The IMS Forum, the industry association recognized as the voice of IP convergence, completed on January 19th its first IMS Plugfest at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) in Durham, N.H.

The event was attended by Ditech, Empirix, Ixia, Reef Point Systems, NE Technologies, Starent Networks, Tektronix, Tekelec, Sonus, Valid8, and sponsored by Empirix, Ditech, Sonus, GlobalTouch Telecom, Trendium and VOX.

January’s Plugfest is the first in a series of open IMS Forum Plugfests, to be hosted by the IMS Forum at the UNH IOL, which will run through 2008. The events will establish industry-recognized certification for IMS products and services that have achieved the highest level of interoperability.

A second IMS Plugfest is being planned for the second quarter of 2007. This event will build upon the established methodologies and reference environment and continue to grow IMS applications-specific tests for the triple and quadruple play over mobile, cable and fix networks.

“The first IMS Forum Plugfest right at the start of 2007 is a good indicator that IMS is closer to becoming a mainstream technology. Even more important to note, is that the focus on IMS services and applications that enable service providers to capitalize on new revenue opportunities, while significantly shortening the time to market of innovative services. A better interoperability of IMS services over multiple networks greatly enhances the ability of operators to become relevant triple and quadruple providers in the near future," said Ronald Gruia, Principal Analyst, Emerging Communications, Frost and Sullivan.

The first IMS Plugfest combined fifteen carrier-grade platforms valued at over $3 million. The event demonstrated the strength of IMS services, shown in end-to-end IMS multi-vendor interoperability, and developed a methodology to accelerate IMS testing. The Plugfest identified areas for additional development in multi-vendor 3GPP IMS Release 6 networks, tested multi-domain VoIP calls, as well as integrated SIP Application Servers with multiple IMS cores and the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) serviced by DIAMETER interfaces.

Using dual-mode mobile phones and a number of VoIP, WiFi, user equipment simulators, the IMSF Plugfest demonstrated voice services, including fixed-mobile services, IP Centrex and PSTN gateway. In addition, the event also offered an opportunity to reveal the maturity of the IMS protocols and test tools.

“With this first IMS Plugfest, we built a reference test network which will be used to accelerate the interoperability of IMS services, enabling the quadruple play,” said IMS Forum Chairman and President, and Pervasip CTO Michael Khalilian. “The IMS Forum Plugfests will provide an industry-wide validation process for IMS services, including voice, mobility, video and high-speed Internet access.”

“Interoperability of IMS services and applications is key in IP Multimedia services,” said Lincoln Lavoie, UNH-IOL senior engineer. ”Obviously, a multi-platform architecture like IMS will involve several layers of interoperability to maximize the quality of converged VoIP, video, broadband Internet, messaging and wireless services. The IMSF Plugfest is a milestone for the industry in reaching this goal.”

Event logo provided by http://www.imsforum.org