The NGN/IMS Forum, the only industry association dedicated to interoperability and certification of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Next Generation Networks (NGN) applications and services, announced today that its sixth IMS/NGN PlugfestTM will be held January 12-16, 2009 at the InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL) in Durham, NH. The IMS Plugfests are the industry’s only interoperability events covering NGN services over wireless, wireline and cable broadband.
Plugfest 6 will continue to address the robustness, reliability and certification of key IMS SIP and Diameter interfaces as well as the following local and visited network services including:
• Inter and intra-domain NGN services routing
• Visited networks scenarios for Consumer and Enterprise customers
• Billing, charging and service creation/SDP for IMS and NGN
• Presence and location based services
• Interfaces operational testing (SIP-Gm, SIP-Mw, SIP-ISC, interface security profiles, Sh-Diameter and Cx-Diameter interfaces)
• Other services including SIP signaling compression and multiple profiles for public and private users
• Services including VoIP for residential and enterprise, Unified Communications, IPTV,FMC and other multimedia applications
“IMS Plugfest events accelerate cooperation among vendors and benefit our customers,” said Ron de Lange, Executive Vice President Tekelec Global Product Solutions. “TekCore has been the reference CSCF for the past five Plugfests offering us a productive environment to learn and validate our product offering.”
“IMS Forum Plugfests provide a hands-on environment to ensure that network operators have reliable, available and secure deployments of IMS architecture and NGN services free of costly downtime,” said Adam Stein, VP Marketing, Mu Dynamics. “Mu has seen extensive advancement in both operator and vendor service assurance through our Plugfest testing and one-on-one collaboration with participants, many of whom have since become Mu customers.”
“Sonus continues to support PlugFest events to demonstrate our commitment to interoperability as a key element to a successful IMS implementation,” commented John Nye, VP Corporate Marketing at Sonus Networks. “At this event we will be featuring the IMX, Sonus’ IMS compliant Service Delivery Platform (SDP). The ability for carriers and operators to develop and get new services into market quickly drives a competitive advantage for both established players and newcomers to the market.”
The NGN/IMS Forum also announces that the following organizations are sponsor participants of Plugfest 6: Intel, HP, Aricent, Acision, Mu Daynamics, Tekelec, Sonus, Wipro, Marben Products, UNH-IOL, TMC NGN Magazine, Informa, Supercomm 2009, and Virgo Publishing.
“Incorporating critical elements of service delivery such as billing, charging and IP OSS into its industry leading programs, including the NGN IMS Plugfest events, demonstrates the Forum’s commitment to making next-generation services not only interoperable, but profitable as well,” said Jenny Bolton, CEO of Virgo Publishing, publisher of B/OSS, VON and xchange magazines.
“Since 2006 The IMS Forum has pioneered events that allow vendors to gather and rapidly push forward IMS and NGN initiatives that benefit the telecom industry,” said Rich Tehrani, President of TMC. “They’ve set the standard for interoperability testing among IMS solutions. TMC has been a proud sponsor of all 5 of the IMS PlugFests and looks forward to sponsoring Plugfest 6 and to covering these events in NGN Magazine - a new print and online publication debuting in December 2008.”
“Our Multimedia and Mobility (M-Play) strategy continues to provide the best-in-class interoperability for fixed, mobile, and cable broadband services,” said Michael Khalilian, Chairman and President of NGN/IMS Forum. “With the focus on services spanning across the consumer-enterprise divide, the IMS NGN Forum plays an active role in securing new revenue streams for all participants in these emerging markets.”
Participation in NGN IMS Plugfest 6 is open to all companies. For online registration and info contact the forum at: info@IMSforum.org or visit www.NGNforum.org.