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Fellow IMS Forum Members and Friends:
The growing importance of IMS is undeniable (and with the global
business community beginning to recognize its full potential). Service
Provider’s Next Gen Voice and IMS Equipment revenue is expected to more
than double between 2005 and 2009, from $2.5 billion to $5.8 billion.
(See graph 1- Infonetics Research)
Ultimately, the market will force the issue, as awareness of IMS as a
gateway to new, advanced, converged IP-based applications and services
continues to grow. The ultimate payoff for those involved—a mirror of
the Forum’s membership—is likely to be measured in hundreds of millions
of dollars.
Recognizing this emerging standard’s full potential also has challenges
such as how fast IMS potential will be realized. This realization will
be a byproduct of several factors: increased market awareness; growing
vendor and service provider commitment to IMS technology; and an
industry-wide effort to work more closely together on common interests
– such as standards and certifications. The IMS Forum is dedicated to
both educating the market and to advancing IMS development and
deployment.
Our revamped IMS Forum newsletter that you’re reading now is one
example of our work to promote IMS awareness.
A more critical and intriguing project is the Forum’s inaugural IMS
Applications and Services Plugfest event, which will take place this
January 15th through the 19th at the University of New Hampshire’s
Interoperability Lab. The January 2007 Plugfest---first of a series of
IMSF planned Plugfests---is a milestone event designed to help vendors
and service providers establish criteria and requirements for IMS
compliance. The endgame for this effort is the establishment an
industry-recognized “stamp of approval,” or certification, for IMS
applications and services delivery. Such a stamp is more critical than
ever, given the almost overwhelming ambiguity surrounding IMS. The
Plugfest series, much like the IMS Forum itself, is a mechanism to
bring vendors and service providers together to address critical
questions on certifications and standards; It is an open testing
environment designed to secure the best practices that will help
advance IMS.
For information on the IMS Applications and Services Plugfest and how
to get involved for testing participation and marketing sponsorship in
the IMS Forum Plugfest please visit
http://www.imsforum.org/events/plugfest_event.shtml or contact me at
mkhalilian@imsforum.org.
I look forward to see you and your company’s participation in IMS
Forum Technical and Marketing working groups.
Best,
Michael Khalilian
Chairman & President
The IMS Forum - The Voice of IP Convergence
www.IMSForum.org
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| IMS PLUGFEST |
IMS PLUGFEST FOR APPLICATIONS AND SERVICES
DATE: JANUARY 15 - 19, 2007
LOCATION: UNH INTEROPERABILITY LABORATORY
The IMS Forum will host its inaugural IMS Plugfest for Applications and Services, open to both IMS Forum members and non-members, January 15th - January 19, 2007. This unique testing event will enable the Forum to develop and certify an industry-recognized "stamp of approval" for IMS technology applications and services, with results and findings captured in a test plan that will serve the industry as a reference for interoperability.
This Plugfest, the first in a series of IMS Plugfest events designed to provide IMS certification, will provide an opportunity for application vendors and service providers to establish agreed upon requirements and criteria for IMS compliance.
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
This Call for Participation is for inclusion in the Interoperability Test (IOT) Study Group, as part of the Technical Working Group of the IMS Forum. The Study Group will be responsible for the development of the test plan for the interoperability testing events. The deliverables will be a prose description of the event, including mission, organization, coordination, list of requirements, and expected outcomes. The Group will hold a kickoff meeting October 9, 2006 to discuss proposed topics for the IOT.
To participate in the IOT Study Group, please contact Marian Stasney, marian@imsforum.org, or Debbie Hetland, Program Manager, dhetland@imsforum.org. Should you choose to participate, you will be sent instructions on the kick-off meeting on October 6, 2006.
PLUGFEST TESTING OPPORTUNITIES
The PlugFest test plan will be created by the IMS Forum Test and Interoperability Working Group. The group, which is open to all PlugFest participants, will work together with experts from the industry, including service and applications providers developing IMS building blocks, to create a comprehensive resource plan and related test scenarios for review. (Please note that additional information detailing the test plan and test cases will be made available as the plan is developed.)
