Summer Plugfest focuses on broader network access

Fresh on the heels of its last interoperability demo – which featured connections across two test networks for the first time – the IMS/NGN Forum is organizing its summer “Plugfest” around testing access via a variety of network types using the Diameter protocol.

Broadening the types of access networks tested makes sense as next-generation wireless networks – LTE and WiMax in particular – increasingly leverage an IMS- or NGN-centric packet core. Plugfest 7, to be held in June, will focus on testing an array of Diameter-based interfaces used in IP Multimedia Subsystem-based networks, according to Michael Khalilian, chairman and president of the NGN IMS Forum.

Diameter is a protocol used in next-generation networks to allow IMS network elements to exchange data related to authentication, authorization and accounting. Such security- and access-related capabilities are essential in IMS networks, which are made up of many more software-based elements from many more vendors than a typical siloed TDM network approach.

This summer’s event will focus on using Diameter in IMS functions including call session control, mobility, subscriber authentication, charging and policy management. Diameter was designed to improve and expand on the existing RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) protocol.

The Plugfest series of tests have been moving from testing basic interoperability to higher level tests, such as the latest focus on Diameter, to help carriers not only deploy IMS/NGN networks but monetize them with new services that can be billed in this new, more complex environment, the forum’s Khalilian said.