Infonetics Research has published two global service provider surveys, IMS Product Features and Vendor Ratings and IMS Service Strategies. The surveys provide insights into operator IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) service strategies; preferred IMS core product features and capabilities; drivers and barriers for deploying IMS; and how service providers perceive vendors in the IMS market.

“Infonetics has been surveying service providers about their IMS plans for six years now, and this years results represent a turning point, with IMS now perceived as becoming a more mature technology, and indications that there are no longer any big barriers to IMS deployment,” says Diane Myers, directing analyst for service provider VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research. “Another important trend is that, although fixed-line VoIP continues to dominate deployments, there is a clear rise in plans for mobile services over IMS by 2012. On the vendor front, Ericsson continues to be the leading IMS vendor in terms of equipment installed by respondent operators, followed by Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent.”

Key findings from the IMS Product Features and Vendor Rating report include:

• IMS networks continue to be deployed by fixed-line operators and, notably, a growing number of mobile operators
• 64 per cent of the service providers surveyed have already installed a home subscriber server (HSS)
• The most critical feature operators look for in the CSCF (call session control function) is an open, standards-based platform, adhering to specifications laid out by the leading standards bodies
• Acme Packet received the highest average rating across the most categories when service providers were asked to rate IMS vendors on a variety of criteria
• Vendors are rated by operators on IMS vision, technology, solution maturity and stability, management, price-to-performance ratio (value), pricing, financial stability, service and support, product roadmap, and system integration capability

Key findings from the IMS Service Strategies report include:

• Fixed-line VoIP service continues to be the mainstay of IMS deployments, with 77 per cent of respondents running fixed voice networks over IMS today, growing to 80 per cent by 2011
• The top two retail IMS services respondent operators currently offer are business-hosted VoIP and residential voice over broadband
• Roughly half of the service providers surveyed plan to deploy video telephony and converged mobile/fixed-line services over the next 12-18 months
• Mobile services are growing in importance, with more respondent operators in this years survey (vs. previous Infonetics surveys) planning to offer mobile VoIP services, mobile messaging, mobile video, and VoLTE over IMS by 2012

For each survey, Infonetics interviewed 22 telecom service providers from around the world that have deployed IMS core equipment in their networks, or will do so by 2011. All survey respondents have detailed knowledge of the IMS equipment and services their companies use to deliver voice services or transport voice traffic, and are IMS equipment purchase decision-makers. The service providers interviewed are a mix of incumbent, wireless, and competitive operators, and represent 24 per cent of the worlds telecom carrier revenue, and 20 per cent of its capital expenditures (capex).