In a marketplace with rising competition, the ability to launch more new services faster is becoming a key advantage for operators. The SDP enables operators to deliver content and services to their subscribers more efficiently and at a lower cost.

Marc LeClerc, service layer business advocate at Ericsson Canada, says: "Previously, when operators implemented a new service, it had to be directly integrated with their existing business support systems as well as with all the enablers that the service utilizes. In the past it was very costly to keep services running as networks evolved, making it difficult for operators to implement new services. When it took too long to launch a new service, operators lost out on critical revenue opportunities."

Using common functions and a horizontal architecture which is linked into the operators' business support systems, Ericsson's SDP enables operators to introduce new content and services more efficiently. For operators contemplating new network architectures such as IMS, this represents a significant cost-saving opportunity.

Packet-switched networks are becoming increasingly prevalent because they allow carriers to deliver communications at a much lower cost. IMS was developed to define the additional functionality necessary for delivering these packet-based IP services with carrier-grade quality. Operators interested in launching these easy-to-use services into their future IMS networks are eager to see how today's SDPs can enable this evolution. At the 3GSM World Congress they were given the opportunity to see how an SDP can expand their revenue opportunities, leveraging current infrastructure investments and protect existing service revenues.

"At 3GSM, we demonstrated the world's first SDP operating in a live IMS environment," LeClerc says. "We were able to show the entire end-user lifecycle." During the demonstration, the end-user was alerted to the availability of a new service on their mobile, which they could order and then download. The service was then activated with the relevant personalized parameters, after which the user could invite someone from their buddy-list to join in what was a multi-player game of tic-tac-toe.

"You have to make that first utilization of a service as easy as possible and a horizontal approach with the service layer allows you to do just that," LeClerc says. "We were the first to do that using live SDP and IMS environment."

Ericsson has more than 10 Service Delivery Platform implementations worldwide and is a global leader in IMS. In addition to implementing the world's first commercial IMS network, Ericsson has been awarded more than 18 commercial IMS network contracts, as well as 37 network trials.