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NewsGlobe: Commentary
IMS Applications: The Missing Link to Innovation
by Ken Rehbehn, Research director for telecom infrastructure at Current Analysis.
Imagine an innovator that hopes to offer a mobile application service that depends on presence and location. For example, an automobile association might look at IMS as an excellent resource for supporting its members who need roadside assistance. Leveraging mobility and location information, the IMS promises a broad platform of resources for innovative applications that an automobile association could dream up. The IMS environment, however, may not be quite as open in reality as it is on paper.
While such a group might have enough clout to convince one mobile operator to host its application, it is unlikely to get support from all mobile operators in the land. And even if it did succeed, each operator would likely require that the application run on the operator’s own application server. The complexity and the economics rapidly go downhill.
As an architecture, originally developed by the mobile industry to facilitate delivery of multimedia services over an all-IP infrastructure, IMS has much to recommend it. Access agnostic and supporting essential tasks such as session control, subscriber presence, subscriber location and billing, IMS-compliant solutions deliver these essential capabilities via open interfaces. Service providers can mix and match IMS components and, more importantly, grow an application portfolio without the expense of new support infrastructure. IMS will be successful as unseen network plumbing.
While mixing and matching IMS components helps reduce costs, a larger issue impedes development of interesting applications to drive new revenue. As with the closed environment of the SS7-based Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN), IMS delivers a closed control plane within the boundary of a service provider’s internal network and, while implemented with IP, the network should not be mistaken for the general Internet. Strict control of access usage enables the service provider to protect network integrity. Insidiously, the drive for control hampers innovation, as a limited number of trusted applications get selected by the service provider, setting the stage for a repeat of the AIN experience.
Elimination of the barriers to creativity while respecting the service provider’s need to control the operational environment calls for two essential thrusts: Easy porting of applications and creation of interfaces permitting application execution outside the service provider’s garden.
By presenting a standard set of interfaces for SIP-based communication with subscriber devices, the IMS application server gives the development community a platform on which to focus its efforts. But standardization halts at the most basic interfaces, such as the IMS service control (ISC) interface to the control plane.
As a result, developers must cope with a variety of software environments including application programming interfaces (APIs), and hope they have selected the most popular platform. With most service providers limited to one platform for their networks, the choice inevitably reduces the addressable market. Standards-based APIs can free developers from the trap of a single platform and initiatives such as the JAIN service logic execution environment (JSLEE) may make this a reality.
Beyond consistent platform support, developers need frictionless processes and interfaces to the service provider environment. Developing, testing, and ultimately deploying applications in the general Internet environment is relatively straightforward. From development to deployment, no artificial barriers are encountered and a diverse set of applications have entered the market as a result.
In contrast, developing applications for IMS application servers means that an innovator must get the attention of a service provider’s gate keepers to negotiate the right to test. After fighting to get into the service provider’s lab—and fetching passing grades—the innovator must convince the service provider to take the application to the subscribers. If the service provider cannot be convinced, then tough: the application languishes and the end-user market never tests the success of an idea.
Reducing barriers to innovation calls for standards and commercial practices that offer innovators easy access to the rich potential offered by IMS. Standards for secure, controlled access to multiple operator control and bearer planes would allow creation of new applications by a broader community of developers. Practices such as tariff agreements and integration with the billing environment enable monetization from a variety of applications. Clearly, the service providers possess a number of valuable assets revolving around their customers: location, presence, financial trust, and security. Opening up the IMS framework for application services requires establishment of mechanisms and tariffs that monetize the value of these assets.
Service providers should start by forming an IMS industry association chartered to reduce barriers to entry for new IMS-driven applications. A concerted effort to standardize the application environment and open up access to multiple operator networks can generate a network effect that unlocks value as described by Metcalfe’s Law. Only then will IMS break out of the inner sanctum of the telecom service provider’s network and emerge as driver for diverse and compelling applications that deliver innovation and revenue.
Ken Rehbehn is research director for telecom infrastructure at Current Analysis.
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