The Challenge

Service providers are looking to IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) to define the architecture and standards that support the delivery of new revenue-generating services. But competitive forces are driving many service providers to deliver real-time services now, while they simultaneously plan and execute the evolution of their infrastructure toward full IMS compliance. As a result many service providers will not jump directly to IMS; they will proceed in phases.

• VoIP Transport The first step to IMS has already been reached as carriers worldwide have replaced, or augmented, their TDM networks with IP transport and softswitches.
• Pre-IMS: In this phase—a phase that many service providers have already begun— IP-based real-time services reach all the way to end users, creating a variety of new user experiences. Service portfolios expand beyond VoIP to include IM, video, presence and others services—often in use all at once—over “toll-quality” connections.
• IMS Compliance: The last step is a transition to an IMS-compliant infrastructure to provide more control structure and application layering to reduce complexity and costs further and provide the delivery of new advanced capabilities.

The Covergence Session Manager ^TM

The Covergence enables service providers to increase subscribers and create new sources of revenue by extending their service portfolios beyond VoIP, to the delivery of real time services such as IM, multimedia conferencing, Find-me/Follow-me, Click-to-Dial, presence-enabled applications, and others. > More

A Clear Path to IMS Compliance
But the strategy for many service providers is full IMS compliance and this is where the CSM really proves out its value. It enables the secure and managed deliver of rich multi-media services today and future proofs the access-edge migration to IMS in the future.

In an IMS compliant architecture, as specified by the ETSI TISPAN organization, the CSM satisfies the requirements of the Proxy-Call Session Control Function and the Access Border Gateway Function. To that end the CMS' IMS-compliant system architecture includes independent signaling proxy, media proxy and policy decision functions, plus value-added features like audio recording and a web services interface for management and session control.

Get more information
If you need to expand your service portfolio or deliver "business-grade" services you owe it to yourself to look into the CSM to find out what the market-leaders already know.

• You can learn more about our Hosted LCS Solution/VoIP here.
• Download the From VoIP to Multimedia Services and IMS white paper here
• Or click here to request more information.