TESTING PARTICIPATION FEES
IMS Forum Members - $5,000.00
Non-Members - $10,000.00
"All participants will be required to sign an NDA"
MARKETING & SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
The IMS Plugfest represents a significant milestone in the Forum’s mission to accelerate the deployment of IMS by resolving critical interoperability issues, developing best practices, and showcasing standards-based architectures in the application layer, we are initiating an aggressive PR and marketing campaign to ensure maximum exposure and visibility.
Platinum Sponsorship ($10,000.00)
• Option to distribute an individual organizational press release
announcing participation in the Plugfest
• Media and industry analyst relations support
• Exposure via the Web and on-site signage
• Corporate branding and recognition on marketing collateral and technical
literature
• 20% discount on testing fees
Gold Sponsorship ($5,000.00)
• Company listing in a group press release
• On-site signage
• 10% discount on testing fees
For additional information regarding the plugfest testing event and sponsorship please contact IMS Forum Program Manager, Debbie Hetland at dhetland@imsforum.org / 510-608-5907.
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| How to Join the IMS FORUM |
If you are interested in joining the IMS Forum, or in participating in any of the working groups or marketing programs, please contact IMSF Program Manager, Debbie Hetland, at dhetland@imsforum.org / 510.744.4020, or visit http://www.imsforum.org/member/how_to_join.shtml
Membership Benefits include:
• Verify and certify interoperability, reduce costs and accelerate time to market
• Participate in technical working groups focusing on service creation and
applications for IMS architecture framework as well as IMS deployment issues
• Gain additional visibility through the IMS Forum's Speakers Bureau, public
relations and marketing programs
• Member companies showcased at major telecom, cable, and wireless events in
North America, Asia, and Europe
• Receive current market and technology information through newsletters,
reports, and conferences
• Gain access to an informed professional network of industry consultants and
accredited experts
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| INDUSTRY NEWS AND ROUNDUP |
Telecom service provider capex hits $202 billion, revenue $1.2 trillion in 2005
For the third year in a row, telecom service providers worldwide increased their capital expenditures, albeit slightly, and will continue to do so for the next 3 years, says analyst firm Infonetics Research. 
Worldwide, service provider capex topped $202 billion in 2005, and is expected to increase to over $236 billion in 2009, according to Infonetics’ new Service Provider Capex, Revenue, and Subscribers report. In that 5 year period, service providers will allocate a total of $1.1 trillion to capex.
(See Graph 1.a)
-- Infonetics Research
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IMS Market Poised for Growth
New research from Frost & Sullivan indicates the IMS market is due to grow from the $2.5 billion of last year to $12.6 billion by 2012. This growth will be driven primarily by a raft of new services that IMS technology enables, such as VoIP, plus the desire for carriers to conduct a steady rollout of new systems while keeping disruption of existing services to a minimum.
-- FROST & SULLIVAN
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Comcast hits a million
For all the talk about VoIP’s successes, there are now only about five or six carriers in the million-customer class. Welcome another: Comcast, the nation’s biggest cableco. Customers are being drawn in by cheap triple-play bundles for $99/month. (A side note: if only 25 percent of the customers buy the triple play, that’s revenue of $25,000,000 per month.) Analyst projections suggest that Comcast is signing people up in the neighborhood of 425,000 per quarter, which is a nice neighborhood indeed.
-- FIERCEVoIP
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Study Says Cable VOIP Quality Beats PSTN
Not only is cable phone service cheaper that ILEC offerings, it sounds better and is more reliable, too. At least that’s the conclusion of a study released this week by IP service test player Keynote Systems Inc. During tests in New York and San Francisco during August, Keystone found the quality of cable IP phone service exceeded that of the PSTN, not to mention pure-play VOIP services.
Keystone benchmarked the service offerings of several different VOIP providers, as well as traditional ILEC circuit-switched voice offerings. Of all the services tested, the digital phone offerings of MSOs topped the list for both service reliability and audio clarity.
This means that Comcast beat out AT&T in the Bay Area, while Time Warner Cable topped Verizon in the Big Apple. The MSOs also outperformed standalone VOIP players like Lingo, Packet8, Skype, and Vonage.
Keystone calculated the reliability scores with performance measurements in three categories: service availability, average number of dial attempts, and dropped calls. Call quality was calculated in terms of audio responsiveness (a measure of audio delay) and audio clarity (measured by Mean Opinion Score).
