RCS: Mobile's next step

In 2005, IP multimedia subsystem was heralded with great fanfare, as equipment vendors began launching products and service providers began making initial vendor selections. Though holding the promise of a truly integrated network core over which to deliver converged services, the reality is most IMS deployments have been for fixed-line voice-over-IP services.

In 2009, efforts are underway that will change the IMS service landscape. The shift from fixed-line VoIP-based IMS deployments to integrated multimedia mobile services will begin to happen with the deployment of rich communication suite (RCS) services beginning in late 2009 and into 2010.

The development of RCS is crucial for realizing the true value of IMS, as it represents the evolution of integrated multimedia services in mobile and fixed-line networks. The goal is to speed the adoption of applications and services that are fully interoperable between network operators and devices and provide an enhanced user experience.

The market for mobile services is highly fragmented, with very different implementations of services from operator to operator. Today, the mobile user has a separate interaction with each communication service — voice, IM, text, e-mail. None of the mobile services are integrated, providing a disconnected experience. At its core, RCS aims to provide a more integrated experience through an enhanced network address book that links contacts with presence status across services.

Consider that the backbone of RCS is the address book with presence and the inherent ties to social and business networking. With this the youth market is absolutely essential for RCS and will be the initial target market, operators have said. The reasons for targeting this segment are two-fold: First, this group finds value in the social network and users will drive others in their network to the same service capabilities; and second, bringing a social network to the service will actively engage users, driving enhanced messaging, image sharing and data usage.

Operators recognize the need to have RCS fully interoperable across networks in order for users to effectively use its capabilities across their entire base of contacts.

So where will RCS arise? Most of the near-term activity is in Western Europe, particularly in France, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia, where commercial services will begin to come online in 2010. In these countries there is a broad base of support. Outside of Europe, RCS deployments most likely will not roll out until 2011. In Asia, Japan looks to be the next market with serious RCS deployments. The main Japanese operators, lead by DoCoMo, are strong supporters of RCS and are collaborating on having a consistent service that will interoperate across multiple networks. This cross-operator support is absolutely critical.

The success of RCS will be driven by the ability for users to have the rich presence status of contacts, which requires all contacts use RCS. To that end, RCS-compliant devices and interoperability between operators are important and will be the two elements that will determine the near-term success of RCS. There are a lot of moving pieces that need to come together in the next nine to 12 months for RCS to be successful in the long term. Ultimately the fate of RCS is with the operators, as they push handset compliance and interoperability.

Diane Myers tracks carrier VoIP, IMS, RCS, SIP trunking, hosted UC and other service provider markets for Infonetics Research. Contact her at diane@infonetics.com.