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Mobile & Wireless
Future-Proofed
TWC Sets IMS Foundation with Siemens
by Sean Buckley
It’s clear that cable operators are serious about the voice opportunity,
and Time Warner Cable, which has been deploying voice and VoIP
services for a number of years, is no exception.
With the employment of Siemens’ SURPASS next-generation Internet
Protocol (IP)-based voice feature server platform, Time Warner will be
able to accelerate VoIP deployments of its digital phone service, now in
use by 1.6 million of its 14.4 million U.S. subscribers.
For Siemens, this new deployment with TWC is no less significant. In
July, the German vendor achieved a major milestone in the cable industry
as it reached the five million mark in terms of licenses for the SURPASS
hiQ platforms, which have been used by a number of large U.S. and
European cable operators such as Cablevision, Shaw Cable, Kasenna and
UPC.
Siemens’ SURPASS platform not only can provide TWC with traditional
call management elements, but also expand its respective feature set on
its own timeline.
However, TWC’s ambitions don’t stop at just plain vanilla VoIP. Beyond
basic VoIP service, the Siemens platform will set the stage for TWC to
migrate to IMS when ready.
“Not only did we announce that TWC is using our hiQ voice server
platform [to scale their] VoIP service, but also to evolve to an IMS
architecture,” said Harald Braun, president and COO, Siemens Networks
LLC.
And while specific plans have not been made, TWC has begun to test
the IMS waters with Siemens.
Last May, Siemens and TWC demonstrated IMS-capable services such as
dual mode handset usage and online gaming.
TWC used online gaming to test the integration of both packet- and
circuit-switched telephony networks in addition to a range of wireless
and fixed technologies. Also, Siemens and TWC demonstrated the ability
to conduct seamless handoffs between Wi-Fi networks and the cellular
network.
A Mobile Play
TWC IMS ambitions are also a product of the company’s desire to
incorporate wireless services into its overall service portfolio.
Already, TWC has made an initial move into the wireless arena. Similar to
other cable operators, TWC has been engaged with Sprint Nextel in an
MVNO relationship to sell wireless services to consumers in select
markets.
One of the boldest moves the cable MSO industry took in the wireless
arena came earlier this month. TWC, along with other major cable
operators Cox, Bright House Networks and wireless partner Sprint Nextel,
under the guise of SpectrumCo LLC Coalition, made a collective $2.34
billion bid to acquire Advanced Wireless Services spectrum.
Covering more than 90 percent of the US market, SepctrumCo LLC
members can use the 15-year AWS licenses to deliver fixed and mobile
broadband applications such as broadband cellular.
With the acquisition of the AWS spectrum, Braun envisions that cable
operators will be in a prime spot to expand their service sets and IMS
vision.
“Now that they have this spectrum, it’s the point where they can go for
quadruple play,” said Braun. “That is something I think they want to do
and will do, so they will also invite vendors to tell them what to do with
this spectrum in an IMS environment.”
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