Interestingly, the study also tested whether "over-the-top" VOIP services like Vonage and Skype performed better over cable modem or DSL links. Telcos have long argued that since cable modem users share last-mile bandwidth, they are more likely to experience degradation in service quality than DSL customers. Keystone found otherwise. According to the Keystone release:
It had been thought that cable modem subscribers would suffer overall service degradation during peak hours (8:00 PM-1:00 AM EDT). However, the study revealed that while cable modem subscribers did experience greater instances of audio delay during peak hours, audio clarity (as measured by Mean Opinion Score) was not affected by the increased traffic associated with peak hours. DSL connections, on the other hand, were found to deliver more consistent peak versus non-peak audio delay performance, but were less consistent as measured by MOS.
-- CableDigitalNews
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ABI: CAPEX for WCDMA Will Overtake GSM by 2012
In a recent report, ABI Research predicted that, by 2012, mobile operator capital expenditures (CAPEX) on 3G cellular technology will overtake 2G.
Specifically, the ABI projects that, despite its current status as the dominant cellular technology, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) will be superseded by WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access)—probably exceeding $150 billion in operator CAPEX.
What accounts for this predicted shift? ABI cites increasing emphasis on data services (e.g. mobile TV and broadband Internet access), which requires more bandwidth than 2G technology can provide.
“ABI Research expects that investment in technologies supporting HSDPA, mobile TV, and mobile broadband services will continue to expand in the coming years,” said ABI analyst Shailendra Pandey, in a statement. “Also, by 2007, a good number of mobile operators will start rolling out IMS (IP multimedia subsystems), enabling them to rapidly deploy and launch enhanced revenue-generating multimedia services.”
-- ABI Research (as reported by TMCNET)
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IMS EQUIPMENT REVENUE EXPECTED TO DOUBLE
The second quarter of 2006 is proving to be profitable for today’s VoIP/IMS providers, according to two reports published by Infonetics Research. These studies highlight significant gains in both the service provider VoIP/IMS market and the enterprise telephony market.
According to "Service Provider Next Gen Voice and IMS Equipment," worldwide service provider next generation voice and IMS equipment revenue is expected to more than double between 2005 and 2009, from $2.5 billion to $5.8 billion. The market is up 6 percent to $772.3 million in the second quarter of 2006, following a 6 percent decline in the first quarter.
-- INFONETICS RESEARCH
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Affinity carrier targets Western Europe
One of the most interesting things about the VoIP market is the ability of carriers to target regional affinity groups. GlobalTouch Telecom has launched a service aimed at Americans with family in Western Europe. SIPTalk Euro, an add-on to the company’s SIPTalk service, features unlimited inbound and outbound minutes anywhere in the U.S., Canada or 14 Western European countries for $24.95 per month. The service, which is also available for resellers, offers the standard Class 5 package of features, MP3 e-mailed voice-mail, and T.38 fax compatibility.
-- TMCNET
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IMS to Boost Managed Services and Hosting Demand among Network Operators
As the trend towards outsourcing network operations and content applications gains momentum, IMS will become one of the key technologies to be hosted by mobile operators worldwide, according to visiongain. The market research company has found that over 40 percent of all operators will adopt some form of Managed Services strategy by 2011, and that the complexity of IMS will stimulate much of this growth from 2007 onwards.
-- VISIONAGAIN
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Carrier VoIP/IMS Market Up 31 Percent Worldwide
"Worldwide service provider VoIP market increased 31 percent year-over-year driven by strong media gateway and softswitch sales," according to Synergy Research Group’s Q2 2006 Service Provider VoIP Market Share report.
Specifically, researchers found that the U.S. contributed the strongest growth of 12.8 percent by region, followed by APAC and EMEA with growth rates of 8.4 and 6.0 percent, respectively.
-- TMCNET
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Pushing past trials, WiMAX footprint grows
WiMAX stands poised to graduate from trial islands of service to a true broadband access alternative for subscribers. To date, 25 percent of Seoul, South Korea is covered by an expanding WiBro service. No wonder, then, that Intel Corp. decided in early July to plow $600 million into Clearwire Corp., a WiMAX carrier startup in the United States. Motorola Inc. has also invested close to $300 million in Clearwire.
