IMS AWAITS

Cingular Wireless and its partial parent, SBC, both loosely outlined their plans last week to adopt convergent network architectures based on the IP multimedia subsystem architecture standards. Amid the super-hyping of IMS, it is good to see more carriers making commitments to the concept. Though these carriers were not the first ones to commit to IMS, their involvement makes the concept seem that much more ready for prime time. Carrier commitment will give vendors the confidence and support they need to make the products IMS-compliant in a timely manner, while helping them also figure out exactly how much to invest in IMS. Yet, even as SBC targets late 2006 or 2007 for IMS-based services and Cingular embarks on a long-term project, there are many questions that remain concerning how pervasively the effects of IMS will be felt and how soon. Some people might say that the migration to IMS technology is not any different than the ongoing migration to IP-based networks and that IMS is, in fact, merely a subset of the much larger and more general move to all-things IP. That's probably not inaccurate to say, but it is also a new frontier in other ways, causing upheaval in the traditional methods of creating and delivering services. Even if the network gradually becomes functionally IMS-compliant, carrier organizations and personnel will need to operationally adapt to the change. Even a much-simplified network won't manage itself.