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Cisco Shows That FMC Works for Multimedia
TMCnet Associate Editor
Show, don’t tell.
That’s exactly what Cisco did yesterday when it successfully demonstrated fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) to an audience of financial and industry analysts at its Worldwide Analyst Conference.
According to a company news release, the live demonstration displayed seamless location, roaming and hand-off of voice calls between WiFi and cellular networks using a dual mode handset with a single number. Because FMC is also applicable to data and video services, the demonstration served to show service providers the feasibility of converging a variety of multimedia services and simultaneously deploying them across a range of access networks.
Perhaps more importantly, the demonstration showed that Cisco’s Service Exchange Framework (SEF), the service control layer of its next generation network architecture, supports both IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) services and non-IMS services. Cisco claims the SEF can help service providers deploy rich technologies, including voice, video and data services, with greater speed and ease.
Earlier this week, Cisco announced the release of new and enhanced components of the SEF which allow for the flexibility to deploy both IMS and non-IMS services.
IMS is a standards-based architecture which enables operators to provide a range of SIP-based services across packet or switched networks to both fixed and wireless customers. It is largely regarded as the most practical way to achieve FMC.
Joe McGarvey, principal analyst with Current Analysis, an independent technology analyst firm, said “orchestrating the delivery of voice and multimedia services across multiple access networks, protocols and service delivery platforms is a complicated but required capability of a next-generation service control layer.”
According to the news release, the demonstration utilized key components of the SEF, including the Cisco Call Session Control Platform (Cisco’s implementation of the IMS CSCF); the class-independent Cisco BTS10200 softswitch; the high-density Cisco MGX 8880 Media Gateway; and the widely-deployed Cisco PGW2200 Media Gateway Controller. It also highlighted the inter-working of a variety of network and signaling protocols, including SIP, GSM, MAP, MGCP and WiFi.
Additionally, the demonstration illustrated the interoperability of the Cisco SEF with equipment from Cisco partners including Apertio, HP and SIPquest.
For more information on Cisco’s Service Exchange Framework solutions for IMS, visit http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2005/prod_120505.html.
Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.
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