A nonprofit association that advocates for the interoperability of services such as VoIP, business unified communications, fixed-mobile convergence with networks that include WiFi (News - Alert), DSL and WiMAX, is holding its sixth annual industry-wide event early next year in New Hampshire.

 

Officials with the NGN/IMS Forum – terms that are short for “next-generation network” and “IP multimedia subsystem” – say that Plugfest will be held Jan. 12 to 16 in Durham, a town that’s widely known as home to the University of New Hampshire.

 

According to one regular participant, Sunnyvale, California-based Mu Dynamics’ vice president of marketing, Adam Stein (News - Alert), Plugfest provides a hands-on environment so that network operators have reliable deployments of IMS architecture and NGN services.

 

“Mu has seen extensive advancement in both operator and vendor service assurance through our Plugfest testing and one-on-one collaboration with participants, many of whom have since become Mu customers,” Stein said.

 

Organizers say the IMS Plugfests – which are open to all companies for registration online – are the industry’s only interoperability events that cover NGN services over wireless, wireline and cable broadband. The IMS/NGN Forum formed in order to accelerate interoperability of IMS applications – such as femtocells, long-term evolution, videoconferencing, Web-collaboration, IPTV and gaming – and mobile, or “M-Play,” NGN networks, including cable and optical.

 

This year’s event, “Plugfest 6,” will address the robustness, certification and reliability of IMS SIP and Diameter interfaces, as well as networks that include: SIP signaling compression and multiple profiles for public and private users; and services including VoIP for residential and enterprise, unified communications, IPTV, FMC and other multimedia applications.

 

IT insiders hail the association for creating events that lead to innovation in IMS and NGN initiatives.

 

According to Rich Tehrani (News - Alert), president of TMC, the forum sets the standard for interoperability testing among IMS solutions.

 

“TMC has been a proud sponsor of all 5 of the IMS PlugFests and looks forward to sponsoring Plugfest 6 and to covering these events in NGN Magazine – a new print and online publication debuting in December,” said Tehrani, who blogged a preview of Plugfest here while chairing TMC’s Internet Telephony Conference & Expo.

 

For Michael Khalilian (News - Alert), chairman and president of the NGN/IMS Forum, his association’s multimedia and mobility strategy provides best-in-class interoperability for fixed, mobile and cable broadband services.

 

“With the focus on services spanning across the consumer-enterprise divide, the IMS NGN Forum plays an active role in securing new revenue streams for all participants in these emerging markets,” Khalilian said.