In the near term, WiMAX will do better in other Asian countries, especially South Korea and Singapore. The latter issued six licenses last year and deployed Asia’s first commercial WiMAX services in January. Korea followed with the launch of WiBro services in Seoul last June by KT Corp. and SK Telecom Co. Ltd. Both companies plan to expand coverage throughout Seoul and surrounding cities by the year’s end, and to go nationwide by 2008.
"In the next stage, we will work toward interconnection with CDMA and Wi-Fi nets," said Sung-kil Cho, director of business cooperation at KT. "We will use Wi-Fi inside, WiBro for metro access and CDMA to extend access to rural areas."
-- EETIMESAsia
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| IMS FORUM NEWS |
IMS FORUM TO HOST MEMBER MEETING AT IMS EXPO IN SAN DIEGO
The IMS Forum Fall 2006 Member Meeting is being held on Wednesday & Thursday, October 11th & 12th, 2006 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. (http://www.imsforum.org/events/upcoming_meetings.shtml). The meeting is being held in conjunction with the Internet Telephony Conference and Expo (http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/) and the IMS Expo (http://www.tmcnet.com/ims/expo/).
Please RSVP for the meeting by sending an email to Debbie Hetland (dhetland@imsforum.org) indicating which day/days you will be attending no later than October 5th, 2006.
Meeting Information: October 11 & 12, 2006, San Diego Convention Center
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IMS FORUM PRESENTS INDUSTRY’S FIRST IMS TECHNOLOGY REFERENCE DOCUMENT
Earlier this month at Fall VON 2006, the IMS Forum presented the Industry’s first IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (FAQ) reference document titled “IMS Technology: Driving IP Convergence”. This much-needed resource, now available to IMS Forum members, is a direct response to the overwhelming demand for clarity in regard to this emerging standard. IMS represents an evolving technology framework that has enabled service providers with IP Convergence and new services and is gaining momentum every day. The technology, however, remains relatively unknown. The IMS Forum has developed this FAQ document to help educate the market on IMS, its potential impact, and ultimately, to further its deployment.
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IMS FORUM HOST IMS CLASSROOM & WORKSHOP AT COMPTEL PLUS
The IMS Forum is pleased to be an association sponsor for the upcoming COMPTEL PLUS Fall 2006 Convention & EXPO. At this event, the IMS Forum will participate in the COMPTEL Classroom, on Monday, October 9 from11-11:30 a.m., presenting a technological overview of IMS, examining its revenue generating possibilities and addressing current deployments. In addition, the IMS Forum will host an IMS-dedicated conference track, the IMS Workshop, on Monday, October 9, from 3:10 PM - 5:00 PM. This workshop will feature two sessions addressing IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) ; specifically, (I) an in-depth analysis examining its basic principles and promise, as well as (II) challenges and opportunities currently facing carriers/service providers, hardware vendors and application developers. In addition to hearing insight from the IMS Forum Executive team, attendees will have the opportunity to interact directly with top industry pioneers in regard to their organizations’ current IMS deployments/ case studies
and correlating results.
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| IMS FORUM MEMBER NEWS |
TRENDIUM INTRODUCES SERVICE PATH 3.0
Earlier this month, Trendium, Inc., announced the immediate availability of ServicePATH 3.0. ServicePATH 3.0 is the latest and most technologically innovative release of the company’s award-winning, policy-based service intelligence software system, which is deployed by leading telecommunications service providers worldwide. In production for more than two years, in addition to having matured through three upgrades with one of the largest metropolitan Ethernet service providers in the U.S., ServicePATH 3.0 makes available the most advanced service assurance functionality for high-capacity broadband networks.
"The continued consumer market penetration of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and other IP communications applications has created a strong demand for service assurance, performance and quality; the release of ServicePATH 3.0 is significant as it represents our rapid response to this demand as well as the evolution of our award-winning service assurance and intelligence software,” said Hanafy Meleis, president and chief executive officer, Trendium, Inc.
