People have been talking about IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) for years, touting it as one of the next big things for next generation delivery of mobile services. What exactly is IMS and how can it help providers transform the development and delivery of services consumers are willing to pay for?
From a technical standpoint, IMS can be defined as an architectural framework designed to make possible the delivery of Internet Protocol services. This framework mostly uses protocols—like Session Initiation Protocol (IMS)—developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
By design, IMS is not intended to standardize applications; instead, its underlying purpose is create a form of fixed-mobile convergence by making multimedia and voice applications easier to access from both wireline and wireless terminals.
For much of its history, most IMS development was focused on the foundation rather than services themselves. But now, according to Anne Lee, a Bell Labs Fellow at Alcatel-Lucent, the time has come to address IMS applications creation. We can thank the iPhone for that.
Lee recently penned an in-depth white paper that describes, in technical detail, how carriers, third-party app developers and even the general public can use IMS building blocks and frameworks, along with Web 2.0 technologies, to quickly build new applications and internet mashups.
“Applications enablement of third-party apps thru application programming interfaces (APIs) and soft- ware development kits (SDKs) for mobile handsets have been around for a few years now,” Lee notes in the white paper. “Until recently, lack of sufficient processing power and memory hampered progress. User inter- face technologies were also primitive and unappealing. That all changed with the introduction of the Apple iPhone.”
The iPhone launched a revolution in the evolution of mobile applications, creating—seemingly overnight—a whole new universe of mobile tools downloadable from the Apple Apps Store. Other handset and mobile operating system vendors quickly followed Apple’s lead, launching their own service development kits (SDKs) and application stores. A similar revolution took place around the same time for network-based systems too, led by pioneers like Facebook.
In the white paper, Lee identifies four main categories of network-based systems and services with exposed application programming interfaces (APIs) and SDKs for third-party develops: voice over IP (VoIP), operators, VoIP vendors, social networking sites, and TV services.
Given all this activity, a huge opportunity exists to leverage the power of IMS to develop more powerful apps and bring them to market faster. Just how to do that is the subject of Lee’s paper: “to describe a means to enhance future offerings by simplifying and making applications creation available to an even larger com- munity of applications creators through the use of IMS macro-enablers called IMS application building blocks and frameworks, along with Web 2.0 technologies.”
In her paper, Lee describes current IMS architecture and walks through specifics associated with killer and long-tail apps, micro enablers, building blocks, and application frameworks.
Lee categorizes IMS application frameworks into three main categories: loosely coupled programmed services, tightly coupled programmed services, and drag-and-drop. These frameworks, and the building blocks they rest on, have several key advantages.
First, new applications can be developed on top of operators’ existing IMS systems and architecture. Second, the framework helps guide developers toward applications that leverage the most value from the operator’s IMS system. And finally, some of the frameworks make it possible for non-developers to easily create new services.
For much more on the capabilities of IMS for application and service development and delivery, read the full white paper.
