Customer Reviews

The 3G IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): Merging the Internet and the Cellular Worlds, Second Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book intends to be the de facto handbook for IMS, but it ends up being mostly reference material.

While it has some fairly detailed descriptions of the standards and protocols involved, it does not go beyond the specifications already publicly available, or the methods that some vendors already use. Some chapters read like a translation of technical drafts, while others concerning less defined areas are very high level.

The authors, while doing a good job assembling useful information, probably set out to write this book too early, when IMS was still only a reference framework, without widespread service provider adoption. Furthermore, the corresponding expertise across the industry is missing, thus making this a less elaborate view on the services that IMS would provide, compared to what the book's subtitle would suggest.

If you need a book on IMS right now, and are not happy with the abundance of online materials, buy this book. If you are looking for a comprehensive guide on what IMS means for providers and customers, I personally have not read such a book yet - but even if it has not been released, it is only a matter of time. Keep your eyes peeled for snippets of information coming out of service providers and infrastructure vendors, and for the ongoing debates in the industry around the evolution of the service delivery platform.

My original review of this book was based on the 1st edition which contains some typos which could make it a bit hard to read.

I am now revising this review to reflect the 2nd addition that is now available. The editors did a much better job on this edition and there is plenty of new content to make it worth the purchase.

This is a great book to acquaint the user with IMS, its history and how it fits into the Internet landscape. The authors have done a good job of covering the entire IMS space.

This is a must have book for anyone needing to get up-to-speed on IMS.

For anyone who will be working with IMS regularly, they will want to also familiarize themselves with the 3GPP specifications ([...]) since IMS is still a developing technology. There are already a number of changes to IMS that are not documented in the 2nd edition since the specifications are still being worked on.

Not only do I highly recommend this book, but we often give this book to our customers when talking to them about IMS.

If there is one book you have to buy for IMS, make it this one. The authors clearly explain the benefits of this new Multimedia domain and then go on to describe the architecture in no-nonsense, easy to understand terms. A basic understanding of 3GPP network architecture and the SIP protocol are required pre-requisites. An Extensive reference section will allow the user to dig deeper in any topic of their choosing. A must have reference book!!

the standards are now 3 versions past the time when this book was current.
buyer beware

I teach IMS courses for 6 years now. This is my favorite book. It's a good introduction to IMS and covers many topics in suffcient detail.
Still IMS is evolving fast and you have to check with the specs for the latest updates and changes.

A good and thorough intoduction to IMS and SIP. Easy to read and written in a manner that the book can be re-read over and over again. Has detailed examples on SIP Call flows with sufficient explanations. The book also acts as a bridge for some of us who are unfamiliar with mobile/cellular networks.
Hopefully the book will be updated with each revision of IMS.
Congratulations to the author.

After the the book SIP Demisfied of author (G.Camarillo) I was not quite sure to spend this much money... Anyway try & see I said: Here it's outlines..
1-Paying that much money (~100usd) and gray figures in book , damn! why it is not colorfull (at least clouds in figures)..
2-comparing with basic SIP and internet based session setup dialogues system , good approach...
3-Not inspected good , mis-writings , spelling errors etc. Ex:page 12 "while 3gpp and 3gpp.." ...
4-Clear expressions & nearly describing all related items...

Last Comment: Have some money and want to learn some more on IMS after SIP know-how then get it but donot expect too much in details...

This is a very good book on SIP-based Internet Multimedia Subsystem. The book nicely depicts both the Internet and the IMS architecture implementation of SIP, AAA, VoIP centric security and policy, QoS, presence service, media encoding and transport, and instant messaging. By reviewing this book, a reader will acquire comprehensive knowledge of emerging VoIP and Video Telephony Layer 5 architecture in wireless network. The book can be used as a senior or master-level text book, a useful review guide for the provider engineers, architects, technology strategist, product managers, and technical managers. SIP programmers, implementers, and standard engineers may find the book "not detailed enough". Since technology described in this book and their standards are rapidly changing, authors need to keep the book regularly updated.

Sohel Khan, Principal Technology Strategist, Sprint-Nextel

The 3G IMS book provides a look at IMS organization and SIP signaling from one of the people who were there while the protocols were being established. Since this is an emerging and still developing technology, the little insights like "this is what we intended to do here", and "this is where we want this eventually to go" will be emminently helpful in choosing equipment and network organizations.

I have to describe to customers how they might use IMS equipment and integratit into their networks. While this is no engineering level document, it is solid at describing the interfaces they will have to support. I think they will be assured by the information I now have to give them.

This is a bit pricey and the editing a bit sloppy, but then I find that the rule rather than exception with a lot of the inside information manuals.

This will be of great use and I hope it will arm me to be able to comfort customers that this architecture just might work.

Possibly the best technical book I've ever read.

I work with IMS technology and we use the book in our department to introduce IMS to newcomers. But I also work in European projects on IMS and the book is the main reference for most of the other teams involved.

You just need this book and the 3GPP specifications for anything you want to do with IMS.