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SONUS NETWORKS DRIVES U.S. AND JAPANESE MARKETS TO IP-BASED VOICE NETWORKS
Synergy Research Group Reports Sonus Leads Several Categories of IP-Based Voice Market in Key Geographies
On September 14, 2006, Sonus Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONS), announced that Synergy Research Group, a leading independent industry analysis firm, has named Sonus Networks the market share leader in key categories of the IP-based voice industry in both the United States and Japan in their recent reports entitled, “Q2 2006 Service Provider VoIP United States Market Shares” and “Q2 2006 Service Provider VoIP Japan Market Shares.”
In the United States, Sonus maintained its number one market share position in the high density gateway market with 44.7%. Sonus’ high density media gateway, the GSX9000™, is one of the key components in Sonus’ industry leading IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-ready architecture, and is deployed in some of the United States’ largest wireless and wireline networks.
Sonus also maintained its leadership in Japan. Over the first half of 2006, Sonus has been the dominant market share leader, with approximately 80% of the high density gateway market and 63% of total media gateway market.
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TRENDIUM PARTNERS WITH ALLOT TO OFFER NETWORK MONITORING, CONTROL AND ANALYSIS FOR IMPROVED VOICE AND VIDEO DELIVERY
Trendium, a leading service intelligence solutions provider, and Allot Communications, a leader in IP service optimization solutions based on deep packet inspection (DPI), have announced a joint solution to help telecommunications service providers proactively manage broadband, VoIP and video services in real time, and implement network-wide service protection and control capabilities.
Trendium and Allot are offering a solution that combines the monitoring and control capabilities of Allot NetEnforcer bandwidth management devices with the analysis capabilities of Trendium ServicePATH™ Service Intelligence System. Allot NetEnforcer devices are deployed at critical junctures in the network to monitor and collect traffic data in real time and enforce service level agreement (SLA) policies. ServicePATH then performs statistical and trend analysis on the data to determine traffic, security or application problems affecting the quality of service; and to correlate control policies with real-time service objectives. Metrics can be collected for objects such as port, equipment, traffic, application, flows, VLAN, etc.
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GLOBALTOUCH TELECOM ANNOUNCES NEW EUROPEAN SERVICE PLAN: SIPTALK EURO
GlobalTouch Telecom, Inc., a leading provider of proprietary, vertically-integrated VoIP platforms, announced its new SIPTalk Euro Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) residential service plan today. SIPTalk Euro provides subscribers with unlimited anytime minutes to the U.S., Canada and fourteen Western European countries, as well as unlimited inbound and in-network minutes all for just $24.95 per month. The European countries include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
The service plan also includes all of the great SIPTalk features, including CallBlast, inbound/outbound fax, softphone and video phone.
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| SEPTEMBER 2006 WORKING GROUP UPDATE |
IMS Reference Q & A Document
The Technical Working Group will be publishing a FAQ on IMS on September 8, in time for the Fall VON conference, and will make this document available to the public via the IMS Forum website in the Educational Materials section. This “living” document will be continually updated as IMS changes and matures and new knowledge is gained.
The document supports the IMS Forum challenge of educating the public, particularly the media, and encouraging collaboration among the industry players. The FAQ addresses basic questions, such as “What is IMS?” and complex issues, such as BSS/OSS and deployment challenges. Please send your contributions to this important effort to marian@imsforum.org. A list of contributors will be included in the document.
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VCC Study Group
The VCC Study Group, co-chaired by Atul Varshneya of BayPackets, Inc. and Meenal Agarwal of UTStarcom, will be published in early October, prior to the Comptel Fall Conference. The topic is voice call continuity (VCC) handover implications. This will be a feasibility study of the 3GPP-adopted method (static anchoring-IMS control model and other proposed methods - static anchoring CS domain control, dynamic anchoring and others via 23.806), as related to the VCC between IMS domain and circuit switched domain. The Study Group will analyze this topic from the viewpoint of business and financial implications for the service provider.
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Technical Liaisons and Partnerships
Application to the 3GPP for Market Representation Partner status is on track. A member of the Forum will be presenting to the 60+ partner members October 11 at their Fall Meeting in San Jose Cabo, Mexico.
