Multimedia is about securing a great user experience and giving users the services that they value and demand. We are all users yet our demands differ depending on our individual needs and behavior. Communication is the base in all multimedia experiences. More or less all our communication happens within personal networks of belonging - known as communities. These communities can be the family, our friends, co-workers or governmental authorities. The youth in particular are interacting with virtual communities.

The world of multimedia is moving fast and changing continuously. Implications are many, ranging from consumer behavior to industry convergence of telecom, media and internet - all fuelled by rapid technology shifts to a world of "all-IP".

To be successful in the emerging multimedia marketplace, operators and service providers must act quickly and manage complexity in an efficient way. The multimedia marketplace is a metaphor to describe the world where consumers engage in social networking and consume multimedia services. This is also where mobile and fixed network operators meet, partner, and collaborate with internet media companies, advertisers and service providers. The multimedia marketplace allows its participants to assume different roles - as consumers, producers and / or partners to other participants - irrespective whether the participant is an individual or an organization.

The multimedia marketplace is consumer centric and characterized by a multitude of business models. At present, these can be broadly grouped into retail business-to-consumer (B2C), wholesale business-to-business (B2B) and advertising.

The Service Layer is the part of the service provider network which contains the functions that provide services for consumer and business users based on the operator's network and IT capabilities. Services are customized on top of standard services and IMS including support for integration with external service providers. The Service Layer contains the IT environment that is needed to fulfill the requirements set by the Multimedia Marketplace.

The Multimedia Solutions Portfolio Business Communication Products - Ericsson Business Communication provides the solutions required for network operators to get the most revenue out of their enterprise users, while ensuring strong customer loyalty.

Charging & Mediation Products - Ericsson offers a comprehensive portfolio of convergent real-time charging solutions for all services. Our charging and mediation products, part of the Ericsson Revenue Management offering, create competitive advantages by improving marketing capabilities, cost efficiency and financial risk management.

Enriched Communication Products - Ericsson offers a variety of products that allow and stimulate enriched communication. A lot of different services give people the opportunity to express themselves and to show their personalities, such as the popular ringback tone services where consumers can choose the music to be played to people calling them.

M edia Products - Ericsson offers a variety of multimedia products in the areas of mobile TV & video, IPTV, music and entertainment. The product offerings enables service providers to offer consumers attractive and easy-to-use multimedia services based on content themes or user interests rather than technology.

Service Management & Control Products - The products in the Service Management area of Ericsson's Multimedia portfolio are the building blocks for a customized Service Delivery Platform (SDP). The SDP is the foundation for a healthy growth of multimedia services. Ericsson's Service Management and Control offering consists of Common Provisioning, Device Management, Service Creation, Service Execution and Orchestration; and Location Based Services.