IMS: A New Model for Blending Applications (Informa Telecoms & Media) [Hardcover]

Mark Wuthnow (Author), Jerry Shih (Author), Matthew Stafford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1420092855 | ISBN-13: 978-1420092851 | Publication Date: July 28, 2009

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology, which merges the Internet with interactive telecommunications, represents the here and now for today’s packet-switched networks. Consequently, anyone working with or around these converging fields needs to possess a fundamental understanding of IMS and how this technology is poised to change the way new applications are designed and deployed.

IMS: A New Model for Blending Applications goes beyond most references in this field. Rather than offer the usual explanation of the standard itself, the authors address how IMS-based services might be deployed in an operator’s network. Leveraging the inside knowledge gained from years of working at the forefront of IMS research, the authors delineate the application layers and the applications that can be implemented using an IMS network. For those unfamiliar with IMS, they provide an overview of its key components and the signaling standards used for the implementation of an end-to-end IMS service.

Significant concepts are conveyed through real-life vignettes that describe how end users might actually use interactive IMS applications in the course of their day. This approach mimics the way an operator’s marketing organization might go about building a business case for IMS application deployment. While technical enough to meet the needs of engineers, this approach will greatly assist marketing, sales, and managerial professionals with gaining a basic understanding of IMS, as well as a sense of the numerous applications driving the field forward.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Wuthnow is a part of AT&T’s architecture and planning organization and brings over 20 years of telecommunications experience to this work. He started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he led the systems engineering teams responsible for the first three development releases of the ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI) for the 5ESS® switch. He later joined Southwestern Bell Technology Resources Inc. (now AT&T Laboratories) where he has been working in the wireless arena for over 15 years now. Mark has held various positions and has contributed to the various wireless subsidiaries of AT&T throughout their multiple mergers (including Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Cingular Wireless, and AT&T Mobility). In addition, he holds 12 patents and is also a senior member of IEEE.

Jerry Shih is currently part of AT&T’s architecture and planning organization. He has been in chair and vice-chair positions in international SDOs in the past, mostly related to messaging service development. He has been involved in OMA service enablers’ development since 2003 and is currently active in OMA converged IP messaging and converged address book service enablers’ development.Jerry Shih started his telecom career at AT&T Bell Laboratories (now Alcatel-Lucent Bell Laboratories) where he worked on digital PBX call processing software development. In his 20-plus years’ telecom career, he has worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories, BellSouth, Southwestern Bell Mobile System, Cingular Wireless, and AT&T Mobility in different capacities. He has been part of the major telecom evolutions, from ISDN to Intelligent Network to IMS.

Matthew Stafford began his telecommunications career in 1996 with SBC Technology Resources Inc. He worked on ATM and Quality of Service in IP networks. Matthew later moved to Cingular Wireless and then to AT&T as a result of its merger with Cingular Wireless. After working on various softswitch projects, Matthew wrote Signaling and Switching for Packet Telephony (Artech House, 2004). From 2004 to 2007, he served as vice chair of numbering for GSM North America. The numbering group’s main task was to develop ENUM recommendations. Matthew is currently a member of AT&T’s architecture and planning organization. Matthew is a member of IEEE.

Bill Rosenberg (Chapter 9 author) is a principal technical architect in AT&T’s architecture and planning organization. He has over 20 years of experience in terrestrial and satellite communications. Bill’s career began at TRW Space & Electronics (now Northrop Grumman Space Technology) where he was a systems engineer on satellite communication payloads. He later worked for Arrowsmith Technologies designing wireless communication systems for the company’s fleet management product. Bill joined Southwestern Bell Technology Resources (now AT&T Labs) and continued with SBC’s wireless division through its various incarnations, including Cingular Wireless and AT&T Mobility. Bill is supporting AT&T’s wireless business by developing new technologies and services. He currently develops new messaging, cell broadcast, and IMS services for GSM and UMTS designs, and contributes to industry standards. Bill played a key role in the development and launch of Video Share, which was AT&T Mobility’s first IMS-based service.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Auerbach Publications (July 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420092855
• ISBN-13: 978-1420092851
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best IMS book!, December 26, 2009

By 

Porta Fan "Porta Fan" (Taiwan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: IMS: A New Model for Blending Applications (Informa Telecoms & Media) (Hardcover)

This book is a must have for anyone wanting solid information on IMS. This is some of the best IMS reference materials with only around 300 pages. You can't beat the value this book offers.

