3GSM: Ericsson names first IMS deployments

CANNES, FRANCE--Ericsson today revealed its first IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) wins, announcing at the 3GSM World Congress deals with Telecom Italia Mobile for a core to handset IMS deployment and an converged wireless/wireline IMS trial with Nordic carrier TeliaSonera.

With few carriers having revealed their IMS plans, the announcements give Ericsson a big perceptive boost in the technology sector as all the major network vendors bid for what is expected to be hundreds of global contracts. So far Lucent has landed the most visible deal to date, winning the contract to supply Sprint’s IMS architecture.

The TIM deal is for what Ericsson terms combinational service. While not bridging wireline and wireless networks, TIM’s proposed architecture would bridge voice and data services over the phone, allowing customers to share video, images and launch data collaboration services with other mobile users while having ongoing phone conversations.

Under the contract, Ericsson will supply the IMS core elements for TIM’s network and the handset client software necessary to launch the new collaborative applications. Ericsson and TIM did not name specific vendors for the necessary handsets, but they did said that the new IMS-based services would be available on numerous terminals from several providers.

The TeliaSonera trial will begin in the Spring and involve the carrier’s operations throughout the entire Nordic region, in order to test Ericsson’s solution in a multi-vendor environment. Ericsson won’t be the only vendor working on the core upgrade trail though. The carrier has selected two other vendors to implement their solutions, though they were not named at the show. TeliaSonera will test IP voice and true push-to-talk over cellular service, which will utilize the UMTS packet instead of the traditional voice channel as well as the some of the combinational services Ericsson is launching on TIM’s network. The carrier said the end goal of the trial would be to fully converge its mobile and fixed networks over the common platform.

Ericsson claims the two contracts are only two of the 25 signed deals its landed for IMS so far.