Ericsson is bringing internet telephony to the mass market, with a scalable, telecom-grade IP telephony solution based on standardized IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture. This forms part of a service bundle that takes fixed and mobile operators further towards convergence over IP infrastructure.

Today, Ericsson is offering IMS-based IP Telephony for fixed-line residential and enterprise customers. And over time, as standards and radio bearers are optimized, a similar IMS-based service for mobile access will be offered. For the moment, wireless IP-Telephony solutions are dependant on the finalization of a number of standardization initiatives, the availability of SIP-enabled handsets and the optimization of radio bearers.

 

Oscar Gestblom, IMS marketing manager at Ericsson, says the company strongly believes in using IMS for its IP Telephony and other multimedia offerings. "IMS is a standardized solution we are using for both fixed and mobile when it comes to multimedia applications over broadband," he says. "We are already offering IP Telephony as a part of our multimedia offering for wireline operators, and we have started a journey towards IP Telephony in a mobile world too." Gestblom adds: "Not to forget that Ericsson’s IMS system already enables mobile multimedia services such as Push to Talk, Video Telephony and Combinational Services."

What sets Ericsson apart from its competitors in the IMS sphere is the ability to provide a complete end-to-end IMS solution for both fixed and mobile operators. This makes Ericsson IMS a cornerstone for future converged networks, where end users will be able to access similar multimedia applications regardless of their device. The use of a single platform for both fixed and mobile networks is not a new concept. Ericsson's AXE switching system (the world's most widely-deployed), was designed for both fixed and mobile environments, although different application systems are used.

 

From an end-user perspective, the benefits of the Ericsson IMS multimedia offering are that it allows for several virtual phone lines over one broadband connection, and it enables the end user to have a richer communication experience through, for example, video telephony. Similarly, small and medium enterprises can use the IMS solution as a virtual hosted PBX, such as IP-Centrex. The benefit for the enterprise is that it gets full access to PBX services without having to own and maintain a PBX. In addition to the traditional PBX services, the enterprise also enjoys the same multimedia feature set as residential users.

 

Ericsson has already deployed its wireline IMS-based application package (Engine Multimedia) with a large wireline operator. The solution allows for the rapid introduction of revenue-generating multimedia services such as Instant Messaging and Video Telephony, and provides wireline broadband operators with the opportunity to offer bundled-service packages in addition to the bit-pipe connection.