Application to the Telemanagement Forum for status as a liaison partner has been submitted to the TM Forum members for consideration. The Operations team will be working on partnership/liaison relationships with various organizations in the coming months, such as 3GPP2, etsi/TISPAN, IPDR.org, Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Max and others. If you are interested in participating as a liaison for either of these groups or would like to suggest a relationship you feel would be mutually beneficial, please email marian@imsforum.org or Mostafa Razzak at imsforum@23-31.com.
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Inclusion in the Technical Working Group Study Groups
As the IMS Forum continues to add quality organizations to its membership, the strength of the Technical Working Group grows as well. Attendance at bi-weekly conference calls is at an all-time high and we continue to add value to every call, with guest speakers and open discussions surrounding the technical and business issues facing early adopters of IMS.
The goal of the TWG is to form Study Groups with specific intellectual property to support the Forum’s goals of promoting the adoption of IMS as well as to support the interoperability testing currently being planned. The selection of topics will be ranked with these goals in mind, as well as the goal of IMS Forum toward best practices, technical specifications and implementations, and reference architectures. The TWG (or its subsidiary Study Group) meets every other Tuesday. If you or a team member is not currently on the mailing list, receiving notices of bi-weekly conference calls, et cetera, please email DHetland@imsforum.org for inclusion or login in to the private member website and opt in.
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| MEMBER PROFILE |
 Q&A With GlobalTouch Telecom CEO, Greg Welch
IMSF: Tell us about GlobalTouch Telecom and its products and services?
GW: Our mission at GlobalTouch is to enable carrier and reseller customers to fully leverage the benefits of VoIP by providing them fastest-to-market, flexible, complete, and cost-effective solutions.
GlobalTouch Telecom offers the industry’s leading proprietary, vertically integrated VoIP platform. Our company has developed every aspect of the technology from the ground up, creating a one-stop, single-vendor VoIP solution. The product comprises an all-inclusive, private label (white label) offering for carriers, MSOs, resellers, PTTs, ILECs, ISPs, CLECs and marketing companies.
Of particular note, is that our ASP VoIP Solution enables low CAPEX/OPEX offerings for both enterprise and residential deployments. In addition, GlobalTouch has come up with a VoIP platform called GTTVoIP™, which provides carriers and resellers an inexpensive and powerful new vehicle to leverage added value streams from their communications offering. This way, our carrier customers can jump right into this lucrative market with an ‘own your own’ complete, turnkey VoIP product
IMSF: What can the IMS Forum do for your company?
GW: GTT’s mission to enable carriers and resellers to fully leverage the benefits of VoIP is in direct synergy with that of the IMS Forum. The IMS Forum serves as an invaluable resource for us as we delve into the world of converge communications, and look to IMS for applications and services delivery. Focusing on GlobalTouch Telecom delivering real-world solutions, our membership in the IMSF will ensure we are positioned to receive maximum value from this exciting technology.
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| INDUSTRY EVENT CALENDAR |
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| Event |
Date |
Location |
IMS Forum participation |
| COMPTEL PLUS Fall Convention & EXPO |
October 8–11, 2006 |
Orlando, FL |
Speak, Exhibit, Meeting |
| IMS EXPO / Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO WEST 2006 |
October 10-13, 2006 |
San Diego, CA |
Speak, Exhibit, Meeting |
| IMS Strategies |
October 24-26, 2006 |
Paris, France |
Speak |
| IMS/MMD |
October 31-November 2, 2006 |
Dallas, TX |
Speak |
| TeleManagement World Dallas |
December 4–7, 2006 |
Dallas, TX |
Attend |
| Consumer VoIP Summit |
January 7, 2007 |
Las Vegas, NV |
Attend |
| IMS Forum PlugFest |
January 15-19, 2007 |
Durham, NH |
IMSF-Hosted Event |
| IMS Forum Service Provider/Integrator Board Event (co-located with IMS EXPO/Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO EAST 2007) |
January 22-23, 2007 |
Ft. Lauderdale, FL |
IMS-Hosted Event |
| IMS EXPO Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO EAST 2007 |
January 23-27, 2007 |
Ft. Lauderdale, FL |
Speak, Exhibit, Meeting |
| 3GSM |
February 12-15, 2007 |
Barcelona, Spain |
Attend |
| VoiceCon 2007 |
March 5-8, 2007 |
Orlando, FL |
Event |
| NCTA: The National Show |
May 7-9, 2007 |
Las Vegas, NV |
Event |
| GLOBALCOMMM 2007 |
June 18-21, 2007 |
Chicago, IL |
Speak, Exhibit |
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| Regulatory Update |
STATE FROM FCC CHAIRMAN KEVIN J. MARTIN
When I became Chairman, I identified public safety and emergency preparedness as critical issues. We have been working hard to make sure that all consumers have access to 911 emergency services. Public safety obligations like 911 are critical to consumers and public safety alike. The 911 system is quite literally one of life or death. It is critical to our nation’s ability to respond to a host of crises and the Commission has been working hard to minimize the situations where users are unable to access it. The Commission is committed to making sure that, during an emergency, a person can always pick up the phone, dial 911, and access local emergency officials.
