The most common argument that comes up during seminars and conferences is that
multimedia services can be supported today, and in fact there are many operators who
are doing just that. While this is true, when you speak to those operators about how
they are delivering these services, you quickly learn that while it is possible to support
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a multimedia service using today??™s IP networks, it is another thing to be able to accurately
bill for that service, and to monitor the QoS for that service. Troubleshooting
these networks is troublesome, and providing an accurate audit of content downloads
is challenging.
Another major issue that was one of the drivers for the IMS is interoperability.
During the early implementation of Voice over IP (VoIP), interoperability between different
vendors was difficult. This is why the 3GPP community set about defining a
standard implementation for IP services. The IMS is not about some new technology to
displace all current technology, but rather another phase in the evolution of wireless
networks.
We are indeed seeing an evolution of networks. The current network is well suited for
providing voice, and the technology can be modified to support other media types, but
more than just transmission technologies are needed to support multimedia services.
Session control, security, and charging are all important aspects for service delivery.
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