Deploying IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) services over next generation networks (NGNs): The IU-ATC integrated test bed

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is the Third Generation Partnership Project's (3GPP) standardized service platform that enables the deployment of rich and personalized services over fixed and mobile networks whilst allowing end-users ubiquitous access to services such as voice, video, presence and online gaming anytime and anywhere. However, the delivery of these services to the end-users is highly dependent on the available or preferred access network which could range from fixed broadband access to mobile 4G connections. Although the IMS was initially developed as the core network for Third Generation (3G) systems, it has now been adopted as the service platform for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and System Architecture Evolution (SAE). As this transition of 3G to 4G and beyond evolves, there is an immediate need for a research testbed that facilitates the research, development and early trials of the integration of these technologies. This has motivated us to integrate the IMS based Advanced Next Generation Network (ANGN) testbed at the University of Surrey (UniS), U.K. with the 4G Access Network Testbed at IIT Madras, India via an academic transnational network link to form a fully functional telecommunications mobile network. In this paper, we discuss the rationales, motivations and objectives behind the integrated testbed whilst also investigating how it can be extended to support 4G and future technologies such as LTE/SAE and WiMAX. The testbed as a whole plays a key as role in the future of IMS development as it provides a fully functional platform similar to commercial networks for researchers to investigate and demonstrate the feasibility of their proposal in a realistic environment. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2011.