IMS Realism

IP Multimedia Subsystem seems to be moving from concept to deployment, if recent observations by Manuel Vexler, IMS Forum VP, are any indication.

For starters, billing and operations support software firms are starting to be more active. That suggests their carrier customers finally are thinking about generating revenue from deploying IMS features (IMS is a platform allowing services providers to rapidly and cheaply create new services, test and then deploy them).

Carrier chief financial officers also seem to be asking tougher questions, which suggests carrier technologists are asking for authority to buy platforms. Many of the questions seem to be of the "you bought ATM 10 years ago, soft switches five years ago and now you want to buy IMS?"

IMS backers also now seem to be more aware that it really is infrastructure, and that the search for services will have to follow. "You don't have Google until you have the Internet," Vexler notes. Up to this point some have worried about identifying some "killer app" that would justify IMS deployment. Now there may be more awareness that until the platform is in place we won't really know what apps will resonate.

It probably still is a fair bet that wireless apps will be early candidates, as IMS originally was created by mobile carriers.