CLARIFYING IMS

The IP multimedia subsystem, or IMS, architecture, which looked like a magic potion for network convergence when it first emerged, is now plagued with questions about interoperability, adaptability and revenue potential — in short, questions about specifics. Like any nascent platform that takes the journey through the telecom hype cycle, IMS has reached the reality checkpoint. What that means for its purveyors and the companies that have hinged their convergence strategies on the IMS architecture is that it's time for more specifics. The industry has had enough nebulous discussion about the IMS theory. What's required now is more about the specific applications the architecture can facilitate for service providers and the additional revenue those apps can generate. And, as Senior Editor Ed Gubbins pointed out in this space last month, the IMS sector also must address how applications that are created outside of its aegis will be accommodated by IMS-capable networks and devices. The telecom industry is still wanting for a neutral IMS champion that will take the platform beyond theory and provide the IMS education and specifics this industry requires. Who will it be?