Cisco Inc extends support for IMS-based technologies

Cisco Inc extends support for IMS-based technologies

SAN JOSE, California - Cisco Systems Inc has announced that it will be backing an emerging set of wireless standards, which will herald in more services wirelessly based on the existing Internet Protocol platform. The Internet's premier routing gear maker said on Monday that it was going to be upgrading several of its products to conform to the IP Multimedia Subsystem standards format.

These standards are basically a new set of principles that were developed by the cellular community so as to allow a wider range of services on the wireless networks. The IMS standards contain the architecture and the protocols that enable the same. Cisco's network productions suite had offered limited support to the IMS protocols until now, but the company has indicated that more devices including the 12000 IP router could be upgraded to support the IMS technology.

The 12000 IP router works by combing IP edge router and a Session Border Control (SBC) device. The latter is a vital component that controls the IP multimedia traffic. Cisco also said that the IMS support would be extended to Softswitch and PSTN gateway devices.

IMS services find a wide range of applications including mobile-to-mobile instant messaging, dual-mode telephony and a technology, which allows a phone to be used as a two-way walkie-talkie. This technology is no doubt a fledgling one and is yet to gain wide acceptance. But Cisco's entry into this field would serve to highlight the potential of the IMS standards and technology and force many more IP equipment providers to think on similar lines.

This statement was emphatically supported by Joel Hughes, the president and CEO of Openera Technologies, who said, "It's important to see large equipment makers like Cisco including IMS in their products. It shows that carriers are serious about taking services that exist in the IP world and adapting them to the mobile environment." Openera is a company that is a pioneer in developing software for IMS-based mobile phones.