The Advent of IMS: Grand Unification or Tower of Babel?

Published by: IDC

Published: Jan. 24, 2007 - 1 Pages

Table of Contents

Abstract

This IDC presentation, given on September 12, 2006, at the fall VON show, looks at three major trends specifically in the context of IMS. The telecom industry is in the midst of a huge disruptive pattern based on three factors: 1) IT/telecom convergence, 2) IMS, and 3) the trend towards peer to peer disintermediation based on powerful new capabilities in consumer devices working over the Internet. In addition, the irresistible force of Moore's law and Internet creativity and innovation typified by Web 2.0 sometimes appear to be on a collision course with an immovable "object" the realities and physical limitations of existing legacy carrier infrastructure.

As these trends evolve over the next several years, risks and opportunities for both NEPs and IT suppliers will be significant. In addition, IMS has taken the telecom industry by storm and enjoyed tremendous momentum in 2006. NEPs are steadily working towards filling out their IMS portfolios and jockeying for pole position in the IMS marketing game. Many of their tier 1 carrier customers are engaged in either trials or commercial deployments. Progress to date notwithstanding, IMS still has a long way to go before it can become the foundation for grand unification that its backers intend. Complexity of both the standard itself and its mapping into product portfolios is a critical concern. In addition, there are still gaps and unresolved issues in the standard centering on areas such as service orchestration, security, and others.

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