The authors do an incredible job in explaining IMS to readers. I enjoyed the layout of this book for the "modular design" it contained within its sessions. The first session of this book is dedicated to high-level architecture and the foundations of IMS. It is easy to understand the values of IMS such as session control, service blending, QoS, flexible charging and the evolution with key elements in control, bearer, and application planes. Once you have a good grasp from session 1, session 2 further breaks down various essences of IMS into components. This is very helpful in getting the background information such as SIP, SDP, MSRP, XML, and Diameter for building IMS serving certain types of purposes.

Session 3 are dedicated to the `enablers' of IMS OMA. These chapters include information on these OMA enablers' design purposes, features, values provided to subscribers and how to implement them. The book is written in an easy to follow layout.

Session 4 is most interesting session by reading various vignettes to get into the contexts of IMS in real world implementations. The IMS service delivery framework are laid out for high-level viewing on what and how IMS new services are designed, introduced and maintained. The authors did a marvelous job on these real-world scenarios to help readers fully understand how IMS relates to everyone's life.

I believe that anyone reading this book will benefit from the information presented, no matter how the depth the readers expect on IMS real world implementations. The book helps in these areas and more. The real bonus of this book is written by three experts from AT&T. It's by far the best IMS book I have ever read. Grab it and read a few pages, you will find how indispensable this book is.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Susatainable plans for Ad Hoc Networks, March 23, 2009

By 

Brian DeLacey - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks: Principles, Protocols and Applications (Hardcover)

"Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks: Principles, Protocols, and Applications" digs into a topic that is growing more important by the day. The number of electronic devices that are both mobile and wireless is increasing rapidly on a worldwide basis. What steps are being taken to get these devices to work together? How will people use these technologies? This recent book by three professors from different technology / engineering schools in India maps out this emerging area of technology.

Here's a summary of the chapter headings:1) Introduction, 2) MAC Layer Protocols, 3) Routing Protocols, 4) Multicast Protocols, 5) Transport Protocols, 6) Quality of Service, 7) Energy Management, 8) Mobility Models for Multihop, 9) Cross-Layer Design Issues, 10) Applications and Recent Developments.

The Introduction states that "communication between various devices makes it possible to provide unique and innovative services. Although this interdevice communication is a very powerful mechanism, it is also a complex and clumsy mechanism, leading to a lot of complexity in the present-day systems." The first chapter provides a concise, high level description of Bluetooth, IrDA, HomeRF, WiFi, WiMax, Hotspts, and Mesh.

The authors turn to the central topic of the book on page 21, asking "What Are Ad Hoc Networks?" They answer: "An ad hoc network is a collection of wireless mobile nodes (or routers) dynamically forming a temporary network without the use of any existing network infrastructure or centralized administration."

Chapters 6 and 7 deserve special mention, in that they cover central issues in today's deployment of Ad Hoc (and mesh) networks. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, these topics haven't received systematic attention in the popular press anyplace else. In Chapter 6 we read about Quality of Service (QoS) as "a measure of the level of service ... in the network." QoS is a fundamental issue that must be proactively addressed for these kinds of networks to succeed. This text is a good guide on what matters most.

Chapter 7 is a spotlight on how unique this book is. This chapter on Energy Management hits a topic that is critically important to mobile-anything. You'll learn about energy (power) management. The authors write, "because network nodes have limited energy resources, the energy expended for transferring information across the network has to be minimized." This chapter tackles three main themes: battery management, transmission management, and overall system power management. Whether you are interested in the SmartGrid or SmartBatteries, this chapter will give a new view of the topic.

The next-to-last chapter on "Cross-Layer Design" begins a discussion on the kinds of pros/cons that are being factored into today's implementations of mobile wireless stacks. This short chapter is a basic beginning to understanding the architecture of wireless stacks.

The final chapter suggests a number of Ad Hoc applications: search-and-rescue, defense (army, navy, air force), health care, various organizational environments (e.g. academic, corporate.) Entire books could be written on each of these application arenas, as well as many more: e.g. municipal wireless activities sponsored by grassroots, corporate-backed, and government initiatives.

This book because covers a broad landscape of mobile wireless networks and imparts an overview of how protocols work and are designed. You'll get both theoretical and practical explanations of many facets of Ad Hoc. For instance, I never knew about ARA (the Ant Colony-Based Routing Algorithm), but now I do and it could be quite useful! The authors have documented a rich language for discussing and thinking about wireless mobile networks, which should ultimately speed up forward progress.