PRINT VERSION: PDF [2.19MB]
When the history of telecom is written, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) likely will take its place alongside 3G (Third Generation) cellular, (MPLS) Multi-protocol Label Switching and Ethernet as a technology that reshaped the industry. A key reason for this outlook is that IMS is an open framework designed for use by wireless, wireline and cable operators. As a result, it’s applicable and beneficial throughout the entire telecom industry.
British Telecom and Cingular Wireless are among the major operators that have begun deploying IMS. ABI Research predicts that fixed and mobile operators will invest a total of $10.1 billion in IMS infrastructure through 2011. According to ABI, during that period, the payoff will be in terms of reduced opex (operating expenses) and $49.6 billion in revenue from IMS-enabled applications.
IMS systems are based on an architecture with four layers (view IMS Network Diagram). The IMS access layer works with legacy circuit-switched networks, along with the latest cable, packet, and wireless networks, so IMS can offer services to their customers using any access network technology. IMS also specifies an applications layer that supports a broad range of voice, video and multimedia applications. The final two layers – control and transport – provide the signaling and connectivity between users and their applications, fulfilling the IMS vision of allowing users to access any service, any time, on any device and on any network.
That flexibility means operators can maximize their revenue growth from a broader subscriber base, while reducing the costs of new service introduction and ongoing service delivery. (For more details about the IMS architecture, request a free copy of "IMS for Dummies", compliments of RadiSys and Intel.)
ATCA in IMS
ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Communications Architecture) is emerging as a key component of IMS. ATCA is a soup-to-nuts, shelf-and-blade architecture that handles everything from protocols to management to cooling. Like IMS itself, ATCA is an open, flexible standard, making it ideal for multi-vendor, multi-technology environments.
As a result, makers of IMS products can leverage ATCA’s predictability to reduce development costs and time-to-market, instead of building proprietary systems from scratch. Additionally, ease of upgrades is an added benefit that can not be overlooked. Users of ATCA in IMS architectures can easily ride the processor curve changing out old processors for the latest and greatest with a minimal amount of regression testing.
Meanwhile, service providers can use ATCA to reduce opex because it allows them to use the same procedures to manage a wide range of equipment, even from different vendors. ATCA also has proven itself in a variety of real-world telecom deployments outside of IMS, so vendors and service providers can be confident that it will provide carrier-class reliability and performance.
Think Big with 10 Gig
IMS components require high performance and bandwidth. Unlike 1-gigabit platforms, 10-Gigabit Ethernet switching platforms provide ample bandwidth to accommodate growth in subscribers and services. As a result, a 10-Gig architecture offers a better ROI (return on investment) than a 1-Gig product, which might be outgrown long before it starts contributing to profits.
RadiSys is responding to service providers’ preference for 10 Gig E solutions with products such as the Promentum® SYS-6010, the industry’s first and only working 10-Gigabit common managed platform for high-bandwidth network-element and data-plane applications.
ATCA building blocks for IMS components
IMS defines a number of components in the IMS architecture. Each component has not only distinct functional requirements, but also varying platform requirements. For example, a gateway product requires high throughput performance and I/O connectivity, while an application server requires more computer processing power.
The RadiSys Promentum ATCA family of products features a fully integrated, application-ready platform and modular building blocks configured for multiple applications. RadiSys’ ATCA solutions provides infrastructure vendors and their service provider customers with a common managed platform for a variety of IMS network element and dataplane applications.
IMS transport layer components such as Media Gateways (MGW), Radio Network Controllers (RNC), Packet Data Gateways (PDG) and Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSN) typically require high throughput and I/O connectivity flexibility. RadiSys Promentum ATCA-7200 GigE linecards managed by the ATCA-2210 10-GigE switch and control module, are just a few of the RadiSys Promentum ATCA products specifically designed for these high-throughput and I/O-intensive applications.
IMS components such as Call Session Control Functions (CSCF), Application Servers (AS), Home Subscriber Servers (HSS), and Multimedia Resource Function Processors (MRFP) require powerful, reliable computing resources. RadiSys ATCA-4300 dual Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processor-based Compute Processing Blades, AMC-7211 Quad GigE Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMC) and the AMC-3201 Hard Disk Drive AMC products are just a few of the RadiSys Promentum ATCA products for powerful, fault-tolerant IMS signaling, application processing and database requirements.
Application-Ready ATCA Platforms – The RadiSys Difference
The Promentum ATCA product offering goes beyond hardware and includes pre-integrated software platform components commonly required by many IMS network elements. Our philosophy of offering application-ready ATCA platforms can jump-start our customer’s IMS solution programs, allowing our customers to focus their R&D efforts on IMS application development.
For example, RadiSys offers pre-integrated shelf and blade management, along with extensive system manager capabilities. RadiSys also offers high-performance baseline IP functionality (IPSec, Forwarding, IP Filtering, QoS) commonly required in many IP-based network elements. RadiSys partnerships with three Linux providers (Wind River, MontaVista, and Red Hat) allows customers a choice when it comes to this key component of their IMS platform. Finally, RadiSys also partners with two leading middleware suppliers (GoAhead and OpenClovis) to meet common high availability and system management requirements. RadiSys application-ready solutions provide infrastructure vendors reduced time-to-market and development costs.
Experience Counts in IMS Media Processing
In September 2006, RadiSys acquired Convedia®, whose family of media servers provide the world’s leading solution for the Multimedia Resource Function Processor (MRFP) in the IMS architecture. The RadiSys Convedia CMS-3000 and CMS-9000 media servers offer industry-leading capacity, along with extensive audio and video media packet-processing features, which are controlled using a broad range of open-control protocol standards including H.248, SIP, VoiceXML and MSML. More than 25 of the largest 50 service providers worldwide, nine of the top 10 conferencing providers and numerous Fortune 500 companies depend on RadiSys media servers.
RadiSys – Your Platform Partner for IMS Success
Although IMS is a new technology, it builds upon many existing technologies deployed in next-generation networks worldwide, such as ATCA and IP media servers. RadiSys provides IMS equipment vendors and their service provider customers both the technical expertise and application-ready platforms necessary for IMS success.