GMI spotlights work to be done linking IMS, IPTV

“You want that information in the HSS, not on the video applications server,”
O’Callaghan said. “Having that information in the network is important so you don’t connect a cellphone to a FiOS 100-megabit stream that it can’t handle.”

The challenge is to determine where information needs to live and “how to bring network intelligence to bear to deliver the right response,” O’Callaghan said.

Achieving broad interoperability is important for all players in IPTV if the service will continue to grow, said George Sun, chief executive officer of ZTE USA. While ZTE’s earliest deployments in China use its equipment end-to-end, most other deployments will be multivendor. “We see this as a step-by-step process, bringing IMS and IPTV together,” Sun said.

European carriers are pushing forward on IMS deployment ahead of the US, which seems to be looking at more large-scale efforts, said Matthias Glanz, head of product management for NextGen Voice & Multimedia at Nokia Siemens Networks.

Network operators “want a platform to deliver real-time video applications over any access network, not just TV,” said Tariq Hussain, a member of NSN’s
Verizon sales team. “Once you have that architecture in place, you can deliver any kind of video, not just broadcast TV.”

GMI was able to identify multiple other places where interfaces aren’t open or further standards work is needed, making the event – which was two years in the making – a successful one.

Khan admitted, however, that going forward, GMI participants might choose to do more ongoing work rather than meet every two years for such an intense event. This year’s GMI became “like five mini-GMIs” all happening at the same time, he said.