NXTcomm08
IMS/NGN Plugfest 5 Defines the Gm Interface or IP UNI
| Jun 20, 2008 | IP Services Infrastructure | Show Update
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Analyst: Jeff Ogle
Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: Moderate/High
Market Impact: Moderate/High |
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Event Summary
June 18, 2008 – The IMS/NGN Forum announced the successful completion of interoperability testing at the IMS forum Plugfest 5 held in June 2008 at the UNH-IOL. The focus of this Plugfest was the interoperability and certification of the user-to-network “Gm interface” and additional features of policy control, CSCF load balancing and load sharing, charging and billing, test and integration tools, user profiles including authorization credentials, service profiles and fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) integration.
Analytical Summary
• Current Perspective: Positive on the IMS/NGN Forum’s Plugfest 5 because as in the previous events it attempted to cover a specific and very critical area in addition to the typical interoperability and regression testing performed from the previous events. This Plugfest focused on interoperability and certification of the user-to-network “Gm interface”. From an interoperability standpoint this interface represents the greatest challenge, because it has the greatest number of interface types, feature support and potential equipment vendors all vying to be the best in class. The true effectiveness of the IMS/NGN Forum’s interoperability events will ultimately be judged by its ability to translate the work done into implementation agreements and ultimately standards. This is still an issue for the IMS/NGN Forum as it conspicuously lacks a significant number of large carriers and Tier 1 equipment makers in its membership.
• Vendor Importance: Moderate to high to the IMS/NGN Forum, because it is dedicated to the promotion and evolution of IMS-based applications and service interoperability and what better way to promote this charter than through a scheduled interoperability event with a clever name like Plugfest. Through this ongoing series of interoperability events, real progress is and has been made in advancing IMS interoperability and at a faster rate then if there were no Forum driving the process and running the standards gauntlet.
• Market Impact: Moderate to high on all segments of the carrier IP multimedia market, because the results of Plugfest 5 should serve as the foundation of supporting standards-based methods for connecting to IP networks. The results of this work now need to be documented and get to the next level of an implementation agreement (IA) to be put before the relevant standards bodies.
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Current Perspective
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