London, 26th October 2005 - IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) deployments are underway and set to gather momentum, but the roll-out risks being delayed by a lack of cohesion on standards.
This was the opinion of some of the telecoms industry's foremost experts gathered at Informa Telecoms & Media's recent IMS event in Amsterdam.

IMS is set to deliver the highly-prized converged access to multimedia services - such as peer-to-peer, video telephony and fixed -to-mobile applications - across many devices, and operators are understandably keen to speed up deployment.

"We are already seeing major IMS contract announcements from the leading vendors," commented Julian Bright, Senior Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media. "I would expect this process to gain momentum in the year ahead as operators begin to accelerate their implementation programs for IMS."

"We're starting our IMS migration at the control plane level, allowing various legacy networks to be integrated" said Subrata De, Head of Core Network Evolution & Strategy, Vodafone Global. "It will create the capability for us to deliver exciting converged services and reduce costs."

The success of the network, however, is dependent on open standard interfaces between the different components involved, and lack of agreement on a single standard amongst equipment vendors could hold up development.

"Standardisation on the client side is a piece we're heavily missing," said Alexander Kuchar, Director of Mobile Services Network, Mobilkom Austria. "Things should improve, but from an operator point of view, I know this is easier said than done."

Some experts believe IP is ungluing the value chain, and IMS is providing a way for operators to prepare for the disruption it will cause, by allowing them to launch a suite of new IP-based services and applications that cannot be offered by third parties.

Toon Norp, Business Consultant at telecoms consultancy TNO ICT, noted, "The mobile operators have completely different agendas and business models from VoIP providers. They need to make sure that they do not become a bit-pipe provider to the MSNs and Skypes."

Operators are predicting IMS services will reach critical mass within three to five years.

© "MForum.ru" based on Informa Telecoms & Media