The IPCC announced they will be changing their name and altering their coverage to IMS becoming the IMS Forum. Michael Khalilian and his team at the IPCC have done an amazing job for the VoIP industry. The association started as the Softswitch Consortium and has now evolved into the IP Multimedia Subsystem. This is huge news and is great for those companies looking to get into IMS as this association should further the needs of service providers and equipment providers alike.

For more information check out the IPCC website until the new IMS Forum site is up and running. Here is a letter from IMS Forum Chairman, Michael Khalilian describing the mission of the forum:

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Fellow Telecommunication Service Providers, Vendors, Wall Street and Regulators:

As we enter 2006, I felt it was time to review our achievements, and take an introspective look at all that we have accomplished together as an organization and as an industry.  With VoIP proliferation continuing at a very aggressive rate, it has become quite clear that we have finished with the era of softswitching, and are witnessing the dawn of a new era of communications driven by bundled services, applications, multimedia content delivery, and communications convergence.

VoIP, WiFi, GSM/3G, IPTV, enterprise IP, SAN, Metro Ethernet, IP Transports and WiMax, are examples of emerging technologies which leverage various means of delivery access to consumers.

Of particular note, is that the common link shared between all of the above is IP. As you know, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is being touted by service providers and vendors as the next generation solution for breaking down the barriers between wireline and wireless networks, thereby allowing the realization of true fixed-wireless convergence, and the associated efficiencies and capabilities.

IMS will allow previously proprietary services and applications such as instant messaging, video, picture and text transfer, e-mail, and new multimedia service to coexist on one network. Taking into account the direction in which the telecommunications market is evolving, our group is responding by focusing heavily on VoIP service architectures, convergence, and IP applications delivery, which entrenches the IPCC at the heart of IMS proliferation.

We are witnessing an industry in motion, and the surrounding confusion in regard to IMS applications and how they interconnect with service delivery architectures (as well as mesh network), dictate the need for widespread education.

I am pleased to announce that the IPCC is addressing this industry demand by transitioning from the "IPCC" to the "IMS Forum". The mission of our new forum will be to accelerate the adoption of IP Multimedia Subsystems by providing a forum for discussion and resolution of real-world implementation issues relating to interoperability, best practices, and standards-based architectures in the application layer.

The IMS Forum will focus on:
Business and Technology of Application delivery
Operational/Security and Marketing of Application delivery
Opportunities and Challenges of various aspect of "Convergence" on Telecom Service Providers, Vendors and Regulators
Successful Applications and Services approaches
Issues around creating IP-based Converged Services
Technical and Organizational Challenges
ROI and Success experiences regarding IP-based service development and deployments
Validation, Certification and Interoperability (i.e. Diameter, HSS and IMS SIP)
How to transition to IMS based technology and what is next


The IMS Forum will serve the industry by acting as a resource to both define and solve the issues surrounding the IMS applications layer, emphasizing cross functionality of devices, service providers, networks, and geographies.

In addition, I would like to invite all of you to be part of IMS Forum (www.IMSForum.org) working groups, marketing, advisory board, and more importantly, our long-term efforts in furthering IMS.

Best,

Michael Khalilian
Chairman & President
International Packet Communications Consortium (IPCC) Transitioning  to IMS Forum
"The VoIP, Broadband and Wireless Convergence Forum" 
www.IPCCForum.org
MKhalilian@IPCCForum.org
321 230 3070