NEC Intros IMS Migration Path for North American Operators

NEC Corporation of America (NEC) introduced its Service Convergence Integrated Platform (SCI-P), a new converged multimedia and SIP-based solution for the carrier market in North America. SCI-P consolidates and leverages the comprehensive power of NEC’s field-proven SIP server, and enables operators to effectively and promptly deliver value-added VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and multimedia services to create new revenues. Additionally, the new platform ensures a fast, easy migration path to an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based Next Generation Network (NGN); reducing the initial investment required for NGN services.

Targeted toward the mid-tier carrier market, SCI-P is a ‘starter’ framework for IMS, and bundles carrier-class call processing quality, blade-server architecture, an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)-based SIP server, an operations, maintenance, billing and provisioning server and service enablers into a compact, yet highly scalable all-in-one “light-IMS” platform. Operators can utilize the new platform to rapidly develop and provide both basic and advanced VoIP and value-added multimedia services, including presence, personalized services, interactive gaming and IP messaging, to name a few.

NEC’s SCI-P ensures a clear migration path to the full IMS platform through a simple software upgrade of the SIP server at the services layer of the network. The software platforms are critical to NEC’s IMS ecosystem; which incorporates NEC and third party hardware and software components to support IMS signaling, call control, and enhanced applications.

“To move to an IMS-ready environment, we believe operators should focus on three core operating principals — keep it small, keep it simple and keep it fast,” said Nick Satomi, vice president, NEC Corporation of America, Carrier Solutions. “The ‘small’ focuses on reduced CAPEX and OPEX; the ‘simple’ refers to easy migration; and the ‘fast’ addresses time-to-market in introducing new revenue generating services.”

NEC offers a full line up of software solutions for its IMS product suite.
NC7000-software product series – At the services layer, NEC’s Service Delivery Platform (SDP) provides multimedia services (beyond legacy telephone services) to generate new carrier revenue streams. Examples include: IP Messaging, Web-Phone book with Presence, among other services.

NC9000-software product series – Also at the services layer, the NC9000 series houses the core IMS database functions, including the Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF), Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) and/or the Interrogating Call Session Control Function (I-CSCF), among other key IMS functions.
 

NC5000-software product series – At the transport layer, the NC5000-series offers Quality of Service (QoS) Control and Access Authentication, including the Resource and Admission Control Subsystem (RACS) and Network Attachment Subsystem (NASS) functions.
 

Satomi continued, “We have already delivered the world’s first commercial IMS service. This experience lends us the global expertise needed to help operators seamlessly migrate existing infrastructure to a ‘future-proofed’ IMS-based NGN. Our goal is to leverage our global skill-set and knowledge to assist U.S. carriers through their transition plans to an IMS framework; yielding greater revenue opportunities through new service delivery initiatives.”

Service Delivery Platforms for Third Party Call Processing
For large carriers that have already deployed IMS-ready/compliant core call processing functionality, NEC will offer its NC7000-software series as a standalone, standards interface-based SDP to deliver new value-added, revenue-generating services to market, immediately.

With the NC7000-series, carriers can simplify procedures for rapid service creation and fast service provisioning by providing network service function as an open API (application programming interface); based on Java/XML and standard Parlay X.

General Availability
For carriers looking for an immediate IMS migration offering, NEC will provide its NC7000, NC9000 and NC5000-series platforms by CY Q1-2008. NEC’s complete SCI-P solution will be offered in a phased approach; with its non-carrier grade version available now, followed by its carrier grade version, which will be available in CY Q2-2008.



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