Operators plan to deploy VoLTE by 2015: Infonetics

CALIFORNIA, USA: Transition from fixed-line VoIP to mobile services over IMS is happening, but in a measured fashion. Key factors driving survey respondents' migration to IMS are LTE network deployments and IP multimedia subsystem's (IMS) reputation as a global standard for network infrastructure and services.

Market research firm Infonetics Research, in its '2013 IMS Service Strategies, Product Features, and Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey', also finds that rise of virtualization and NFV within carrier networks is extending to IMS, with respondents expecting deployments utilizing shared virtual machines to grow from zero currently to 67 per cent by 2015.

"Our conversations with operators confirm that IMS deployments are progressing, with new services being turned up every day," shares Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC and IMS, Infonetics Research. "The biggest change coming over the next few years will be the rise of voice over LTE (VoLTE) and its impact on IMS. Over 90 per cent of the operators participating in our IMS strategies survey plan to deploy VoLTE by 2015, up from zero today. This is going to shape the IMS market in the coming years."

Among those interviewed, there were no overwhelming barriers to deploying IMS; the main issues are business oriented, with a smattering of technical concerns such as integration with existing OSS/BSS, it adds.

When asked who they consider to be the top IMS infrastructure vendors, respondents most often named Ericsson, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks. Ericsson is also the leading CSCF and HSS vendor among respondent operators in terms of products installed and vendors under evaluation for future purchases.