Sonus Networks (News - Alert), Inc., a supplier of service provider Voice over IP (VoIP) infrastructure solutions, has announced that the company is helping to drive the adoption of applications and services in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS) environment through participation at the IMS Forum’s (News - Alert) “IMS Plugfest II.”

 

This industry-wide forum is designed to foster the interoperability of IMS applications and services for wireless, wireline and cable broadband networks. The Plugfest is sponsored by the IMS Forum, of which Sonus Networks is a founding member. The event is set to be held June 4-8, 2007 at the University of New Hampshire’s Interoperability Lab (IOL).

Designed to enable network operators to capitalize on the promise of IP convergence, IMS Plugfest II helps the IMS Forum to develop industry-recognized “stamp of approval” for IMS applications and services. As an IMS Plugfest sponsor, Sonus Networks will be participating at the event by providing its IMS core network solutions as the reference architecture, and will participate in a series of tests with application vendors.

"The first IMS Plugfest held in January went a long way to helping network operators make the distinction between IMS hype and reality," said Vikram Saksena, Sonus' Chief Technology Officer, in a Wednesday statement. "This June, we hope to take that a step further by focusing on the application layer of IMS and solidifying the real value associated with migrating legacy solutions to a next generation architecture as robust as IMS."

"Sonus performed exceptionally well in the first IMS Plugfest tests, and we are looking forward to another productive session where the industry's pioneers come together to advance interoperability of IMS solutions," said Michael Khalilian, IMS Forum President & Chairman and Pervasip Corp. CTO, in Wednesday’s statement.

 

Results of the IMS Plugfest II will be announced at this year’s NXTComm, an information and communications trade show event, held in Chicago, IL. June 19-21, 2007. Sonus plans to be exhibiting in booth #4215. This industry event, presented jointly by TIA and USTelecom, unites the premier information and communications technology suppliers with the world’s leading communications and entertainment companies.

Interoperability among systems is a must-have for organizations seeking to streamline operations to maximize the full benefit of all applications. Without interoperability in IMS systems, these companies stand to cloud the potential benefits with added costs to ensure applications can communicate within the system.

 

Sonus Networks has a unique opportunity with the Plugfest in that it can gain honest information regarding its solutions as well as insight from customers who are either using the technology or are looking to gain advantage from IP convergence, but face challenges in doing so. The company can use this knowledge to not only improve its offerings, but to also understand how to market its solutions to increase adoption.

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