Verizon sees IPTV-over-IMS progress

The key takeway “is that the various standards that drive IMS-based IPTV came together as part of an implementable solution,” Khan said.

Overall, the GMI 2008 demonstration tested six scenarios: base IMS core; end-to-end QoS; IMS-based IPTV; location services; service-oriented architectures, including Parlay X API links between Web services and IMS; and VoIP and IPTV performance management.

The demonstration proved that “the core IMS protocols are mature and stable; most issues were configuration problems rather than protocol problems,” said Roger Ward, president of the MSF. That doesn’t mean the testing wasn’t without its bumps. “Though the standards are generally mature, the real-world architecture [to support IMS] is extremely complex, which impacts interoperability.”

Among the issues identified: limitations in roaming support and incompatible use in vendor products of private heads (IETF P-Headers), which were resolved using session border controllers to normalize protocols, Ward said.

As for the testing of SOA and IMS, the demo found the Parlay X and Web services APIs “rock solid. They performed wonderfully, we didn’t find any issues,” Ward said, noting that because carriers are looking for ways to tap the innovation of Web developers, continued testing of such services and application interfaces will be a focus of the MSF and the GMI events moving forward.

Another change from previous GMI demos was the use of IPSec virtual private networks – rather than dedicated leased lines – as the underlying physical infrastructure for the tests. The use of VPNS cut costs and increased flexibility, and also added yet another element of real-world network configuration to the process, Ward said.

The two-week GMI2008 test event, held in October, involved five inter-networked lab sites - BT/ Vodafone in the UK, Verizon, NCS (the National Communication System) and UNH-IOL (University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab) in the US and China Mobile in China.