IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Status Report: Emerging from the Trough of Disillusionment

Abstract

Report Structure:

This report provides an independent and quantified view of what is happening in the industry with IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), through the presentation of results from an industry-wide survey that encompasses 137 interviews (101 of with network operators). The report also includes operator and supplier case studies, presenting a factual based current state of the market, without the hype and marketing spin that has frustrated many people on this topic. These two objectives are reflected in the two main sections of this report: Market Survey Results and Case Studies which include Verizon, China Mobile, and Vodafone Spain.

• IMS remains niche, with only 8% of those operators surveyed deploying IMS. (Note, none of those operators have completed the conversion of their network, all considered it a 5-7 year process) Another 12% are in an extended field trial, which is characterized by services being launched on the IMS core, with in some cases paying customers; but a decision has not yet been made to commit to service migration onto the IMS core.
• IMS does not appear to be entering a period of rapid adoption, rather a linear growth in initial adoption over the next 5 years, with by 2014 about 32% of operators commencing an IMS deployment.
• Regionally, NAR (North America Region) provides the bulk of the growth in years 2010 and 2011, while EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific) regions provide the bulk of growth in later years.
• Lack of business case, lack of standards compliance and BOSS (Business and Operational Support System) integration were the top three barriers to adoption as identified by operators.

• Network operators including mobile (CDMA and GSM), fixed, broadband and cable operators: Provides an independent status report to cut through the marketing hype to aid in the definition of a realistic network evolution plan.
• Network equipment providers: Provides the market analysis necessary to determine where and when to make product investments, better meet operator requirements, better aid operators in their network evolution, and guidance on where to focus sales resources over the next 5 years.
• Related network component suppliers (BSS and OSS suppliers, service broker / service middleware providers, SDP providers, customer premise equipment suppliers, mobile handset and software suppliers): Provides the market analysis necessary to determine where and when to make product investments and where for focus sales resources.
• Application developers: Provides information about where to invest in building IMS applications, and where to focus.
• Investors: Determines where the investment opportunities reside in the emerging IMS landscape.

Companies in Report*

• AT&T
• Belgacom
• Bermuda Telecom
• Bharti Airtel
• BSkyB
• BT
• Cable One
• Charter
• City Telecom
• Cox
• Deutsche Telekom
• Etisalat (and operating companies)
• Hong Kong CSL
• Indosat
• KPN (and operating companies)
• Kuwait Telecom
• Maxis
• Mobilcom
• O2
• Optus
• Orange / France Telecom (and operating companies)
• Qtel
• Rogers
• SingTel
• Sprint
• Swisscom
• T-Com
• T-Mobile (and operating companies)
• Telecom Italia
• Telecom New Zealand
• Telefonica (and operating companies)
• Telenor (and operating companies)
• Telstra
• Telus
• Three (and operating companies)
• TWC
• Verizon
• Vodafone (and operating companies)

• 4dk
• Alcatel Lucent
• AppTrigger
• Argela
• Camiant
• Cisco
• Comneon
• Comptel
• Converged Network Systems
• Dialogic
• Ecrio
• Espial
• Genband
• HP
• hSeind
• HTK
• Huawei
• IBM
• Intellinet
• jNetx
• Motorola
• NeuStar
• Nokia Siemens Networks
• Oracle
• OpenCloud
• Sigma Systems
• Tekelec
• Telcordia
• TM Forum
• Veraz
• Wipro

*Note: This is not a complete list, representing only those willing to have their company name listed in this report. Many operators were happy to share their views but preferred not to be identified because of their PR (Public Relations) approval process.