An Open Source Business Roles Model for IMS-based Converged Services

Abstract

Traditional telecom sources of revenue are based exclusively in voice and data revenues. They also use a closed-source software model, with no communication between different applications, turning very difficult the delivering of services across different access networks and the deployment of an integrated billing system. Besides that, the complexity to manage these services is huge, from the operator and user points of view. At the same time, the continuous evolution of technology is also creating challenges for service providers. The emergence of Internet Protocol (IP) promises new options, significant savings in Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) and opportunities to develop and bring to market services and applications previously not possible. The resolution for many of these problems lies in the evolution to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). IMS will enable operators to implement the vision of a subscriber-centric world with independent services access. Service providers will be able to enhance the communications experiences by allowing the end user to integrate every kind of media (voice, video or data) using any network. IMS will also enable the creation of blended services built with multiple atomic services, like messaging, push to talk, push to share and interactive video. The proposed framework for Open Source Business Roles model for IMS-converged services intends to facilitate the creation of business models that takes into account