Tekelec Maps Legacy-to-IMS Migration with Real Convergence Strategy

Tekelec this week at SUPERCOMM unveiled what it calls its “Real Convergence” strategy to guide operators through the transition to a new subscriber- and services-centric business model.

The strategy builds on Tekelec’s IMS-based solutions with a series of transitional technologies that help carriers deliver services not only to SIP clients but to endpoints in the legacy realm, says Mark Whittier, vice president of marketing for Tekelec. “We have had IMS products for some time,” he says. “Now our strategy is in helping service providers migrate.”

The intent is to allow operators to leverage their existing signaling and voice investments to deploy IMS-based services today that bridge networks from the application, signaling or switching layers.

The components that might be called upon to enable delivery of applications, such as SMS or IP Centrex, from the IP world into the TDM world, include a Service Management Gateway, a Mobility Manager, a SIP-to-SS7 Gateway and a Presence Gateway.

Whittier says these components would be incorporated into a larger system with other Tekelec IMS-based functionality, such as media gateways, wireless media gateways and session border controllers in the IMS access layer; messaging servers, VoIP applications servers and presence servers in the IMS service layer; and TekCore call session control and breakout gateway control functionality as well as ENUM translation and routing functionality in the IMS control layer.

Among the solutions made possible with the Real Convergence approach are:

* IMS-based Messaging, which enables delivery of all types of messaging — from store-and-forward SMS to advanced 3G, utilizing integrated number portability and ENUM in an open framework that allows horizontal integration with other SIP-based services;

* presence, which allows network users, network elements and applications to share information about their status and availability, preferred means of contact and location;

* IP Centrex, which delivers voice and data services over a single high-speed connection, direct to IP phones on the desktop;

* enhanced VoIP services, which feature integrated IP/Wi-Fi communications and include desktop integration, Web-based services, unified messaging and enhanced VoIP applications with seamless hand-off between cellular and WLAN networks as well as a 3G and Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA)-enabled wireless media gateway; and

* enhanced prepaid services that deliver prepaid capability, including real-time rating and charging for a variety of enhanced voice and data services.

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