With respect to VoIP, we are working with the VoIP community to implement our 911 rules. The Commission staff have conducted numerous meetings and attended conferences with public safety officials, interconnected VoIP providers, carriers, and third-party vendors in order to answer questions, promote coordination and encourage cooperation to accelerate 911 solutions.
With respect to wireless, the Commission has been working to ensure that all major wireless carriers have reached 95% penetration among their subscribers for a handset-based 911 solution. The Commission has received several waiver requests and we expect that they will be resolved soon. And, the Commission has adopted 22 orders, pursuant to the ENHANCE 911 Act, addressing petitions for relief filed by 52 Tier III carriers of the 95% handset penetration requirement.
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FCC ADOPTS ANNUAL REPORT ON STATE OF COMPETITION IN THE WIRELESS INDUSTRY
On September 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted its Eleventh Annual Report to Congress on the state of competition in the mobile telephone – or Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) – industry. This report examines the conditions prevailing in the CMRS marketplace in 2005. The FCC concluded that there is effective competition in the CMRS marketplace based on its analysis of various measures of competition, including: the number of competing carriers providing service in an area, market shares, pricing behavior and trends, technological upgrades and product innovations, subscriber growth, usage patterns, churn, and service quality.
The report reviews competitive market conditions by grouping indicators of the status of competition into four categories: (1) market structure, (2) carrier conduct, (3) consumer behavior, and (4) market performance. The report also examines a number of related topics, including urban-rural and international comparisons.
The report shows that competition among wireless carriers continues to afford many significant benefits to consumers. During 2005, the number of mobile telephone subscribers in the United States rose from 184.7 million to 213 million, increasing the nationwide penetration rate to approximately 71 percent. The amount of time mobile subscribers spend talking and texting on their mobile phones has also increased and the volume of text message traffic grew to 48.7 billion messages in the second half of 2005, nearly double the 24.7 billion messages in the same period of 2004. Revenue per minute, which can be used to measure the per-minute price of mobile telephone service, fell 22 percent during 2005 from $0.09 in 2004 to $0.07 in 2005. The J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Wireless Call Quality Study found that the quality of mobile telephone service improved in the past year, with reported problems per 100 calls reaching the lowest level since the inaugural study in 2003.
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FCC’S ADVANCED WIRELESS SERVICES (AWS) SPECTRUM AUCTION CONCLUDES
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) first auction of Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) spectrum licenses ended on September 18, 2006. A total of 1,122 licenses were offered in the auction, and 104 bidders won 1,087 licenses. The AWS licenses can be used to provide any of a wide array of innovative wireless services and technologies, including voice, data, video, and other wireless broadband services offered over Third Generation (“3G”) mobile networks. The licenses offered in the auction encompassed a range of geographic area and megahertz sizes in order to accommodate the varying spectrum needs of different types of wireless providers, including those serving rural areas.
Auction No. 66 began on August 9, 2006, and closed after 161 rounds of bidding, raising total gross bids of nearly $13.9 billion. The top five winning bidders based on the net amount of their winning bids include: T-Mobile License LLC; Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless; SpectrumCo LLC; MetroPCS AWS, LLC; and Cingular AWS, LLC. More than half of the winning bidders in the auction certified their qualifications as small business entities, enabling them to use bidding credits. The unsold licenses remain held by the FCC and will be made available again in a future auction.
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