challenges of optimizing network resources under the influence of subscriber, service, network and administrative policies for delivering Next-Gen user experience across heterogeneous accesses and across multiple administrative domains? The paper covers how to:

• Progress the use of Diameter in IMS and NGN networks through the technical and marketing activities of the IMS/NGN Forum.
• Develop Diameter interoperability test plans and execute tests drawing on IMS/NGN Forum Plugfest events
• Establish liaisons and contribute to the IETF, 3GPP, ETSI, Cable Labs and ATIS Diameter standardization efforts
• Explore the use of Diameter in related areas, such as WiMAX and Long Term Evolution networks.

The group is open to both NGN Forum and IMS Forum members and non-members. To subscribe please send an email to Techchair@ngnforum.org.

We also did a joint announcement with member company, Aricent, announcing the launch of www.TestNGN.org. The www.TestNGN.org site hosts an industry-wide collaborative platform of comprehensive test cases for the validation of IMS and NGN equipment and services, the first first collaborative repository for next generation equipment and service testing.

www.TestNGN.org offers the industry's first community-based, open repository for NGN testing that allows network equipment manufacturers and service providers to significantly reduce the time, complexity, and cost required to introduce next generation networks and services, including equipment such as multimedia gateways, home subscriber and application servers, and services including voice and multimedia over IP, converged Web-telephony services and IPTV.

The repository will allow equipment manufacturers and service providers to download, post and share global testing experiences, quickly creating a high value knowledge base. This approach will help minimize the time spent on test case development, planning, writing and preparation, and accelerate the testing cycle for NGN architectures while reducing complexity and time to market.

Aricent has developed an extensive NGN testing practice, employing more than 1,600 test engineers and test consultants. The practice has over 70,000 test cases for wireless, VoIP and IMS, all designed to speed the worldwide delivery of Next Generation Networks.

NGN Forum Calendar of Events

See the NGN/IMS Forum at the following events:

• Sept. 3: Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, Los Angeles, CA - Using IMS to Deliver Services Across 3 Screens; Is VoIP Dead? Where do we Stand?
• Sept. 15-18: 4G World, Chicago, IL
• Sept. 21: VON Conference & Expo 2009, South Beach, FL - The Apps Race: Building a Developer Community in the New Telecom World
• October 6-9: CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009, San Diego, CA
• October 11-14: CompTel, Orlando, FL
• October 21-23: Supercomm 2009, Chicago, IL - Presentation of Plugfest 8 Results
• October 25-30: Cable Connection, Denver, CO

Showcase Your Expertise and Leadership: Call for Speakers

The NG Forum and IMS Forum invites members to join its exclusive Speakers' Bureau. Member companies have an excellent opportunity to market their companies and senior executives while representing the Forum at future trade shows and conferences. Simply contact us with a copy of the proposed speaker's bio and indicate any specific NGN and IMS-related speaking topics and expertise. Speaking topic abstracts of one or two paragraphs are especially helpful. Please send to: pr@ngnforum.org.

NGN/IMS Forum in the News

Recent NGN/IMS Forum Press Releases

Why Join the IMS Forum

The NGN/IMS Forum's mission is to accelerate the interoperability of NGN and IMS applications and services, enabling enterprise and residential consumers to quickly benefit from the delivery of quadruple play voice, video, Internet and mobile services over broadband via cable, mobile and fixed networks.

NGN/IMS applications and services comprise residential VoIP, entertainment including IPTV and gaming, IP Centrex / IP PBX and unified communications for business including fixed-mobile converged services, videoconferencing and web-collaboration. NGN and IMS networks include DSL, Cable, GSM, UMTS, Wi-Fi and WiMAX implementations.

The NGN/IMS Forum Plugfests, typically held every 3 to 4 months, bring together dozens of industry-leading NGN and IMS vendors from around the world, all of whom build real, full-featured, NGN and IMS networks during the test event.

If you are interested in joining the NGN/IMS Forum, Plugfests or in participating in any of the working groups or marketing programs, please contact the NGN/IMS Forum.

All are invited to participate in the industry's first open NGN/IMS Community where Forum members, those involved in various NGN and IMS working groups, the IMS Linkedin group, our industry and colleagues around the world can participate in active, mutually beneficial discussions. Take a moment to register now.

Our members are shaping the future of the NGN and IMS. Joining the NGN/IMS Forum enables members to:

• Verify and certify interoperability, reduce costs and accelerate time to market
• Participate in technical working groups focusing on service creation and applications for NGN/IMS architecture, framework and deployment issues
• Gain additional visibility through the NGN/IMS Forum's Speakers Bureau, public relations and marketing programs
• Showcase member companies at major telecom, cable, and wireless events in North America, Asia, and Europe
• Receive current market and technology information through newsletters, reports, white papers and conferences
• Gain access to an informed professional network of industry consultants and accredited experts

Have a request? We welcome your feedback on this newsletter.
NGN/IMS Forum Press & Newsletter Contact: pr@imsforum.org