Mikael Strömquist, executive vice president Strategy and Planning for Ericsson in North America, says: "Wireline operators are driving the urgency for more exciting and convenient services for their own survival."

Convergence is the word most uttered by industry players at trade fairs such as the recent CTIA in New Orleans. Cable operators now provide two-thirds of North Americans' access to broadband services, and are in the process of rolling out fixed voice service.

“The wireline operators are fighting back, now deploying fiber to the home or fiber-DSL hybrids to enable triple play. Offering this with a seamless fixed-mobile experience is what they see as the ace up their sleeve,” Strömquist says.

Greg Carter, Ericsson business builder and IMS solutions manager, says: “Business drivers for IMS are many. Ultimately, the best thing is that people will have one phone number and one e-mail address to be reached everywhere.”

IMS makes such ease of use possible. Services such as weShare, where an interactive whiteboard function runs on a handset simultaneously with a voice call, become available. Another possibility is automatically switching from a GSM network to Wi-Fi in the home without the subscriber marking any change. Yet another hot topic within services enabled by IMS is presence, commonly known as messenger or chat programs, on the mobile.

Ericsson is looking at the issue from the services point of view rather than the traditional network infrastructure perspective. Stromquist says: "In discussions with operators, we talk about how to enhance their business and provide competitive advantages. Leads and sales are derived from new, compelling end-user services that meet these goals.

"Solution design, optimized to a customer’s situation, is the next step. Products and components like IMS are actually the last step."

Carter agrees, and adds that looking from the services angle makes a better argument for operators – wireless as well as wireline. “Mobile triple play is interesting to all operators, because people talk longer if they're sharing videos and pictures while they're talking," he says.

"IMS is everything and nothing. Around IMS you can add applications, content, and systems integration. If you don't get IMS you don't get other capabilities."

Ericsson's demonstrations of advanced services running on its IMS solution were a huge draw at two industry trade fairs in Europe and North America. Proof of Ericsson's superiority is in the deals: there are IMS contracts on each side of the Atlantic. Ericsson will be the main integrator of IMS for US operator Sprint, has announced two deals with TIM in Italy, and is running trials with several operators globally.

Read more on IMS here.