What is ims in telecom

IMS specification began in 3GPP Release 5 as part of the core network evolution from circuit-switching to packet-switching and was refined by subsequent Releases 6 and 7.

Initially, IMS was an all-IP system designed to assist mobile operators deliver next generation interactive and interoperable services, cost-effectively, over an architecture providing the flexibility of the Internet. Session Initiation Protocol was selected as the signalling mechanism for IMS, thereby allowing voice, text and multimedia services to traverse all connected networks.

With the adoption of IMS by other industry sectors, the potential of a mass market to bring about substantial economies of scale will provide affordable broadband wireless access regardless of how and where users connect. This includes IP-based real time services such as voice, video-telephony, machine-to-machine communication, as well as games. Thanks to cross-provider function and defined IMS standards new services and products can be established within a short amount of time.

All communication between the subscribers uses packet-switched connections which are able to guarantee defined qualities of service QoS end-to-end. IMS allows services to operate independently from the access network and can be charged according to service.

In the IP Multimedia Subsystem, SIP governs communication between the individual network elements, as well as between the various users. While IMS held promise, early deployments were hampered and adoption was hindered as standards became increasingly complicated by the need to support backwards infrastructure compatibility, complete legacy feature parity, evolving access technologies and emerging mobility demands.

Initial IMS implementations were in direct contrast to its founding philosophy, with single large equipment vendors providing totally integrated functions at price points that replicated that of previous architectural approaches.

More recently, the adoption of Network Functions Virtualization NFV and the increased acceptance of community-driven Open Source code, toolkits and frameworks by the global network operator community have fueled the broad acceptance of IMS. Skip to Content.